tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/orang-utan-10428/articlesorang-utan – The Conversation2017-05-17T20:16:56Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/775642017-05-17T20:16:56Z2017-05-17T20:16:56ZThe lengthy childhood of endangered orangutans is written in their teeth<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169181/original/file-20170513-3689-10bd37p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C576%2C3259%2C1705&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A young Bornean orangutan nursing.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Erin Vogel</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Orangutan populations in the wild are <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/39780/0">critically</a> <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/17975/0">endangered</a>, and one of the things that may hamper their survival is the time they take to rear new offspring.</p>
<p>An orangutan mother will not give birth again until she’s finished providing milk to her previous offspring. Nursing can take a long time and vary across seasons, as we found in research published today in <a href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/5/e1601517">Science Advances</a>.</p>
<p>Primate mothers, including humans, raise only a few slow-growing offspring during their reproductive years. </p>
<p>Differences in infant development have a profound effect on how many children a female can have over the course of her life – the key marker of success from an evolutionary vantage point. </p>
<p>Great apes have a high-stakes strategy. Chimpanzee mothers nurse their offspring for five years on average, twice as long as humans in traditional small-scaled societies. </p>
<p>Orangutans have been suspected of having even longer periods of infant dependency, although determining just how long has been a particular challenge for field biologists. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NuoTzBRsrG0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Wild orangutan from Gunung Palung National Park, Borneo, Indonesia with her one month old infant. (Gunung Palung Orangutan Project)</span></figcaption>
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<p>Living high up in dwindling Southeast Asian forests, these apes are adept at evading observers. Their nursing behaviour is often concealed, particularly while juveniles cling to their mother or rest together in night nests. </p>
<p>Maintaining continuous field studies to track their development is expensive, and efforts are hindered by frequent <a href="http://news.rutgers.edu/news/indonesian-fires-threaten-humans-and-wildlife/20151027#.WRiz-1J7GL9">forest fires</a> and devastating deforestation for <a href="https://www.orangutan.org.au/about-orangutans/palm-oil/">palm oil plantations</a>. </p>
<h2>Teeth tell the story</h2>
<p>I have spent the past few decades studying how orangutans and other primates form their teeth. Amazingly, every day of childhood is captured during tooth formation, a record that begins before birth and lasts for millions of years.</p>
<p>Teeth also contain detailed dietary, health and behavioural histories, allowing biological anthropologists <a href="https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/reconstructing-hominin-life-history-96635644">an unprecedented window into the human past</a>.</p>
<p>I’ve also teamed up with researchers Manish Arora and Christine Austin, at <a href="http://labs.icahn.mssm.edu/lautenberglab/">Icahn School of Medicine at Mt Sinai</a> in New York, who have pioneered methods to map the fine-scaled elemental composition of teeth, as well as primate lactation expert <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/katie-hinde-340889">Katie Hinde</a> at Arizona State University. </p>
<p>We have shown in a previous study that tiny amounts of the element barium are an <a href="https://heb.fas.harvard.edu/press4">accurate marker of mother’s milk consumption</a>. Like calcium, barium is sourced from the mother’s skeleton, concentrated in milk, and ultimately written into the bones and teeth of her offspring. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169224/original/file-20170514-3668-ld2oq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169224/original/file-20170514-3668-ld2oq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169224/original/file-20170514-3668-ld2oq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169224/original/file-20170514-3668-ld2oq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169224/original/file-20170514-3668-ld2oq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169224/original/file-20170514-3668-ld2oq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169224/original/file-20170514-3668-ld2oq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169224/original/file-20170514-3668-ld2oq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Tooth growth creates daily lines (indicated by short white lines), as well as a neonatal line (NL) at birth. Growth starts at the junction between enamel and dentine, and progresses away from the junction and towards the root (arrows).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Christine Austin and Tanya Smith</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Once animals start nursing after birth, their teeth show increases in barium values, which begin to decrease when solid food is added to the diet. These values drop further to pre-birth levels when primates stop nursing and are weaned.</p>
<p>We’ve recently used this approach to explore the nursing histories of wild orangutans in collaboration with orangutan expert <a href="https://erinvogelphd.wordpress.com">Erin Vogel</a> at Rutgers University. In order to do so, I borrowed teeth housed in natural history museums from individuals that had been shot many years ago during collection expeditions. </p>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wild Bornean orangutan mother and suckling 19-month old infant.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paige Prentice</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Orangutan teeth show a gradual increase in barium values from birth through their first year of life, a time of increasing consumption of their mother’s milk. After 12-18 months, values decrease as infants begin eating solid foods consistently.</p>
