March 14, 2007
Endangered Orangutans in their Rainforest Homes
Carol Ritchie
Orangutan Federation International
Minutes of the 23rd Meeting of the 65th Year
President Joe Giordmaine called the 95 attending members at the Friend Centre to order for the opening meeting of the spring term of the 65th year at 10:15 AM. John Frederick read the minutes of last week's talk, "Leadership in a Technological World," by Dean H. Vincent Poor.
Two visitors were introduced. John Schmidt introduced Marsha Atcheson, and Scott McVay introduced his wife, Hella.
John Schmidt introduced the speaker, Carol Ritchie, a volunteer on behalf of the Orangutan Foundation International. Working in human resources with Campbell Soup, Carol surprised her co-workers in 1988 by saying she was traveling to Borneo to work with orangutans. They were even more surprised when she came back and said she loved it. A few years ago, to raise awareness about the dire situation of these great apes, Carol began giving slide presentations to convey what is at stake.
Carol Ritchie explained she went to Borneo as part of an Earthwatch expedition. Her friends said, "You are going to go where?" "You are going to do what?" "You are going to pay for this?" She thought it would be a one-time experience she would remember the rest of my life. What she saw and heard touched her heart, and she has since then made 12 additional trips, usually for two months at a time acting as a surrogate mother for orphan orangutans.
The larger context was framed by Louis Leakey, a world-famous paleontologist, who proposed long-term studies of the great apes. The chimpanzees and gorillas are found only in Africa, and they were studied assiduously by Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey (before she was killed by poachers), respectively. Leakey felt that women were in tune with the behavior of these animals, and he sponsored Goodall, a former secretary, to work with the chimpanzees, Dian Fossey, an American who was an occupational therapist, and Birute Galdikas, a graduate in anthropology, for the orangutans. All three went on to get Ph.Ds.
The difference between monkeys and apes is that monkeys have tails. The great apes, in the order of their genetic relationship to man, another ape, are bonobos (found only in the Congo and under stress), chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans. Orangutans have 97.5% the same DNA as we. The orangutans are found only in Indonesia on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo. The word comes from "orang" for man and "utan" for the forest.
When Birnte first arrived in one of the world's last wild places, Tanjung Putting Reserve in 1971 at age 25, she found no telephones, roads, electricity, television, or regular mail service. The reserve was being logged, and the laws protecting wildlife were not enforced.
Galdikas founded a research center that became, out of necessity, an orphanage since many mother orangutans, who care for their infants for six or seven years, were shot, their babies "adopted" and later abandoned. The care center opened in 1997. It houses a given orangutan for five or six years before each is taken for reentry in the forest at five different locations
Once there were hundreds of thousands of orangutans. Now only 15 to 20,000 remain. Why? Because of illegal logging. The rain forest is cut for farming, mainly for palm oil, which is used in cosmetics, chocolate, detergent, peanut butter, and other products. Because Java is crowded, people are encouraged to migrate to Borneo, the third largest island on Earth, and given five acres to farm.
Forest fires have burned millions of acres. In 1997-98, 133 were charged with setting fires, including the Good Hope Co, which can clear 25 acres of rain forest a night. Gold mines pollute the pristine rivers and streams with mercury. The situation is dire for the orangutans whose habitat is largely gone except for the most southerly part of Borneo. They are on the brink of extinction in the wild, which, unless major interventions occur, could happen within ten years.
Another big problem is that the apes are taken for the pet trade, which is illegal, and for bush meat, also illegal.
Carol Ritchie then showed a panoply of evocative slides to illustrate the plight of individual orangutans and the habitat. She showed many individual orangutans and spoke of their remarkable behaviors.
In concluding, she said that this audience (The Old Guard) was "the most elite group I have addressed."
During the question period, Ms. Ritchie was asked what kind of sounds they make. She said the big males make a long loud call that continues until it becomes a whisper. Most the orphans just make little squeaks. Do they use tools? They will use a leaf to get water out of a tree trunk. They will hold a large leaf over their heads during a rainstorm. .
