Tag: Go Orange for Orangutans
Why do orangutans need our help?
You probably already know that orangutans are threatened with extinction. This is a well-known worrying fact; and if we don’t continue to Act for Wildlife we will lose this animal for good.
The main reason their numbers are in decline is due to loss of habitat. Their homes are being destroyed by forest fires and logging for timber and agriculture; particularly oil palm plantations. This is a HUGE problem as orangutans rely on the forests for food and shelter.
Only 54,000 Bornean and 6,400 Sumatran orangutans are thought to remain in the wild and numbers are in decline. That’s why we need to work hard and quickly to save Asia’s great apes.
What are we doing?
We work with a number of projects fighting to protect the forest ecosystem and the many species that exist within them, working with several partners on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo. Our major focus is on the highly important Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary in Sabah State; home to the largest orangutan population in Malaysian Borneo.
Our staff here in the UK are also working on the issue of unsustainable palmoil – working with people and organisations locally, nationally and globally to find solutions to this conservation problem.
Thanks to our amazing supporters and our partners working out in the field we have made progress in the wild to help orangutans. Last year we reported how new research in Borneo has been conducted using 15 specialist cameras that were vital in studying and protecting orangutans in the wild – we couldn’t have done that without you! This research will help us to understand more about their behaviour in oil palm plantations. This year we will provide you with another update on how you’ve made a difference in the past 12 months.
Chester Zoo also opened the Realm of the Red Ape exhibit in 2007 – this world class orangutan enclosure is also home to one of the most successful orangutan breeding programmes – this breeding centre has also enabled us to enhance our contribution to in-situ conservation. For example, read how the orangutans at the zoo and their dental health can help conservation studies on the other side of the world.
Want to know more?
Throughout August, September and October we will be sharing more information and updates from some of the orangutan conservation projects we’re working with in-situ and ex-situ, we will introduce you to some of the people that work with this species and how you can Act for Wildlife too.
We have plenty for you to get involved in – from helping us with our Palm Oil Challenge (which we will be launching soon) to taking part in Go Orange for Orangutans. Watch this space or sign up to our Act for Wildlife e-newsletter to find out more information.
Can’t wait till then? Brush up on your orangutan knowledge and have a look at the below blogs to get you started:
Know your orangutans? – think you know your orangutans? Here are some facts about these amazing apes.
Spot the difference – as the orangutan is one of our closest relatives we thought we’d explore some of the similarities and differences between us.
Orangutan habitat – orangutans are umbrella species, large animals that require large areas of native forest to survive. By acting to protect orangutans you will also protect many other species that share the same forest.
November is here, which means another successful Go Orange for Orangutans campaign is over (until next year).
We would just like to say a big thank you to everyone who took part. The support has been amazing!
Your donations have been making their way in and we are thrilled to tell you that we have managed to beat last year’s total and raise over £16,000.
That’s at least 1,600 trees that will be planted in Borneo by HUTAN, our partners. This won’t be an easy task for the team working out in the field and will involve a lot of work. But the difference it will make will be huge, as they will be able to create new orangutan habitat.
Learn more about orangutan habitat and why it’s so important to their survival here.
Overall we received Go Orange registrations from…
…48 schools and colleges,
Dowson Primary School
Brimrod Community Primary School
“The children are so excited and keep chanting, ‘We can plant 11 trees!!’ We have thoroughly enjoyed taking part in this fund raising event and it has really enriched the children’s experience after their visit to the Zoo.”– Zaira, Brimrod Community Primary School
Fernhill Primary School
Mid Cheshire College
16 businesses,
Aaron & Partners LLP Go Orange bake off and virtual tree raised £474.05
The very orange looking team at Intermarketing
Carat in Leeds strike an orangutan pose!