<p>But surprisingly, barium levels then begin to fluctuate on an approximately annual basis. We suspect that this is due to seasonal changes in food availability. When fruit is in short supply, infants appear to rely more on their mother’s milk to meet their nutritional needs.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169244/original/file-20170515-3649-1i5p6zk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169244/original/file-20170515-3649-1i5p6zk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169244/original/file-20170515-3649-1i5p6zk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169244/original/file-20170515-3649-1i5p6zk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169244/original/file-20170515-3649-1i5p6zk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169244/original/file-20170515-3649-1i5p6zk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1203&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169244/original/file-20170515-3649-1i5p6zk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1203&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169244/original/file-20170515-3649-1i5p6zk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1203&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Light microscope image (left) of a wild orangutan molar contrasted with an elemental map of the same tooth (right) showing the distribution of barium. The timing of barium incorporation was determined from accentuated lines (in days of age on the left), which form during enamel and dentine secretion. Approximately annual bands of enriched barium are apparent in the dentine after the first year, likely due to seasonal increases in mother’s milk intake.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Smith et al. (2017) Science Advances</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Hanging around</h2>
<p>Another surprising finding is that nursing may continue for more than eight years, longer than any other wild animal.</p>
<p>This information is the first of its kind for wild Sumatran orangutans, as they have been especially difficult to study in their native habitat. Previous estimates from two wild Bornean orangutans suggested that juveniles nurse until about six to eight years of age. </p>
<p>Rather than spending so much time and energy breastfeeding their children, human mothers in traditional societies transition their infants onto soft weaning foods around six months of age, tapering them off milk a few years later. </p>
<p>Humans also benefit from having help such as older siblings and grandparents who lend a hand with childcare and enable women to energetically prepare for having their next child. </p>
<p>Orangutan mothers have it hard by comparison. They live alone in unpredictable environments with limited nutritional resources. In order to survive <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2010/08/03/2971898.htm">they use less energy</a> than other great apes, raising their young more slowly. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169182/original/file-20170513-3675-1rluy4g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169182/original/file-20170513-3675-1rluy4g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169182/original/file-20170513-3675-1rluy4g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=829&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169182/original/file-20170513-3675-1rluy4g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=829&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169182/original/file-20170513-3675-1rluy4g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=829&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169182/original/file-20170513-3675-1rluy4g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1041&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169182/original/file-20170513-3675-1rluy4g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1041&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169182/original/file-20170513-3675-1rluy4g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1041&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wild orangutan mother and 11-month old infant.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tim Laman</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Vulnerable orangutans</h2>
<p>Female orangutans begin reproducing around age 15 and can live until 50 years old in the most favourable of circumstances. They bear new offspring every six to nine years, producing no more than six or seven descendents over their lifetime.</p>
<p>Having a long nursing period and slow maturation makes orangutan populations especially vulnerable to environmental perturbations. </p>
<p>Recent work has also implicated <a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/extinction-countdown/orangutan-conservation-food/">poor habitat quality</a> and the pet trade as additional factors in their rapidly declining numbers, which is underscored by their critically endangered status.</p>
<p>Research on collections housed in natural history museums provides timely evidence of how remarkable orangutans are, how much information we can retrieve from their teeth, and why <a href="http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/great_apes/orangutans/">conservation efforts</a> informed by evolutionary biology are critical.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77564/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This research was funded by NSF BCS 0213994 (T.M.S.), BCS 0643122 (E.V.), NIEHS DP2ES025453 (M.A.), R00ES019597 (M.A.), APS-497-11-000001 (E.V.), Griffith University, Stony Brook University, the Max Planck Society, Harvard University, L.S.B Leakey Foundation, Rutgers University, and the Center for Human Evolutionary Studies. </span></em></p>Young orangutans are dependent on their mother’s milk for many years and that could have an impact on the survival of the critically endangered species.Tanya M. Smith, Associate Professor in the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/545512016-03-14T19:13:35Z2016-03-14T19:13:35ZOrang-utans play video games too, and it can enrich their lives in the zoo<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/114903/original/image-20160314-11299-1tgqr2o.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An orang-utan playing with the interactive digital projector at the Melbourne Zoo.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Microsoft Research Centre for Social Natural User Interfaces at the University of Melbourne</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Visiting the orang-utans at the zoo brings us face to face with some of our closest relatives. Moments of connection with these intelligent creatures can be powerfully emotional. </p>
<p>We heard recently about the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-09/breastfeeding-mother-has-emotional-encounter-with-melbourne-zoo/7153746">amazing experience</a> of a visitor to Melbourne Zoo who sat to breastfeed her child and was watched with interest by a female orang-utan. </p>
<p>Families are also regularly captivated by the antics of the Zoo’s youngest orang-utan, who seems to delight in playing near children on the other side of the glass.</p>
<p>Now Zoos Victoria and technology researchers are collaborating to explore whether digital technologies could let orang-utans choose to interact safely with visitors in entirely new ways.</p>
<h2>Digital enrichment</h2>
<p>For modern zoo organisations such as Zoos Victoria, the animals’ wellbeing is top priority. Cognitive enrichment is vital, particularly for species such as primates and elephants which evolved astonishing intelligence and problem-solving skills to meet the challenges of survival in the wild. </p>
