Diversity of Orang utan

1. On the 10-11th March, the Bukit Merah Orang Utan Island Foundation organised a two-day Symposium on ex situ conservation of Orang utan at the Bukit Merah Laketown Resort, Taiping, Perak.

2. Dr. Junaidi Payne of WWF Malaysia (Sabah) talked about the ecology and biology of Orang utan; Dr. Ramesh Boonratana, South-east Asia Primatological Association spoke about primate conservatiom; Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel, University of Washington talked about the infectious agents transmission at the human-primate interphase; Dr. Jatna Supriatna. Conservation International Indonesia talked on primate-forestry conflict in Sumatera; Ms. Harjinder Kler, HUTAN and Mr. Wilfred Landong, SFCorporation talked about integrated approach to conservation in Sabah and Sarawak, respectively.

3. Dr. Noko Kuze, university of Kyoto discussed the ecology and behaviour of Orang utan and Dr. Noviar Andayani lamented on the policy in Orang Utan conservation.

4. Our own Malaysian contributions came from Dr. Ahmad Sofiman, USM who did the paternity analysis of the Orang utan infants at Bukit Merah; Dr. D Sabapathy talked about medical and veterinary management of infants; Prof. Mashhor Mansor reported on USM contributions to Orang utan R & D; Dr. Badrul Munir, UKM discussed the genetic studies of apes in general and Dr. Mohd. Fairuz UMS talked on riverine effects on genetic structure of Orang utan in Kinabantangan, Sabah, Borneo.

5. When I was a student I was told there is only one species of Orang utan, Pongo pygmaeus, inhabiting Borneo and Sumatera. Now I learned there are two species, the Bornean species is P. pygmaeus and the Sumateran sister is Pongo abelli. They differ in geographical distribution. morphology of fingers, shape of head, fur colour and DNA etc.

6. The Bornean species is further divided into three subspecies, namely, P. p. morio in Sabah, P. p. pygmaeus in Sarawak and P. p wurmbii in Kalimantan. The three subspecies differ from each other in geographical distrubution, size and DNA, amongst others. However, Dr. Mohd. Fairuz thinks there might be the fourth subspecies in Kalimantan.