Sykes Cottages’ pumpkin carving competition
Hillyer McKeown
Coach House Chester
26 groups & organisations,
Reaseheath Conservation Society
87 individuals…
Friends Amaal, Alexandra, Phillip and Hannah raised £228.28 from their Go Orange bake sale
“Amaal really enjoyed helping with the fundraising and would love to help in any further projects you are organising. We visited the Zoo for the first time and she did a couple of the encounters. It is a great zoo. Keep up the good work.” – Hayder (Amaal’s Dad)
And one band!
Junebug performing at Chester Zoo
Even though October is over the fight to protect orangutans and their habitat will continue!
One company who have just started their fundraising campaign is The Chalk Bag Company who create and sell novel alternatives to climbing equipment. Over the next 12 months the company will be selling their orangutan-shaped chalk bags with all proceeds coming directly to our Go Orange for Orangutans campaign. So big thanks to the team for their support!
The Chalk Bag team at Chester Zoo
Thank you to everyone who took part!
Our Zoo Rangers are normally out and about in the Chester Zoo giving talks at different animal enclosures, telling you all about our conservation work and answering all your questions.
In support of Go Orange the team have spent October with our orangutans in the Realm of the Red Ape providing more information to our visitors about our orangutans and the effects palm oil has on orangutans in the wild.
Here Sarah Bazley tells us a little more about what the team have been up to…
“We have had some amazing experiences! One moment that sticks out especially is when Emma, Subis and their babies came and sat right next to us at the windows! It is such a privilege to be so close, but also can be quite sad when you think they are critically endangered in the wild.
“Over the past month the question we’ve been asked the most is: ‘what can I do to help the orangutans?’ (apart for signing up for Go Orange…!)
Chester Zoo Ranger in the Realm of the Red Ape
“You have probably heard of palm oil by now – it’s an oil that is used in most of the products we use every day (you can find out even more here). It’s in all different kinds of food from chocolate to pizza, and in cosmetics, cleaning products, shampoos and conditioners. The forest where the orangutans live are being cleared to grow this palm oil, which is bad news for orangutans, however it does mean that we as consumers can make a big difference.
Zoo Rangers Go Orange
“So, if you want to help save the orangutan one of the easiest things you can do is to pay a little more attention when you are shopping, and look out for products with the RSPO logo.
“This logo means that any palm oil contained in the product has come from a sustainable source – you could say it is ‘orangutan friendly’.”
October may be practically over but the fight to protect orangutans in the wild will continue. So it’s not too late to show your support for Go Orange. Find out more here.
Four year old Bradley managed to take time out of his busy half term schedule to chat to us about his amazing fundraising activities for orangutans in the wild.
He managed to raise enough money to plant 6 native trees in Borneo!
How did you hear about Go Orange for Orangutans?
I read it in one of the Chester Zoo e-newsletters. I read one of the stories about orangutans and it upset me that they were losing their homes.
I like monkeys and orangutans are my favourite animal.
What did your family and friends say when they found out what you were doing?
They were happy to help me. I took the wristbands to football practice. My friends thought it was good. My mum helped me too by taking some to work.
What are you going to do next?
I want to fundraise again. I want to sell 5,000 million next time!
If you want to be a fundraising star like Bradley, and help us to raise money for our Go Orange for Orangutans campaignfind out more here.
On another, more musical, note Chester Zoo visitors were treated to a live performance on Monday (27 October), as Junebug played a number of animal themed songs – including their ‘double ape side’. The two songs are helping us raise money for our conservation campaign. If you missed them, not to worry, you can download the songs here and listen to them as many times as you like!
The band deserves another big thank you after taking the time to perform at the zoo and raise a further £50 towards the campaign.
There’s still time to Go Orange for Orangutans too! We’ve managed to raise £12,000 so far, thanks to our supporters, meaning we’re getting closer and closer to our target of £15,000.
As we draw closer to the end of October we wanted to take some time out from applying fake tan, baking cakes and dancing along to ‘She’s An Ape not a Monkey‘ to say a big thank you to the amazing people who have/are supporting our Go Orange for Orangutans campaign.