<p>Research suggests that <a href="http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/zoo.21207">orang-utans like to watch what’s happening</a> on the visitors’ side of the glass, and interacting with visitors could be an important form of enrichment for them.</p>
<p>There is a real art to developing enrichment that encourages smart animals to use their intellect to explore and solve problems. On occasion, keepers at Melbourne Zoo have taken hours to prepare a new fiendish food puzzle, only to see the orang-utans solve it in a <a href="http://www.pearsonplaces.com.au/Places/Magazines_Place/moreanimals.aspx">matter of minutes</a>. </p>
<p>And of course enrichment must be safe and robust (an orang-utan can be nine times stronger than a human), which limits the equipment that zoos can use. </p>
<p>To continue to provide novelty and variety, primate keepers have started to add digital enrichment to the range of existing activities. At Melbourne, and a number of other zoos, <a href="http://goo.gl/3BR9Xo">orang-utans have learned to use a tablet computer</a> through the wire of the enclosure to play with chase games, music-making and painting apps. </p>
<p>As a team of technology researchers and zoos professionals, we are investigating new forms of digital enrichment. Our collaboration began as the result of a happy accident: a Melbourne Zoo staff member happened to visit the <a href="http://www.socialnui.unimelb.edu.au/">Microsoft Research Centre for Social Natural User Interfaces</a>, and had the opportunity to play a video game with the Microsoft Xbox and <a href="http://www.xbox.com/en-AU/Kinect">Kinect</a> body tracker. </p>
<p>She quickly realised that motion-based games could provide entirely new ways to address the challenges of orang-utan enrichment. </p>
<h2>Touching games</h2>
<p>Computer-based enrichment is <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/zoo.20353">an attractive prospect for zoos</a>. It could be easily modified to provide new challenges, or tailored to an individual orang-utan’s skill level. It overcomes some of the safety issues of introducing new physical objects. And it might allow animals a choice of enrichment when keepers are not available. </p>
<p>We have created an interactive projection which works like a touchscreen on the floor, using a projector and a Microsoft Kinect body tracker placed outside the enclosure. Recently we have been trialling simple games to show the orang-utans that this interactive projection responds to their touch, and start investigating how they might use it. </p>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A virtual touchscreen projected into the orang-utan enclosure.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joshua Newn, University of Melbourne</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In our first game, which has proven a big success, large coloured dots move around the projection and explode in pulsing waves of colour when touched. The interests of Melbourne Zoo’s orang-utans have inspired some of our apps, including one which allows the animals to view photos or videos, choosing them from a gallery. </p>
<p>We are confident that the orang-utans would quickly learn to use the touchscreen if we train them to. However, as part of our research we have let orang-utans explore the touchscreen without direction. </p>
<p>By not rewarding them for using the projection, we have been able to investigate how interesting this enrichment is to them, see how intuitively they take to it, and see their preferred ways of interacting with it. </p>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Catch the dot’ game helps orang-utans learn how to use the virtual touchscreen.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joshua Newn, University of Melbourne</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The six orang-utans at Melbourne Zoo have all tried out the interactive projection, and most seem to have learned that fun things happen when they touch the bright moving shapes on the floor. </p>
<p>Excitingly, they have shown us some unexpected styles of interaction, such as kissing the projection, sweeping it with the back of the hand, exploring how it works with physical objects and even swooshing a cloth at it from above. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/114634/original/image-20160310-26242-153nvvl.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/114634/original/image-20160310-26242-153nvvl.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/114634/original/image-20160310-26242-153nvvl.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/114634/original/image-20160310-26242-153nvvl.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/114634/original/image-20160310-26242-153nvvl.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/114634/original/image-20160310-26242-153nvvl.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/114634/original/image-20160310-26242-153nvvl.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/114634/original/image-20160310-26242-153nvvl.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An orang-utan investigates the photo gallery.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Microsoft Research Centre for Social Natural User Interfaces at the University of Melbourne</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Interactive connection</h2>
<p>We hope that digital technology will allow animals greater choice over their environment and enrichment. A first step will be for orang-utans to choose which game to play. </p>
<p>In the future, they might be given control over lighting or temperature, or perhaps even feeding schedules and interaction with other animals or humans. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112482/original/image-20160223-16425-1bbt5mp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112482/original/image-20160223-16425-1bbt5mp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112482/original/image-20160223-16425-1bbt5mp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112482/original/image-20160223-16425-1bbt5mp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112482/original/image-20160223-16425-1bbt5mp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112482/original/image-20160223-16425-1bbt5mp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112482/original/image-20160223-16425-1bbt5mp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112482/original/image-20160223-16425-1bbt5mp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An orangutan and keeper play a game on either side of the glass, at Melbourne Zoo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Zoos Victoria</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As orang-utans seem to find humans interesting, we are experimenting with creating a shared digital space where orang-utans can choose to interact safely with keepers and even visitors. </p>
<p>In our first trial of a game for humans and orang-utans, we saw with delight that they chose to play even with people they had not met before, creating a powerful sense of connection for the human player. </p>
