Correction: Quantifying Killing of Orangutans and Human-Orangutan Conflict in Kalimantan, Indonesia

Abstract

Human-orangutan conflict and hunting are thought to pose a serious threat to orangutan existence in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo. No data existed prior to the present study to substantiate these threats. We investigated the rates, spatial distribution and causes of conflict and hunting through an interview-based survey in the orangutan's range in Kalimantan, Indonesia. Between April 2008 and September 2009, we interviewed 6983 respondents in 687 villages to obtain socio-economic information, assess knowledge of local wildlife in general and orangutan encounters specifically, and to query respondents about their knowledge on orangutan conflicts and killing, and relevant laws. This survey revealed estimated killing rates of between 630 and 1357 animals killed in the last year, and between 2383 and 3882 animals killed per year on average within the lifetime of the survey respondents. These killing rates are higher than previously thought and are high enough to pose a serious threat to the continued existence of orangutans in Kalimantan. Importantly, the study contributes to our understanding of the spatial variation in threats, and the underlying causes of those threats, which can be used to facilitate the development of targeted conservation management.

Killing of orangutans in Kalimantan ‐ Community perspectives on incidence and drivers

“…According to their estimates, this reflects a loss rate of between 1.48% and 3.19% (Meijaard et al 2011, 2012). This was greatly concerning, as orangutan population viability analysis suggests these rates would likely drive populations to extinction (Marshall et al, 2008; Meijaard et al, 2010; Meijaard et al, 2012). Determining orangutan loss rates as Meijaard et al (2011) did was beyond the scope of our study; they calculated this using a large sample size, and directly asking people whether they had killed orangutans before.…”

“…Situating these findings in the context of Meijaard and colleague's (2011) prior study provides useful insights and highlights various challenges. Their findings suggested between 630 and 1357 orangutans were killed in the year prior to their study (Meijaard et al, 2011(Meijaard et al, , 2012.…”

“…According to their estimates, this reflects a loss rate of between 1.48% and 3.19% (Meijaard et al 2011(Meijaard et al , 2012. This was greatly concerning, as orangutan population viability analysis suggests these rates would likely drive populations to extinction (Marshall et al, 2008;Meijaard et al, 2010;Meijaard et al, 2012).…”

“…It has been argued that a killing mortality rate of 1% of adults in suboptimal habitat or 2% in optimal habitat will drive populations to extinction (Marshall et al, 2008;Meijaard et al, 2010). According to Meijaard et al (2011Meijaard et al ( , 2012, estimates of killing rates in 2007 appeared to exceed these percentages, implying that killing rates may well have exceeded viable thresholds at this time (Meijaard et al, 2011;Meijaard et al, 2012). Despite this, the impact of killing on orangutan populations is often underestimated and is rarely considered in conservation planning, with anti-killing efforts receiving nominal funding (Santika et al, 2022).…”