Here at Chester Zoo we’ve been going orange in a number of different ways to help raise vital funds to restore tropical forests in Borneo.
Going totally orange
TAN-tastic!
Ten members of staff volunteered to go TOTALLY orange! For every £100 raised another member of staff would commit to being spray tanned (using a company that uses only Certified Sustainable Palm Oil), including our Director General Mark Pilgrim.
We managed to smash our target of £1,000! Obviously people were quite eager to see their fellow colleagues turn a funny shade of orange!
The Great Chester Zoo Staff Bake Off
Chester Zoo staff channelled their inner Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood to take part in our great bake off. There were three rounds: cupcakes, cookies/ biscuits and cakes.
All treats submitted were marked on appearance as well as taste and were then available for staff to try and make a donation. As you can see some of the entries were very creative and, you can take our word for it, they tasted delicious!
Mint Chocolate Reforestation cupcakes – entry for the cupcake round
Go Orange Cookie Tree – winner of the cookies/ biscuit round
Lime and Pistachio Cake – winner of the cake round
Golf day
We held our first ever Go Orange for Orangutans golf day with our corporate supporters and suppliers competing to win some fantastic prizes. Overall we raised an amazing £10,000, which means we can plant 1000 trees in Borneo!
Orange-tastic!
Staff from across the zoo showed their support for orangutans by dressing in as much orange as possible for the day. Some staff took it to the next level and had their face painted and hair sprayed orange too. This was a fun and simple way of raising money and awareness of the campaign.
It doesn’t stop at the zoo either, you lot are wonderful and have been extremely busy…
Four year old Bradley was inspired to take part in Go Orange after visiting Chester Zoo and hearing how orangutan habitats are being destroyed at an alarming rate.
Bradley raised a magnificent £60 by selling our Act for Wildlife wristbandsto his family, friends, neighbours and anyone else he met! Read more about Bradley’s efforts here.
Supporting our orangutan conservation project has never sounded so good –listen to and download the new tracks ‘She’s An Ape, Not A Monkey’ and‘The Song of the Apes’ by band Junebug, who are using their musical talents to raise money for our ape cousins. Look out for Junebug’s acoustic performance at Chester Zoo.
We would also like to say a massive thank you to:
Kings Meadow Primary School
The Church Hotel Pub
3rd Cheadle Heath Brownies
Reaseheath Conservation Society
Mid Cheshire College
University Academy Warrington
Coach House Chester
Sykes Cottages Ltd
Leah Woosey
And everyone who has helped us show why supporting orangutan conservation is so important by fundraising, wearing Go Orange wristbandsand taking your #orangutanselfieAFW
Together we CAN help save orangutans in the wild.Read more about where your donations will go here.
There’s still time to Go Orange for Orangutans too, so sign up today. Or if you’d like to make a donation towards protecting orangutans you can do so here.
We’ve already looked at how this year’s Go Orange campaign will restore orangutan habitat by planting and nurturing the trees they need to survive. Orangutans are umbrella species, large animals that require large areas of native forest to survive, so by acting to protect orangutans you will also protect many other species that share the same forest.
© M.D. Kapar –Hutan – KOCP
The forests of Borneo are home to some of the most unique and biodiverse species on the planet. One survey found over 700 species of trees and vines in a ten hectare area. That’s three times as many tree species as are found in the USA and Canada combined!
Borneo is also home to over 2000 species of orchid, 222 mammals, 420 birds, 100 amphibians and 394 fish. Insects make up the greatest proportion of Borneo’s diversity; there can be as many as 1000 species in a single tree! Even more amazing is that between 1995 and 2010 over 600 new species were discovered! That’s 3 new species every month!
Even though the reforestation team at the Kinabatangan Orangutan Conservation Programme (KOCP) focused on only planting 30 species of tree, this will create the right conditions for the seeds of other important tree species, which have been lying dormant in the soil, to germinate and grow. Other plant species will also spread from remaining fragments of native forest, often carried in the dung or fur of animals such as slow loris, tarsiers, langurs, gibbons, macaques, proboscis monkeys, hornbills, clouded leopard and sun bear.
