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Orang-utan faces extinction

London: The orang-utan population in parts of South-East Asia has dropped by up to a hundredfold in the last century, according to a new study. The decline coincides with massive deforestation in the area and the influx of humans. ``This is the first time that a recent and alarming decline of a great ape population - brought about by man - has been demonstrated, dated, and quantified using genetic information,'' said Benoit Goossens, a wildlife geneticist at Cardiff University and an author of the paper published on Tuesday in PLoS Biology. An estimate of 315,000 is quoted for the beginning of the 19th century. These figures compare with around 13,000 of the Sabah orang-utans today. —

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

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