Maria Voigt, German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research; Erik Meijaard, Australian National University, and Serge Wich, Liverpool John Moores University
To save the orangutans we must both protect their forests and stop any hunting and killing within them.
The new species has a smaller head, and a distinctly ‘cinnamon’ colour compared with other orangutans.
Maxime Aliaga
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.
Realizing that others’ minds hold different thoughts, feelings and knowledge than your own was thought to be something only people could do. But evidence is accumulating that apes, too, have ‘theory of mind.’
Eoanthropus dawsoni, or the Piltdown Man, never really existed.
Wikimedia/Wellcome Images
One of paleontology’s most notorious hoaxes has long been blamed on a serial forger named Charles Dawson. But might a Jesuit priest have been in on a joke that went wrong ?
Sumatra’s tigers are among the species that will benefit from a new land-clearing moratorium in Leuser’s forests.
dangdumrong/Shutterstock
The Leuser ecosystem in northern Sumatra is home to some of the world’s rarest and best-loved animals. Thanks to a new government moratorium on land clearing, conservationists have enjoyed a big win.
Black rhino cow and calf, southern Africa.
Guy Castley
One of the common problems we have in wildlife biology is knowing how many of an endangered species there are in a particular area. For example, how many orangutans are there in a particular national park…
How do the products we buy affect the world’s rainforests? In the lead up to the Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit held in Sydney this week, The Conversation is running a series on rainforest commodities…
Where the rainforest meets the plantation: there are probably a lot more insects.
Ryan Woo for Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)
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…
Seeing orangutans like Big Ritchie in conservation areas can raise vital support to protect his cousins in the wild, new research shows.
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…