In the 1960s, it was believed that no more than about 4000 orangutans remained in the wild. Consequently, IUCN - The World Conservation Union - declared the ape an endangered species, demanding its world-wide protection. Nevertheless, the orangutan today faces extinction because it is dependent on a rainforest habitat that is rapidly being demolished due to human greed, and a growing human population. The author was among the first to make a detailed study of the ape in the wild, emerging as an authority on orangutan conservation. In the late 1980s he became so alarmed by local rumours of the rapid decline of wild orangutans that he initiated the study leading to this book. Meijaard conducted the ambitious, island-spanning surveys in Borneo and Sumatra to reveal the ape's whereabouts. This is the story of their findings. It is a comprehensive study of the ape's distribution and status based on a wealth of first-hand field data, and a frank, disturbing account of a mixture of good intentions, ignorance and greed, spelling doom for our Asian relative. Nevertheless, the authors emphasize that the orangutan can survive. A realistic plan to save the ape, and with it thousands of unique wild animals and plants, does exist. It is the authors' hope that the book, so urgent and eloquent in its description of the deadly net of problems descending over our helpless relative, will awaken attention and empathy in order to safeguard the future of the orangutan.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Springer
ISBN-13
9780792357544
eBay Product ID (ePID)
96044839
Product Key Features
Author
E. Meijaard, H.D. Rijksen
Publication Name
Our Vanishing Relative: the Status of Wild Orang-Utans at the Close of the Twentieth Century
Format
Hardcover
Language
English
Subject
Geology, Zoology, Biology
Publication Year
1999
Type
Textbook
Number of Pages
486 Pages
Dimensions
Item Height
235mm
Item Width
155mm
Item Weight
1880g
Additional Product Features
Title_Author
H.D. Rijksen, E. Meijaard
Country/Region of Manufacture
Netherlands
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