November 10 - 16

Keep checking back for a growing list of highlights from around the country!

The Origin of Orangutan Awareness Week
Kitty MowMow’s Animal Expo
Sacramento Zoo: The Marigold Roots & Shoots Raise Awareness
Philadelphia Zoo: Raising Orangutan Awareness
Video: San Diego Zoo’s Great Ape Awareness Week
San Diego Zoo: Orangutans Inspire Visitors
Orangutan Awareness Weekend: Miami Metrozoo

WHY ORANGUTANS?
It’s hard to imagine, but orangutans may have less 10 years left in the wild before they are extinct! They will be the first great ape to go extinct. If we can’t save this closest animal cousin of ours what hope is there for all the other animals? There is lots of information on the internet and we encourage everyone to try to find out as much as they can about these beautiful animals, but here are just a few facts:

* Orangutans are highly endangered and have less than ten years left in the wild before they are extinct.
* Orangutans share 97% of our DNA and, as one of our closest evolutionary cousins, it is our responsibility to protect these intelligent gentle apes.
* Habitat loss, palm oil plantations, and an illegal pet trade are pushing them toward extinction.

ORANGUTAN ORPHANS
Sadly, many orangutan mothers are killed every year in Indonesia so that their babies can be sold illegally as pets. Many others are killed as their rainforest homes are destroyed to make way for palm oil plantations leaving hundreds of helpless orphans. The Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Rehabilitation Center is currently home to over 800 orphaned orangutans. The Center and it’s manager, Lone Droscher Nielsen, are the same orangutans you may have seen on Animal Planet’s series “Orangutan Island’. Those orangutans need our help!

PALM OIL
The biggest threat to orangutans is the clearing of the rainforest to plant palm oil plantations. Check out the labels on your groceries. You will find palm oil in cookies, shampoo, and many other products. If something isn’t done soon to stop the spread of palm oil plantations, orangutans will have no where to live.

MORE THAN JUST ORANGUTANS
By saving orangutans we are working to save so much more. When forests are logged and burned large amounts of greenhouse gases are emitted into the atmosphere contributing to the global warming crisis. Saving orangutans helps to save many other endangered species that live in the same forest, like tigers, rhinos, gibbons, sun bears and clouded leopards. Borneo is also home to many indigenous tribes with diverse cultures and traditions that are now threatened with losing their rainforest homes.

THIS NOVEMBER WON’T YOU JOIN US TO HELP SAVE ORANGUTANS AND THE RAINFOREST THEY LIVE IN?