<p>The day is perhaps not far off when digital technology might let you get closer than ever to our primate cousins.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/54551/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Webber receives a Top-Up Scholarship from the Microsoft Research Centre for Social Natural User Interfaces (SocialNUI) at The University of Melbourne.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marcus Carter is a Research Fellow at the Microsoft Research Centre for Social Natural User Interfaces (SocialNUI) which is funded by the Victorian State Government, the University of Melbourne and Microsoft.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sally Sherwen works for Zoos Victoria.</span></em></p>An experiment providing interactive games for orang-utans is showing the potential for digital technology to enrich the lives of zoo animals.Sarah Webber, PhD Student in Human-Computer Interaction, The University of MelbourneMarcus Carter, SocialNUI Research Fellow, The University of MelbourneSally Sherwen, Animal Welfare Specialist, Zoos Victoria, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/547462016-02-17T19:17:36Z2016-02-17T19:17:36ZGoing on safari? Research shows ecotourism can help save threatened species<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111622/original/image-20160216-22587-z3cdft.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Black rhino cow and calf, southern Africa.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Guy Castley</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Should your next holiday include a safari, whale watching, or a trip to a tiger temple? Ecotourism has recently been in the spotlight. For instance, we’ve seen claims that <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/asia/india/articles/Tiger-increase-in-India-proof-of-the-benefits-of-tourism/">tourism helps conserve tigers</a> and that it has been linked to <a href="http://www.natgeotraveller.in/web-exclusive/web-exclusive-month/video-evidence-links-thailands-tiger-temple-to-wildlife-trafficking/">wildlife trafficking</a>. </p>
<p>But how can we tell if ecotourism is good or bad for threatened species? In our research published today in PLOS ONE we looked at nine different species, and found that overall, <a href="http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0147988">ecotourism is good for wildlife</a>. <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22685553/0">Great green macaw</a> in Costa Rica, <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22695180/0">Egyptian vultures</a> in Spain, <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/39876/0">hoolock gibbons</a> in India, <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22697810/0">African penguins</a>, <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/12436/0">African wild dogs</a>, <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/219/0">cheetahs</a>, and <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/11506/0">golden lion tamarins</a> in Brazil all benefited from tourism. </p>
<p>But we also found that current tourism levels aren’t enough to help <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/39780/0">orang utans in Sumatra</a>, and are actually bad for <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/17026/0">sea lions in New Zealand</a>. So how do we get the balance right?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111589/original/image-20160216-22570-r50hai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111589/original/image-20160216-22570-r50hai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111589/original/image-20160216-22570-r50hai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111589/original/image-20160216-22570-r50hai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111589/original/image-20160216-22570-r50hai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111589/original/image-20160216-22570-r50hai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=636&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111589/original/image-20160216-22570-r50hai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=636&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111589/original/image-20160216-22570-r50hai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=636&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">African penguins in Algoa Bay, South Africa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Guy Castley</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What is ecotourism?</h2>
<p>“Ecotourism” is a very broad term. It may include visitors to public national parks, volunteers for community projects, or adventurous expeditions to remote regions. Some may even include hunting safaris. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/can-tourism-really-have-conservation-benefits-1337">Ecotourism has both positive and negative effects</a>. It can contribute to conservation, or impact wildlife, or both. Some effects are small, others large; some direct, others indirect. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21628860-200-endangered-animals-caught-in-the-tourist-trap/">Attitudes of local communities</a> towards native wildlife, for example, influence whether they support or oppose poaching. Furthermore, income from ecotourism may be used for conservation and local community development projects, but not always.</p>
<p>We also need some way to measure ecotourism effects on wildlife? Many ecotourism measures are social or economic rather than ecological. It’s often difficult to compare positive and negative impacts on a species. Therefore, quantifying the net effect of ecotourism is challenging. </p>
<p>For species at risk of extinction, such as those in the <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/">International Union for the Conservation of Nature Red List</a>, it is critical to be able to assess how various threats, including tourism, affect their survival. So we wanted to develop a way of measuring how ecotourism affects the risk of extinction for these species. </p>
<h2>Measuring ecotourism</h2>
<p>Previously when considering ecotourism researchers looked at revenue to parks, and how much of a species’ global population was protected by these parks. </p>
<p>This approach showed that tourism funding is significant for many IUCN Redlisted <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0044134">mammals</a>, <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0062598">birds</a> and <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0043757">amphibians</a>. But it doesn’t tell us whether ecotourism will help or harm a specific species or population.</p>
<p>Our new approach uses population analysis (specifically population viability analysis). This sort of analysis is the gold standard for predicting future population trends, and probable time to extinction, for threatened species. </p>
