Orangutan in Bukit Piton Timeline
Borneoan orangutans' habitat has reduced by at least 55% over the past 20 years due to deforestation. This has resulted in the Borneo orangutans population to decline by more than 50 percent over the past 60 years. Below is a timeline on the orangutan population and event that took place in Bukit Piton Forest Reserve from the 1980s to present.
Timeline of Orangutan in Bukit Piton
2017-2020
More baby orangutan and orangutan nests are observed in Bukit Piton. The orangutans are finding shelter and food source from the replanted trees. This goes to say that reforestation gives hope to enrich the communities of plants, orangutan and other wildlife. However, there are still a huge amount of degraded and fragmented forests that is awaiting our help to be restored. Some orangutan live in the degraded forest away from the larger population lWe need your help to offer the isolated orangutan the wildlife corridor that connects them to the larger forest area for continuous access to more food and shelter.
2014- 2017
Helicopter survey between 2014 to 2017 found that orangutans begin to recolognise lightly logged over forests or forests that had been logged but abandoned and allowed to regenerate. The orangutan were found to move outside "refuge centers" identified in secondary forests to visit restrored areas in pursue of food and shelter.
2007
Estimated orangutan population in Bukit Piton: 172 individuals
WWF - 2007 estimate, HUTAN, unpublished report
2006
Due to unsustainable logging and the two sets of fire, the once rich lowland of Bukit Piton was left to shrubs and bushes. Sadly, only a few patches of the ancient forest remained.
1980s to 2007
Unsustainable logging using conventional chainsaw to fell trees and bulldozer for skidding
2025
It is expected that the orangutan populatiaon in Borneo will slip further to 47,000 individuals by 2025 and eventual extinction should they not get assistance from us. Forest restoration effort needs to continued in order to provide a healthy and vital habitat for the orangutan and other wildlife.