We just received our “adoption papers” for baby Sen. But unlike with a human baby, we’re not going to be taking him home! This is a baby Orangutan and its place is in the wild, so our adoption is to help him grow up in a sanctuary and adapt to living among his kind before being released to the wild.

Apart from having more hair, baby Sen looks a lot like a human baby. And like human orphans, this baby has lived a tragic life. Sen’s mother was killed by workers in a palm-oil plantation which had encroached into the Orangutans’ natural habitat (which is tropical rainforest), and if Sen hadn’t been rescued by the Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary (which we visited) in Sandakan, Borneo, he most likely would have suffered the same cruel fate.

Every week, 50 Orangutans are cruelly murdered by loggers and palm oil plantation workers. They are shot, knifed, or burnt to death in most cases. There are now only 7,300 Orangutans left in Sumatra and around 45,000 in Borneo, and while this may seem like a lot, at this rate of slaughter, there will be none left by 2026.

Palm oil plantations and illegal logging are largely to blame for this genocide. Many government designated national parks are being encroached upon by illegal loggers, and due to corruption and lack of resources in much of Indonesia, little is being done to stop it!

In Sandakan, (Malaysian part of Borneo), we were told that there was no more logging going on. But if that is the case, why are these barges, which we caught on camera, leaving the port full of logs?

Both palm oil and wood are essentials and it would be ridiculous to want to stop them altogether, but what is needed is sustainable approach! Wildlife friendly palm-oil plantations that don’t encroach into the rainforest (see www.rspo.org), and sustainable logging where trees are replanted and none of the rainforest is cut down!

The world is being destroyed in front of our very eyes, and those that could do something about it, are too busy with power games and the pursuit of further wealth to do much. The only way that we can save our planet is by doing what we can as individuals.

There are many ways you can help! You can adopt an Orangutan for around US$50 (it’s only as much as what a decent meal at a restaurant would cost) at: www.orangutan-appeal.org.uk, you can write to super-market chains like Walmart, Tesco, and others and ask them to only sell environmentally friendly palm-oil products, or you could even blog about this on your own blog or forward this to a friend by email (use “Email This Post” button below)!

If you do post a blog about this and link to our site, or if you forward this to a friend, you will stand a chance to win a Sony Photo Printer!

Whatever you do, it’s better than doing nothing!

Since today is a Sunday, I thought I’d post something humorous! Take a look at this hungry “greedy” macaque. Who would have thought that a monkey could fit so much food in its mouth?! As soon as we saw the monkey stuffing the food in its mouth, we, like the others there, laughed like crazy!

The macaque was taking the food that we placed there to bait a wild hornbill to come closer so we could take pictures of it. We filmed this in Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary, a day after our “cruise” down the wonderful Kinabatangan River. We’ll show you the full sequence including the hornbill shortly.

If you enjoy watching this, email this post to your friends and colleagues by clicking on the Email This Post link below! A good way to start the week!

We were playing around with the camera on our last day in Borneo, and we put together this little Worldiki intromercial.

If you like this video, let us know in the comments! If you don’t, well you can let us know too. Just don’t be too hard on us, we know we’re not pros at video editing.. yet.

For now we’ll only be showing it on this site in the section “What’s Worldiki”, but who knows, people who visit this site might like it and show it on their sites, or tell their friends about it! *hint hint*

To show this video on your site, just cut and paste the code below into the html of your site:
<br /> <p align=”center”> <object type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” data=”http://www.metacafe.com/fplayer/884467/worldiki_com_its_not_a_holiday_its_a_lifestyle.swf” width=”400″ height=”345″><br /> <param name=”movie” value=”http://www.metacafe.com/fplayer/884467/worldiki_com_its_not_a_holiday_its_a_lifestyle.swf”></param> <param name=”wmode” value=”transparent”></param></object><br /><br />

Today we went to two local attractions. One was a crocodile farm, the other an orangutan sanctuary. And while both house “exotic” animals, they couldn’t be more different. The crocodile farm keeps the crocks in squalid tiny enclosures which are full of bottles and cans that the many locals visiting on holiday had carelessly discarded.

The Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary we visited was the opposite: it comprises nearly 43km2 of virgin rain forest and has over 250 wild orangutans as well as 10 other species of primates and over 200 species of birds. They take in baby orangutans that have become orphaned, and help them grow and re-integrate with their wild counterparts.

Orangutans have 96.4% of the same genes as humans. They know how to use tools, they live in communities, and they are highly intelligent! But like so many other species, they are in danger. Their habitat is being destroyed by logging and palm-oil plantations, and they are victims to poaching! Today there are only around 15,000 of these wonderful animals left, and some experts have said that if nothing is done they could be extinct within the next 30-50 10-20 years.

There is a ray of hope though, and today we visited a sanctuary that provides it. They have a very interesting program whereby people can help out by adopting a baby orangutan. It only costs only around US$50 per year and your contribution will help save the species from extinction! We are most definitely going to adopt one! And if you want to help by doing so, you can find out how at: www.orangutan-appeal.org.uk

Here’s a nice little picture of a family of macaques that went to finish off the orangutan’s meal once they had all left. Could you spot the baby clinging on under the middle monkey?

Please send this on to everyone you know! They need your help! You can forward this post by clicking on the email post link below.