<p>We looked at how populations changed over time in response to threatening processes, by simulating births and deaths one generation at a time. We do this thousands of times to estimate extinction risk. These methods are well-tested and widely-used in practical wildlife management. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111750/original/image-20160217-19269-1y39fjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111750/original/image-20160217-19269-1y39fjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111750/original/image-20160217-19269-1y39fjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111750/original/image-20160217-19269-1y39fjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111750/original/image-20160217-19269-1y39fjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111750/original/image-20160217-19269-1y39fjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111750/original/image-20160217-19269-1y39fjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111750/original/image-20160217-19269-1y39fjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">African wild dogs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ralf Buckley</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To do this we need to know a couple of things about the species we are looking at: habitat area; population size and age. We also need to know the birth and death rates for different ages as well as migration patterns. This information exists only for some threatened species such as those used in our study.</p>
<p>We also need to be able to convert ecotourism effects into these measures of species performance. By looking at how ecotourism affects these aspects we can compare ecotourism to other threats such as poaching, logging, or fishing. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111786/original/image-20160217-19250-1c2lrz8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111786/original/image-20160217-19250-1c2lrz8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111786/original/image-20160217-19250-1c2lrz8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111786/original/image-20160217-19250-1c2lrz8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111786/original/image-20160217-19250-1c2lrz8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111786/original/image-20160217-19250-1c2lrz8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111786/original/image-20160217-19250-1c2lrz8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111786/original/image-20160217-19250-1c2lrz8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A tiger in India (from the back of an elephant)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ralf Buckley</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Winners and losers</h2>
<p>For seven of the species that we looked at, ecotourism provides net conservation gains. This is achieved through establishing private conservation reserves, restoring habitat or by reducing habitat damage. Removing feral predators, increasing anti-poaching patrols, captive breeding and supplementary feeding also helps.</p>
<p>But for orang utans in Sumatra, small-scale ecotourism cannot overcome the negative impacts of logging. However, larger-scale ecotourism yields a net positive outcome by enabling habitat protection and reintroduction of individuals from captive situations.</p>
<p>Unfortunately for New Zealand’s sea lions, ecotourism only compounds the impacts of intensive fisheries, because it increases the number of sea lion pups dying as a result of direct disturbance at haul out sites.</p>
<p>Our research highlights three key messages. The first is that to predict how ecotourism affects wildlife, we need to know basic things about them: ecotourism needs biologists as well as social scientists. </p>
<p>The second is that the effects of ecotourism are not universal: whether ecotourism is good or bad depends on the species and local circumstances. </p>
<p>The third, and perhaps most important, is that ecotourism, at appropriate levels, can indeed help to save threatened species from extinction.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111591/original/image-20160216-6548-1h4w3jx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111591/original/image-20160216-6548-1h4w3jx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111591/original/image-20160216-6548-1h4w3jx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111591/original/image-20160216-6548-1h4w3jx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111591/original/image-20160216-6548-1h4w3jx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111591/original/image-20160216-6548-1h4w3jx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111591/original/image-20160216-6548-1h4w3jx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111591/original/image-20160216-6548-1h4w3jx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">River ecotourism at the Storms River Mouth, Tsitsikama National Park, South Africa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Guy Castley</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/54746/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Next time you plan a holiday you can rest assured that wildlife sightseeing can help some threatened species.Guy Castley, Senior Lecturer, Griffith UniversityClare Morrison, Research Fellow - Academic Editor, Griffith UniversityRalf Buckley, International Chair in Ecotourism Research, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/457832015-09-24T05:27:33Z2015-09-24T05:27:33ZOrangutans need more than your well-meaning clicktivism<p>Orangutans are often more popular on the internet than in their native forests. Online, their attractive faces, fluffy bodies and swinging abilities make them perhaps the most shareable of all the great apes. But back in Borneo and Sumatra, where local populations are more ambivalent about orangutans, the situation is less straightforward.</p>
<p>The third annual <a href="http://www.worldorangutanevents.org/international-orangutan-day.php">International Orangutan Day</a> was held in August: a celebration of all things orangutan which aimed to highlight their crisis and encourage public action. For 24 hours, orangutan conservation organisations filled Facebook and Twitter with images, trivia and calls to save the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra – their only home. People donated to charities, signed petitions, liked, tagged, shared and retweeted content, posted supportive selfies and even organised local gatherings to mark the day. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"634115097762373632"}"></div></p>
<p>This was just one of many digital entry-points that has made orangutan conservation an increasingly accessible, everyday affair. Today, one doesn’t need to gain a PhD, spend months in the jungle or stage Greenpeace-style confrontations to help save orangutans. Thanks to digital technology and social networking, ordinary members of the public can do their bit. </p>
