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Facts about Orangutans There are three known species of Orangutan; the Borean Orangutan the Sumatran Orangutan, and the Tapanuli Orangutan. They live in rainforests in Indonesia and Malaysia. Not only are these great apes closely related to us humans and intelligent with their own personalities, they are very important for their environment.
Orangutans eat fruit and disperse seeds, which helps to shape the rainforests they live in. Many species in the rainforest rely upon orangutans to live, and if they went extinct, those species would be in danger too.
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Threats to Orangutans Sadly, orangutans are gravely endangered, with about 104,700 Boreans (endangered), 13,846 Sumatran (critically endangered), and 800 Tapanuli (critically endangered). One of the main threats to them is deforestation, especially from timber and palm oil companies. Palm oil is in over 50% or household items and foods in many leading companies (check out links at the end for more info).
Much of this palm oil comes from trees in the rainforests where orangutans live. Along with losing their habitat, orangutans are often brutally killed by farmers, who see them as pests. It has led to endangerment of not only orangutans, but other species such as the Sumatran elephant, Bornean Pygmy Elephant, Sumatran Rhino, and the Sumatran tiger. Getting palm oil also involves lots of child labor and causes lots of pollution.
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How you can help Ways to help these amazing animals: • signing petions to urge large companies to decrease and stop their palm oil intake (one is below) • try reducing the amount of palm oil you use and buy • donate for the cause (don't feel pressured if you can't ;)) • learning more about them • spreading the word.
Petition: http://chng.it/SVzR5bkmXQ
Information on products with/without palm oil: https://orangutan.org/palmoil/