Given all the problems and the government's intransigence, what's the future for the orangutan? As long as people try, there is hope that some place in the wild will remain, thanks to Birute Galdikas, Conservation International, the World Wildlife Fund, and many volunteers.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:26 AM.
Respectfully submitted,
Scott McVay
Two visitors were introduced. John Schmidt introduced Marsha Atcheson, and Scott McVay introduced his wife, Hella.
John Schmidt introduced the speaker, Carol Ritchie, a volunteer on behalf of the Orangutan Foundation International. Working in human resources with Campbell Soup, Carol surprised her co-workers in 1988 by saying she was traveling to Borneo to work with orangutans. They were even more surprised when she came back and said she loved it. A few years ago, to raise awareness about the dire situation of these great apes, Carol began giving slide presentations to convey what is at stake.
Carol Ritchie explained she went to Borneo as part of an Earthwatch expedition. Her friends said, "You are going to go where?" "You are going to do what?" "You are going to pay for this?" She thought it would be a one-time experience she would remember the rest of my life. What she saw and heard touched her heart, and she has since then made 12 additional trips, usually for two months at a time acting as a surrogate mother for orphan orangutans.
The larger context was framed by Louis Leakey, a world-famous paleontologist, who proposed long-term studies of the great apes. The chimpanzees and gorillas are found only in Africa, and they were studied assiduously by Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey (before she was killed by poachers), respectively. Leakey felt that women were in tune with the behavior of these animals, and he sponsored Goodall, a former secretary, to work with the chimpanzees, Dian Fossey, an American who was an occupational therapist, and Birute Galdikas, a graduate in anthropology, for the orangutans. All three went on to get Ph.Ds.
The difference between monkeys and apes is that monkeys have tails. The great apes, in the order of their genetic relationship to man, another ape, are bonobos (found only in the Congo and under stress), chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans. Orangutans have 97.5% the same DNA as we. The orangutans are found only in Indonesia on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo. The word comes from "orang" for man and "utan" for the forest.
When Birnte first arrived in one of the world's last wild places, Tanjung Putting Reserve in 1971 at age 25, she found no telephones, roads, electricity, television, or regular mail service. The reserve was being logged, and the laws protecting wildlife were not enforced.
Galdikas founded a research center that became, out of necessity, an orphanage since many mother orangutans, who care for their infants for six or seven years, were shot, their babies "adopted" and later abandoned. The care center opened in 1997. It houses a given orangutan for five or six years before each is taken for reentry in the forest at five different locations
Once there were hundreds of thousands of orangutans. Now only 15 to 20,000 remain. Why? Because of illegal logging. The rain forest is cut for farming, mainly for palm oil, which is used in cosmetics, chocolate, detergent, peanut butter, and other products. Because Java is crowded, people are encouraged to migrate to Borneo, the third largest island on Earth, and given five acres to farm.
Forest fires have burned millions of acres. In 1997-98, 133 were charged with setting fires, including the Good Hope Co, which can clear 25 acres of rain forest a night. Gold mines pollute the pristine rivers and streams with mercury. The situation is dire for the orangutans whose habitat is largely gone except for the most southerly part of Borneo. They are on the brink of extinction in the wild, which, unless major interventions occur, could happen within ten years.
Another big problem is that the apes are taken for the pet trade, which is illegal, and for bush meat, also illegal.
Carol Ritchie then showed a panoply of evocative slides to illustrate the plight of individual orangutans and the habitat. She showed many individual orangutans and spoke of their remarkable behaviors.
In concluding, she said that this audience (The Old Guard) was "the most elite group I have addressed."
During the question period, Ms. Ritchie was asked what kind of sounds they make. She said the big males make a long loud call that continues until it becomes a whisper. Most the orphans just make little squeaks. Do they use tools? They will use a leaf to get water out of a tree trunk. They will hold a large leaf over their heads during a rainstorm. .
Given all the problems and the government's intransigence, what's the future for the orangutan? As long as people try, there is hope that some place in the wild will remain, thanks to Birute Galdikas, Conservation International, the World Wildlife Fund, and many volunteers.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:26 AM.
Respectfully submitted,
Scott McVay