<p>The dominant narrative portrays orangutans as being pushed to the brink of extinction by deforestation and the expansion of oil palm plantations. This is often illustrated by a colourful cast of both stereotypical characters – the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WorldOrangutanEvents/photos/gm.398655310343575/885813438180279/?type=1">majestic, handsome male</a>, the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WorldOrangutanEvents/photos/gm.398683353674104/885856378175985/?type=1">loving mother and the cute baby</a> – and individual personalities such as Budi and Jemmi, two orphans in Sumatra whose adventures have been avidly followed across <a href="https://www.facebook.com/internationalanimalrescue">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/IAR_updates">Twitter</a> and their <a href="http://www.internationalanimalrescue.org/when-baby-budi-met-jemmi">rescue centre’s website</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tOxaOPA96kQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Budi and Jemmi enjoying some guava.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These charismatic creatures bring a powerful immediacy and reality to the dominant narrative. Through them, an account of environmental destruction and species loss is turned into a series of gripping stories and personal tragedies: the innocent babies who have lost their mothers, the formidable male left helpless by chainsaws, the “saved” victims in need of help. </p>
<p>Not simply animals or scientific specimens, these orangutans are the very faces of the rainforest – threatened by appropriately large, faceless villains. As such, they’re immensely powerful magnets of public affection, <a href="http://www.orangutan.org.uk">support</a> and funding. </p>
<h2>The other faces of orangutan conservation</h2>
<p>In the midst of all this, however, some other faces and voices remain hidden. Among them are the people who live alongside orangutans in Borneo and Sumatra. </p>
<p>Many orangutan conservation bodies work closely with local partners and communities. But these collaborations tend to receive far less attention in online conversations and popular perceptions of the orangutan “crisis”. And when local communities do appear in conservation material, they’re often cast as either victims of deforestation or as “<a href="http://www.culturalsurvival.org/ourpublications/csq/article/the-ecologically-noble-savage">ecologically noble</a>” allies who simply need to be educated about conservation.</p>
<p>But as any anthropologist would point out, real life is far more complicated than that. Even the most exotic groups have internal divisions, ambitions, political leanings and ethical dilemmas. Not everybody is an instinctive defender of the forest or subscriber to Western conservation values. </p>
<p>Indeed, many rural Borneans are understandably more concerned about obtaining development and guarding their livelihoods – from crop-raiding orangutans, for instance – than the rather vague idea of saving the environment. And as recent <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0027491">research</a> has shown, humans and orangutans are not always natural bedfellows. Hunting and conflict-related killing have also contributed to the decline of orangutan populations in recent decades. </p>
<p>Such findings don’t make for easy reading, not least because they reveal the complex humanity of Bornean and Sumatran populations. Like orangutans, these rainforest dwellers also have a vital stake in the fate of their environment – but in ways that can challenge the black-and-white morality of the dominant conservation narrative. </p>
<p>Only a small minority of these voices are currently part of digital conversations about orangutan conservation. But if orangutan conservation goals are to be realised, these local faces and voices can’t be glossed over. Rather, they need to be more carefully integrated into the dominant narrative – while ideally helping to transform it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/45783/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Liana Chua has previously conducted research (as a volunteer) with the Sumatran Orangutan Society.</span></em></p>People living in their forests must be on board too – and they don’t always subscribe to Western conservation values.Liana Chua, Lecturer in Anthropology, Brunel University LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/336322014-10-30T03:46:11Z2014-10-30T03:46:11ZPalm oil plantations are bad for wildlife great and small: study<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63256/original/292hzpgb-1414632812.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Where the rainforest meets the plantation: there are probably a lot more insects.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/cifor/5701875645/in/photolist-9FRAYM-4B3Veu-dqcPm2-ohhUjQ-CbYER-frhyEC-6HQYi-bfVFr6-EVN69-cZyaU7-ohk271-frhyQY-nZZh3q-5h1LJx-bGwnZc-bGwjrV-4VKBfX-9FRCoF-4QwFSU-bGwgCV-fzPoF-bGwgWB-a2id3q-fA3mE-9GvEvb-fzPa3-bGwpEK-5h1MDa-CD3Qe-9FUzru-9FT6u5-9FUB7m-9Gt62i-9GsUwi-9GvBhS-3Z48P-9dvuRw-cZy9ed-cSD4aN-4pNR77-bYXp5C-cZy9qS-5h1KvM-cSD427-bYYQeL-a2fiBX-cZy9yQ-621CM-5h1JLc-a2idm9">Ryan Woo for Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Palm oil plantations have an overall negative impact on biodiversity, according to research released this week. The <a href="http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/141028/ncomms6351/full/ncomms6351.html">study</a>, published in Nature Communications, found palm oil plantations are home to fewer insect species than even intensive rubber tree plantations. </p>
<p>A forests expert at James Cook University, Bill Laurance, said of the research: “The big message is that oil palm is bad for biodiversity, in every sense of the word — even when compared to damaged rainforests that are regenerating after earlier logging or clearing.”</p>
<p>The study, conducted in Sumatra – an Indonesian island famous for its tiger and orangutan populations – found that palm oil plantations contain half the number of insect species that natural forests do. </p>
<p>Worldwide, palm oil is one of the most rapidly expanding crops, with the total area of land devoted to palm oil production tripling in the last <a href="http://www.rspo.org/file/GHGWG2/4_oil_palm_and_land_use_change_Gunarso_et_al.pdf">25 years</a>. This expansion has been blamed for the rapid <a href="http://www.wwf.org.au/our_work/saving_the_natural_world/forests/palm_oil/palm_oil_and_deforestation/">deforestation</a> seen in both Indonesia and Malaysia in recent years. </p>
<p>In Sumatra, roughly 25% of palm oil plantations have been <a href="http://www.rspo.org/file/GHGWG2/4_oil_palm_and_land_use_change_Gunarso_et_al.pdf">directly converted from forest</a>. Still, Indonesia – one of the world’s leading palm oil producers — plans to double palm oil production by <a href="http://blog.cifor.org/17798/fact-file-indonesia-world-leader-in-palm-oil-production">2020</a>. </p>
<p>The environmental and social consequences of palm oil production have been hotly debated over the past decade, particularly due to the industry’s impact on orangutans. </p>
<h2>Losing predators</h2>