These animals exist in isolated fragments of forest and many populations are too small to survive in the long term without the type of action taken by our conservation partner KOCP. Reforesting degraded areas will not only create new habitat and provide additional food for these species but also allow them to disperse and mingle with other populations, preventing inbreeding.
Healthy forests also prevent rivers and lakes becoming polluted with sediment and run off from plantations so even freshwater animals will benefit from planting trees! Borneo’s waterways are home to some of the world’s largest catfish, fish that breathe air, false gharials, soft-shelled turtles, terrapins and kingfishers.
Finally, planting trees will benefit an animal you probably haven’t thought of…humans! Local communities rely on Borneo’s forests and rivers for their survival and many native species play an important role in traditional culture. The destruction of these habitats leaves also destroys local communities resources and leaves then with few traditional livelihood choices available.
This year’s Go Orange campaign also benefits local communities directly, by providing employment propagating, planting and caring for seedlings, and indirectly by ensuring the health of Borneo’s native ecosystems.
Find out how to plant your own tree and support the survival of Borneo’s native species!
From 13th December 2014 it will be easier for us to search for palm oil in food products as a new EU labelling law comes into play. This means that all food product labels will have to clearly state in the ingredients list which vegetable oil has been used in its production.
Not sure what palm oil is or how it’s affecting orangutans in the wild? Find out all you need to know below…
Credit: HUTAN- Kinabatangan Orangutan Conservation Project
What is palm oil?
Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil which comes from the fruit of the oil palm tree and is used in a wide range of products including cake, chocolate, biscuits, margarine, soap, shampoo, lipstick and cleaning products.
What’s the problem?
The demand for palm oil has driven rapid and unregulated expansion of oil palm plantations in developing countries. This often involves cutting down native forests, releasing greenhouse gases, polluting rivers and having a huge negative impact on orangutans, tigers, elephants, rhinos and many other species.
Credit: HUTAN- Kinabatangan Orangutan Conservation Project
Am I buying palm, oil?
Almost certainly. Palm oil is found in approximately half of the food in our supermarkets but is often labelled simply as vegetable oil. This will change in 2015 when food products containing palm oil will have to be clearly labelled in order to be sold in the European Union.
Oil palm plantation in Borneo
Should we ban palm oil?
No. If we were to stop using palm oil then we would need to find an alternative to supply the global demand for edible vegetable oil. Oil palm is the most productive oilseed crop, producing twice as much oil as coconuts and over thirty times as much oil as maize. Because of this, getting our vegetable oil from a different crop would mean converting even more land to agriculture.
Oil palm is the most productive oilseed crop
What is Chester Zoo doing?
At Chester Zoo we believe boycotting palm oil is NOT the answer. A better choice is sustainable palm oil.
We support the work of the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and those companies who choose to source Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO) from it. We believe that sourcing CSPO through the RSPO is the responsible choice and will drive demand for sustainable production. We have committed to eradicating the use and sale of unsustainable palm oil at Chester Zoo and are currently carrying out a systematic audit of all palm oil in our supply chain.
What can I do?
When you do your weekly shop, have a look at the labels before you add products to your basket. Try to buy products which feature the RSPO logo. Many supermarkets are also labelling their own brand products with their own sustainable palm oil logos so keep an eye out for these too!
Act for Wildlife and spread the message.
This year our Go Orange for Orangutans campaign will be raising money to replant the rain forest home of endangered orangutans in Borneo.
We will be planting and taking care of native tree species in places where the trees just cannot grow without our help.
Before we drift off to sleep we tend to make sure we’re comfortable and snug before laying our head down. Some of us have a bedtime routine.
