Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Once every 8 years....

Orangutan means "person of the forest." These highly intelligent inhabitants are 97.6% genetically related to us. Orangutans stand 5 feet tall, and remarkably, their arm length stretches 7 feet from fingertip to fingertip!

Their arms are so long because they spend 90% of their time in the forest home. Orangutans even catch their ZZ's on leafy branches. When it rains, orangutans will use large leaves as umbrella's to protect themselves.

Orangutans dine out in the trees too! They eat bark and insects.

Orangutan males are not too social. They are pretty much loners in the forest, and make loud calls when they move about to let others know not to come near. This isn't out of aggression, they just like their alone time.

Females are different. Mothers and infants share a very strong bond. Mothers stay with their young for seven years, to ensure that they have all the skills necessary for survival in the forest. Female orangutans can only have a baby once every eight years! This is the longest out of any animal. Orangutans live up to 60 years.

The rainforest and it's tree's are so vital to orangutans. Without their home they cannot survive. Hundreds are killed everyday because of land cleared to cultivate palm oil and logging. When hundreds are killed, and females are only able to reproduce once every 8 years, how can we save them?

There are 10 years left until the orangutan species numbers will be so low that saving them will be virtually impossible.

Palm oil is an unnecessary ingredient in sweets, soaps, candles, etc. Please, before you buy, read the label. By not purchasing palm oil you are voting for the future. Your purchases can either save or contribute to the genocide of orangutans.

If you stop buying chocolates, cakes, muffins, etc. that contain palm oil your life will go on like normal. There are always alternatives to buy, and those companies need to be supported right now to show your stance. Each time you purchase a product with palm oil listed in its ingredients, you are showing the world that is is ok to wipe out an entire species over snacks and desserts. That isn't human.

We need to show the world what we are made of.

Please, write to your favorite companies that are buyers of palm oil and let them know that you love their product, but can't support them until they stop buying palm oil.

And let them make you a fool by claims of using "sustainable" palm oil. Please refer to earlier blogs for more information.

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