<p>A decline in predatory insects — which help keep other species under control — was particularly worrying. </p>
<p>Laurance explained: </p>
<p>“This is analogous to the kinds of changes we see in larger animals, such as birds and mammals. The specialists and bigger predators tend to be highly vulnerable, and they’re often replaced by generalist omnivores in disturbed environments. </p>
<p>"For example, you lose tigers and specialised understory birds and gain ‘trash’ species—such as generalist rats—that can live almost anywhere.”</p>
<h2>Ecosystem damage</h2>
<p>Insects are important in ecosystems because they help recycle nutrients, and are a food source for other species. </p>
<p>The new research shows a clear link between the reduced numbers of species in palm oil plantations, and lower energy transfer and ecosystem function in these regions. </p>
<p>This is bad news for other species that live in the region, such as the orang-utan: if the environment is producing less energy, it will be harder to survive. </p>
<p>Head of the Conservation Biology department at the University of Göttingen, Germany, and one of the paper’s authors, Ulrich Brose, said there could be several reasons for the loss of insects. </p>
<p>“Two potential explanations are the pesticides or insecticides applied at higher levels in oil palm plantations or differences in energy (litter or nutrients) input.” </p>
<p>He said their data couldn’t yet disentangle these causes, however the research team at the University of Göttingen were working towards an answer.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/33632/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Palm oil plantations have an overall negative impact on biodiversity, according to research released this week. The study, published in Nature Communications, found palm oil plantations are home to fewer…Samantha Walker, EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/265212014-05-18T20:03:44Z2014-05-18T20:03:44ZHow wildlife tourism and zoos can protect animals in the wild<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48580/original/jpzkdsvw-1400131006.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Seeing orangutans like Big Ritchie in conservation areas can raise vital support to protect his cousins in the wild, new research shows.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Big Ritchie looks up from his pile of bananas, unperturbed by the flock of tourists taking his photo. Sprawled around him, mother <a href="http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/orangutan.html">orangutans*</a> and their fluffy orange babies groom affectionately, chase each other, hang upside down, or wander off and vanish into the nearby forest canopy.</p>
<p>Fewer than 2,000 orangutans are left living in the wild in the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with nearly all truly wild ones confined to a remote site on the Indonesian border. It’s why thousands of tourists and local Sarawak people come to places like this – the popular <a href="http://www.sarawakforestry.com/htm/snp-nr-semenggoh.html">Semenggoh Nature Reserve</a> – to see orangutans semi-wild in a reserve or captive in a rehabilitation centre.</p>
<p>Our new research has found that some 40% of the tourists to Semenggoh said they had come to Sarawak primarily to see orangutans. We also discovered something more surprising: that international tourists visiting Semenggoh said they would be happy <em>not</em> to see these wild orangutans, just so long as the orangutans were being conserved.</p>
<p>This finding – published in the latest edition of the journal <a href="http://www.conservationandsociety.org/article.asp?issn=0972-4923;year=2014;volume=12;issue=1;spage=27;epage=42;aulast=Zander;type=0">Conservation & Society</a> – is significant for global conservation efforts, because it suggests that the wildlife experience can be separated from the wild life. And that could benefit both tourists and animals still living in the wild.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48579/original/2988mk3t-1400130870.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48579/original/2988mk3t-1400130870.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48579/original/2988mk3t-1400130870.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48579/original/2988mk3t-1400130870.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48579/original/2988mk3t-1400130870.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48579/original/2988mk3t-1400130870.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48579/original/2988mk3t-1400130870.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A mother and infant orangutan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Not totally wild</h2>
<p>Our study found that the visitors to Semenggoh who came to Sarawak for orangutans contribute between <a href="http://www.conservationandsociety.org/article.asp?issn=0972-4923;year=2014;volume=12;issue=1;spage=27;epage=42;aulast=Zander;type=0">US$13 million-US$23 million</a> a year to the local economy. </p>
<p>Importantly, the tourists said they would be willing to contribute at least as much again to orangutan conservation. However, they said that they would like to see that money used not to support apes at tourist attractions, but instead go to help the remaining truly wild orangutans in and around remote Batang Ai National Park, the last wild population in all of Sarawak.</p>
<p>If tourists want to see orangutans in the wild, they face a 24 hour trip by bus, canoe and on foot into leechy, rainy jungle – all for a slim chance of glimpsing a terrified orange blur, fleeing through the treetops.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48585/original/2cdfwt8f-1400132466.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48585/original/2cdfwt8f-1400132466.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48585/original/2cdfwt8f-1400132466.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1067&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48585/original/2cdfwt8f-1400132466.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1067&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48585/original/2cdfwt8f-1400132466.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1067&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48585/original/2cdfwt8f-1400132466.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1340&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48585/original/2cdfwt8f-1400132466.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1340&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48585/original/2cdfwt8f-1400132466.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1340&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Orangutans swinging along above the heads of visiting school children.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So the upside of visiting a place like Semenggoh is that people get to see animals that still look and behave as if they are wild, but without the long trip and discomfort. After snapping their photos, tourists return to their buses for the 20 minute ride to Kuching, the capital of Sarawak.</p>