Orangutans use the rain forest canopy not only for food but for shelter and rest. Nearly every night they build a new nest using the branches from the trees, which they will use to sleep in. Sometimes they do this during the day too for when they want a quick nap!
Orangutan nest. Credit: HUTAN
Orangutans have their own ‘bedtime routine’, as building a nest consists of a number of things:
Choosing a tree – orangutans are selective in what tree they will choose.
Building the foundation – once they have selected a suitable tree they will use large branches to make a foundation.
Credit: Serge Wich
Making a mattress – once the foundation has been built orangutans will then use smaller branches to create a layer. The small branches they use tend to have many leaves on them.
Locking – Orangutans ‘braid branches’ while on the nest and intertwine with the ‘mattress’ and will do this to make the nest stronger.
Credit: Serge Wich
Orangutans may also make additions to the nest to enhance their comfort, including a pillow made out of small leafy twigs, a blanket made out of leafy branches, a roof made out of ‘braided branches’ or a second bunk, which is built a few metres above the nest!
Credit: Serge Wich
Occasionally orangutans improve or reuse an old nest to use at night or during the day. Day nests are usually built faster and simpler.
Trees mean shelter, food and freedom for orangutans. Help us save orangutans and their habitat before it’s too late. Restoring tropical forest isn’t easy but with your support, our conservation partners don’t have to do it alone.
Today is World Habitat Day and this year’s Go Orange campaign is all about habitat!
We’re helping to stop the destruction of orangutan habitat by encouraging people to buy sustainable palm oil and we’re raising money so that our partners at the Kinabatangan Orangutan Conservation Programme (KOCP) can create new orangutan habitat by reforesting degraded areas.
Photo ©M.D Kapar – Hutan-KOCP
The above images shows a young 18-20 year old unflanged male feeding onDracontomelon sp. locally known as Sengkuang in the protected forest of the KOCP study site. This is a key fruit species for wild orangutan in the Kinabatangan River floodplain.
So what is habitat? Habitat is simply the physical area where a species lives. For a big animal like an elephant this could be thousands of square kilometres of forest, savannah, lakes and rivers but for a woodlouse it could be the underside of a single log. Parasites such as tapeworms live in other animal’s bodies so their habitat could be your intestines!
Orangutans live in the tropical forests of Sumatra and Borneo, some of the most unique and diverse habitats on our planet. Sadly these forests are being destroyed at an unprecedented rate, pushing the species that live there ever closer to extinction. Huge areas have been deforested or degraded by industrial logging, slash and burn agriculture and to make way for mono-culture agriculture on industrial scales producing palm oil, plywood and paper. As their habitat is destroyed orangutans are increasingly forced into conflict with people, many adults are killed and young taken as pets as a result.
HUTAN-KOCP’s Reforestation Project recreates orangutan habitat by planting native tree species in degraded areas. Over 30 native tree species are used, all grown in small-scale nurseries run by local communities.
Many of the trees being planted provide orangutans with food. Some provide fruit on regular cycles all year round whilst others produce a fruit bonanza for just a few weeks. Orangutans also eat lots of leaves, shoots, cambium (the part just underneath the outside bark), insects living in the trees and drink water which collects in nooks and crannies.
You might recognise the fruit on some of the trees being planted (see image below). Species of Ficus, Artocarpus, Durio, Dimocarpus and Syzigium are known to us as figs, jackfruit, durian, lychee and cloves although these are wild varieties so they might look a little different to the fruit you can buy in your supermarket!
After a fruity meal orangutans like nothing better than to have a snooze. They sleep in nests constructed by weaving branches together. A new nest is built almost every night and the reforestation team also plant some of their favourite trees for sleeping. To find out how we’re using orangutan nests and the latest technology to monitor orangutan populations watch this space!
Some of the trees being planted aren’t directly used by orangutans but serve to help other trees to grow. The deforested areas where the reforestation team work have often become choked with weeds, vines and grass. Left to their own devices many of the trees we plant would be swamped by these competitors. Fast growing trees provide shade and help slower growing species to outcompete the weeds. Our reforestation team also help the trees we plant until they are big enough to survive on their own.
