header: Orang-utan
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line Pongo pygmaeus (Hoppius, 1763)


DISTRIBUTION

The orang-utan is only found on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. Orang-utans are known from fossil remains from beyond their present range - in the Padang highlands of central Sumatra, Trinil in Java, Yunnan and Kwangsi Provinces in southern China, and from northern Vietnam. This indicates that the species once ranged much of Southeast Asia.15

The Sumatran Orang-utan inhabits the provinces of Aceh and Sumatera Utara in northern Sumatra. The Bornean subspecies is found in all political divisions of Borneo with the possible exception of Brunei-Darussalam.6 The largest population of t his subspecies occurs in Kalimantan, where extensive areas of forest still exist, especially along the east coast.6 This subspecies is known to inhabit two protected areas in Kalimantan: Tanjung Puting National Park and Kuta i National Park. Status in the latter area is unknown, as vast portions of the forest were damaged by fires in 1986.6 In Sarawak, the orang-utan's range had been reduced by 1980 to two main population centres: the forests be tween the River Sadong and River Lupar, and the Lanjak-Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary, which was created primarily for orang-utan conservation in 1983.3 In addition to these two areas, individuals are known to be scattered throu ghout the most remote interior part of the state.3 In Sabah the subspecies can be found in forested areas throughout the state, although the range is patchy because the orang-utan becomes increasingly scarce at high altitude s.15 Most orang-utans occur in the lowlands of eastern Sabah.22 From ground and helicopter surveys carried out in 1985, it is believed to be present in the Danum Valley Conservation Area, Malua -Pin, the Sepilok Forest Reserve, the Tabin Wildlife Reserve and the Kulamba Wildlife Reserve.12,22

Range States: Brunei?; Indonesia: (Kalimantan, Sumatra); Malaysia: (Sabah, Sarawak


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