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Intrepid scientists discover new orang-utan population on Borneo

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Wednesday 15th April 2009

Bornean orang-utan moving through rainforest

In a welcome reprieve from the all too frequent reports of species extinctions, conservationists have recently announced the discovery of a new population of orang-utans from a remote area of Borneo.

On an expedition to the heart of a two-million hectare forest in the rugged mountains of East Kalimantan Province, a team of scientists were astonished to find more than 200 orang-utan nests in the space of just a few miles. Although only three wild Bornean orang-utans were encountered, including a large male that greeted the intruders with a barrage of broken branches, the team estimate that there are at least several hundred, if not as many as 2,000, of the iconic primates in the area.

Over the last few decades, the rainforest habitat on which orang-utans depend has been decimated by illegal logging and the controversial spread of oil palm plantations. With estimates of less than 50,000 Bornean orang-utans remaining in the wild, the discovery of such a potentially large population is a huge boost for conservation efforts.

Although the remoteness of the mountainous region has so far been a natural deterrent to development, conservationists are now working with local authorities to ensure the area receives formal protection.

Further information

To find out more about the newly discovered orang-utan population see:

Cool Green Science - the conservation blog of the Nature Conservancy:
http://blog.nature.org/2009/03/a-new-orangutan-population-on-borneo

In addition to finding new populations of endangered species, expeditions into relatively unexplored regions of the planet still often result in the discovery of entirely new species. Below are just some of the unexpected discoveries that have occurred since the turn of the millennium.

Kipunji (Rungwecebus kipunji)

The remarkable discovery of Tanzania's kipunji in 2003 represented Africa's first new monkey discovery in 20 years. However, with a population of just over 1,000 individuals, this newly discovered primate is already considered to be on the brink of extinction.

For further information, see one of the previous ARKive news stories, Newly discovered monkey clings to survival.

Grey-faced elephant-shrew (Rhynchocyon udzungwensis)

Encouraged by images captured in a camera trap in a mountainous region of Tanzania, a group of scientists discovered a new species of elephant-shrew in 2006. Named for their long, trunk-like snout, the grey-faced elephant-shrew occurs in just two forests, separated by 20 kilometres.

Goodman's mouse lemur (Microcebus lehilahytsara)

Goodman's mouse lemur is a tiny Madagascan primate discovered as recently as 2005. Although classified as Data Deficient on the IUCN Red List, this species is likely to be threatened by habitat loss and degradation.

Visit MyARKive to see a selection of movies and images in the New Discoveries scrapbook.

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