©Zul – Hutan-KOCP
Orangutans are particularly adapted to living in trees. Though they do walk on the ground at times, and despite their large size, they are expert at living in trees. There are in fact the largest arboreal (tree-living) mammals so it is no surprise their survival is dependent upon their native forests, forests that we are destroying at an unprecedented rate. Read our blog to make sure the palm oil you buy isn’t destroying orangutan habitat or find out how you can plant your own tree and support orangutan conservation!
Go Orange and help protect orangutan’s and their home. Find out how you can get involved.
As the orangutan is one of our closest relatives we thought we’d explore some of the similarities and differences between us.
Growing up
For the first few years of their life orangutans rarely leave their mother – clinging to her while she moves through the trees. An orangutan is reliant on its mum for the first 8 years of its life – travelling with her, eating and resting in the same tree. This is a lot longer than most other mammals which is believed to be due to there being so much to learn before they can live alone successfully. And even once females become independent, they may regularly ‘visit’ their mothers until the age of 16.
Orangutans develop their baby teeth at around 5 months old and have 20 baby teeth, which is similar to when our first teeth make an appearance. Like us they have 32 permanent adult teeth and only get one set of molars but two sets of premolars. Read more about how our Chester Zoo orangutans’ dental health is helping orangutans in the wild.
Like humans, turning into a teenager is a very important time in the life of an orangutan as it is a time of marked growth and developmental change. From the age of 13 years male orangutans may develop flanges – which are also known as cheek pads. Female orangutans tend to reach maturity between 10 and 15 years old and reproduce every 6 to 8 years on average (Nowak 1999, Wich et al. in press).
Day to Day
There isn’t many of us who like spending time in the rain, getting soggy and wet – well, orangutans are the same. They make their own umbrellas to protect themselves from the elements. Ok, so it’s not quite an umbrella – but they cover up their heads with a construction they’ve made out of leaves, twigs or whatever else they can find!
Despite our similarities, there is one difference that does stand out, and that’s grooming! Social grooming, or allogrooming, is a social activity between members of the same species and is often a way of building a bond or a relationship. So, whilst most of us enjoy trip to the hairdressers, orangutans are solitary animals.
Like us orangutans lie down to sleep, you may think this is normal, but most other primates sleep in a sitting position. After building their nest at night they may even use a pillow or blanket for extra comfort – not the sort we’d use obviously, but it’s probably to ensure they get a better quality of rest.
Orangutans have a preferred food – the fruit of the durian tree. You may already know that orangutans contribute to the dispersing of seeds, which helps towards the growth of a forest. But orangutans eat this particular fruit in the same way we would eat an orange: we get rid of the skin, eat the middle and spit out the seeds!
That’s why orangutans are best described as ‘gardeners’ of the forest (Rijksen and Meijaard 1999); they play a vital role in seed dispersal, especially for large seeds that are not dispersed by smaller animals (Ancrenaz et al. 2006). Fruit availability in the Bornean forest directly impacts all aspects of their life: ranging patterns, seasonal movements, health, social and reproductive behaviour.
Becoming a parent
Adult male orangutans are in competition with one another for access to females. They use their throat pouches to produce a ‘long call’ – which sounds like a roar – to warn off other male rivals whilst also letting interested females know that they’re available. Adult male orangutans are intolerant of each other.
An orangutan’s gestation period is nine months and the gap between having another offspring is approximately 6-8 years which, compared with other mammals, is quite long.
Like us, infant orangutans are dependent on a parent for food and transportation – however male orangutans do not care for young, meaning young orangutans learn nearly everything from their mothers. This includes what to eat and where to find it, and how to build a nest.
We need your help to join us in supporting these amazing creatures before we lose them forever!
Support us by taking part in our Go Orange campaign – find out more here.