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Happy birthday to the world's oldest orangutan and gorilla
I'm mainly posting about this because I found the picture to the right pretty funny. The orangutan you see is of Charly, the oldest fertile ape of his species. He's fathered at least 18 little Charlys (Charlies?), and has reached the ripe old age of 50.Interestingly, a neighbor of his at the Frankfurt Zoo in Germany, Matze, also turns 50 today. He's a great ape who has fathered (only) 17 kids, many of whom are spread out across the world in other zoos. I'd like to think they've lived a long life because there's some sort of lively contest between the two--"I'm more fertile than you are!"
I'd like to use this chance to give a shout-out to the plight of the orangutans. Their species is predicted to die out within a decade or so because of habitat destruction on the one island they live on: Sumatra, in Southeast Asia. Help save them if you can, by perhaps adopting one?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Marilyn Terrell Dec 6th 2007 11:16PM
You can adopt an orangutan here:
http://www.orangutan.com/
And as long as we're talking endangered apes, here's a short video on National Geo's site about the massacre of a family of rare mountain gorillas in Virunga National Park, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The park had a very successful gorilla tourism program for many years, with local rangers studying and protecting the gorillas, until the massacre this summer, followed by the rebel militia kicking the rangers out of the gorilla area entirely. But several NGOs are working to get the rangers back into the park:
http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/2007-12/gorilla-massacre/gorilla-massacre-video.html
Richard Zimmerman Dec 6th 2007 11:41PM
It's really good to see other folks out there giving a shout out to big Charly. He really is an amazing orangutan-- and the people of Frankfurt are lucky to have him! Let's hope he stays healthy!
I am the Director of a non-profit organization called Orangutan Outreach. We're based in New York and are trying to raise public awareness of the plight of orangutans in the wild. The situation facing them is really bleak. The rainforests in Borneo and Sumatra are being destroyed and replaced by palm oil plantations so quickly that entire species are being wiped out. Orangutans are being pushed to the brink. Adults are routinely butchered, beaten, set on fire and often eaten..... and babies are captured alive (if possible) and sold as illegal pets on the black market. The situation is truly horrific....
Orangutan Outreach raises funds for the Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Rehabilitation Center in Borneo, which is responsible for the care of more than 600 orphaned orangutans-- the youngest being only a few weeks old. They are orphans because of palm oil-- a substance that is being marketed as a 'great new eco-friendly energy source'......
You can see some of our orangutans on Animal Planet's amazing new series 'Orangutan Island' which airs Friday nights at 8:30 e/p across North America. If you haven't seen it yet, definitely check it out! And please visit our website and adopt an orangutan for Christmas!
Thanks again for giving Charly his 15 minutes!
Richard Zimmerman
Director, Orangutan Outreach
http://redapes.org
Reach out and save the orangutans!
email for more info: info@redapes.org