NETHERLANDS: Conservationists hope 'web dating' for orangutans will raise awareness of the apes' natural habitat being destroyed by illegal oil palm plantations

Conservationists in the Netherlands hope that with the use of 'web-dating' people will learn about the amazing intelligence of orangutans and will reduce their consumption of palm oil which contributes to great losses of the animal's natural habitat. Fires in Borneo may have killed up to 1000 orangutans recently. Indonesia's annual problem with forest fires is blamed widely on farmers and logging companies clearing land for palm oil plantations. The orangutan's natural habitat is eroding and there are few places for the animals to go to avoid the fires - and threats to their natural habitat are largely responsible for them becoming an endangered species. The idea of web-dating for orangutans is a few years old. When Dr. Rob Shumaker of the National Zoo from Washington, D.C. visited the orangutan rescue centre "Wanariset" in Borneo, founded by Dutch conservationist Dr. Willie Smits, the two men used mirrors to help orangutans in separate cages communicate with each other. Their language is silent, but visual, so the next step was to provide them with webcams and computer screens. Such long-distance chat between the Dutch Ape centre "Apenheul" and rescue centre "Wanariset" in Indonesia will become a reality in January 2007. Leo Hulsker, a zoo keeper in "Apenheul" feels that if people were to learn about the intelligence of the orangutans, they would help try to save them. "One of the biggest threats at the moments is not just the destruction of the rain forest, but the destruction of the rain forest by illegal oil palm plantations - and it goes so fast that if we don't act now and try to protect the last pieces of rainforest, within three years there will be no wild orangutans left anymore, they will be only seen in zoos. At the same time, they are so intelligent, and they can learn so much that for them it would be no problem to learn how to use the computer. We think that if you show people like two orangutans communicating with each other from the Netherlands and Indonesia - then they will be amazed and they will understand hopefully, how intelligent they are," said Hulsker. The Netherlands is the world's third biggest importer of palm oil, after the US and China. According to Dr. Smits, it is possible to grow palm oil plantations and keep orangutans alive at the same time. Illegal palm oil plantations are the main reason that the wild population of orangutans face extinction within 2-3 years. "If the oil palms continue for another two years in the way they are going now, it's over. We don't need to try anymore to save the wild orangutans. They are deforesting the last high population habitats of orangutans, they are causing the fires that are now choking Kalimantang for humans and orangutans. This is what needs to be dealt with now," said Smits. Sir Dr. Willie Smits has been knighted by the Dutch Queen Beatrix for his conservation efforts. Currently, his two orangutan rescue centres in Kalimantan, Borneo, are the world's largest primate rescue operation in the world.

ITN Source | November 11, 2006

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