<p>As for the truly wild orangutans, they would happily never see another human. They are bothered enough by poachers, so any scent or sight of people causes distress. </p>
<p>Their relatives in Semenngoh, however, appeared to be as amused by the humans as the humans are by them. They do not have to come out to take to the proffered food, because they can usually find enough in the surrounding forest, but many come anyway.</p>
<p>Interestingly, both wild and semi-captive populations can benefit from each other. Fewer people would visit Semenggoh, or even come to Sarawak, were the last wild orangutans to be lost from the state. Menwhie the state could get much more assistance for managing the national park were they to ask for contributions from visitors to Semmenggoh.</p>
<h2>Tourism, but not at all costs</h2>
<p>This story has several ramifications.</p>
<p>Wildlife tourism has become important to many economies around the world. But the experience has often come at a cost to the wildlife itself, or to the environment that supports it. </p>
<p>Our Sarawak research suggests that most tourists are happy not to frighten the geese that lay the golden tourist dollars – the genuinely wild populations – as long as they can go home having had some experience that is close to the real thing.</p>
<p>This is also good news for zoos. Some expect that, as a last resort, zoos can keep populations of wild animals should they disappear in the wild. </p>
<p>However, <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1523-1739.1996.10030719.x/abstract;jsessionid=84CFEC7C8488714985F98B1DC86478D6.f04t03?deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=&userIsAuthenticated=false>">this is never likely</a>. Even if zoos could house a few of each species, which they can’t, zoos can never retain the genetic variability of a wild population.</p>
<p>But a few individuals of charismatic umbrella species may be all that zoos need, if they can attract enough tourist dollars for cash-strapped governments to support both the zoos and the conservation of those in the unseen wild.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48583/original/rpj6j472-1400131994.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48583/original/rpj6j472-1400131994.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48583/original/rpj6j472-1400131994.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48583/original/rpj6j472-1400131994.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48583/original/rpj6j472-1400131994.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48583/original/rpj6j472-1400131994.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48583/original/rpj6j472-1400131994.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48583/original/rpj6j472-1400131994.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A little penguin at Phillip Island.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/benbeiske/4136064334/in/photolist-7iupQ3-7iquRr-eekwd9-7iuoBh-eekwi5-7iurLh-5TQnR9-4ax3pa-a3c8dh-f1VEKs-8VeNGa-8VeNFZ-8VeNG8-8VeSVZ-8VeNFR-8VeNG6-8VeNG4-9Crekp-5YEuu-dHxAsy-9WUi9U-fke4TE-7JDaM9-5QSvFh-jWcNZB-81uBP6-ohcUB-bA6LTb-49V7NN-9arFMX-4YH4WH-8HPyaK-8HPy3n-5HmVP-4dRiuw-7pE3iZ-7S4kpw">Ben Beiske/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Australia, even common species can be hard to see, let alone the rare ones that require conservation care.</p>
<p>While some members of the public support conservation of such animals on principle, or based on their virtual experience of places that only wildlife and David Attenborough inhabit, the burgeoning wildlife tourism industry suggests a craving for personal experience.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48582/original/b7nxtwsx-1400131823.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48582/original/b7nxtwsx-1400131823.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48582/original/b7nxtwsx-1400131823.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48582/original/b7nxtwsx-1400131823.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48582/original/b7nxtwsx-1400131823.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48582/original/b7nxtwsx-1400131823.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48582/original/b7nxtwsx-1400131823.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48582/original/b7nxtwsx-1400131823.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A happy visitor with a penguin handbag at Phillip Island in Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jonathan Lin/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some places do that brilliantly. The Phillip Island penguins in southern Australia have brought wild penguins to the public for decades, fostering conservation of the penguins across their range. In 2012 this one attraction contributed <a href="http://www.penguins.org.au/assets/About/PDF-Publications/annual-report-2011-12.pdf">A$150 million to the Victorian economy</a>.</p>
<p>But how do you take a busload of tourists down the burrow of a bilby so they can personally experience the wiffly pink nose of Australia’s Easter icon? The answer is you don’t: you link the experience of captive colonies in nocturnal houses to conservation of the bilby and its habitat in the wild.</p>
<p>The important thing is for the different players to work together: conservation managers, zoos and the tourist industry to search for sweet spots where everybody benefits, including the wildlife.</p>
<p>Such approaches won’t work universally. But increasingly conservationists are finding that many threatened species do need to turn a dollar to justify their protection and existence.</p>
<p>Orangutans in Sarawak have put up their hairy hands to show that they can do that, and help support local people through increased tourism.</p>
<p>Around the world, threatened species conservation needs to learn more from orangutans and little penguins, so that more of them find a way into the hearts – and wallets – of a more sympathetic public.</p>
<p><em>* Editor’s note: <a href="http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/orangutan.html">“Orangutan”</a> (also often written as orang-utan or orang utan) is derived from Malay and Indonesian words: “orang” meaning person, and “utan” from “hutan”, meaning forest. So orangutans are the people of the forest.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/26521/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Garnett receives funding from the Australian Research Council but none related to this project.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kerstin Zander does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Big Ritchie looks up from his pile of bananas, unperturbed by the flock of tourists taking his photo. Sprawled around him, mother orangutans* and their fluffy orange babies groom affectionately, chase…Stephen Garnett, Professor of Biodiversity and Sustainability, Charles Darwin UniversityKerstin Zander, Senior Research Fellow, Charles Darwin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.