MALAYSIA TWEAKED ‘ORANGUTAN DIPLOMACY’

Malaysia has proposed that importers of Malaysian palm oil will be offered to “sponsor” one or more orangutans and the funds will be used for their conservation within Malaysia.

ORANGUTAN:

• Orangutans are the largest arboreal mammal, spending most of their time in trees.
• They are the closest living relatives of humans and they share 96.4% of Human genes and are highly intelligent creatures.
• There are three species of Orangutan – the Bornean, Sumatran and Tapanuli – which differ a little in appearance and behavior.

1. Eating habits:

• Orangutans mainly eat fruits, such as mangoes, lychees and figs, but they also feed on young leaves, flowers, insects, and even small mammals.

2. Habitat and Distribution:

• They can occur up to 1,500m above sea level, most are found in lowland areas and prefer forests in river valleys or floodplains.
• These great apes are only found in the wild on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra.

3. IUCN status:

• All three orangutan species are critically endangered

ABOUT:

• In its earlier move, Malaysia intends to gift orangutans to palm oil-purchasing countries as part of an initiative similar to China’s panda diplomacy.
• However it was severely criticized by the animal welfare groups of Malaysia.