Both the mountain gorilla of Africa and the orangutan of Southeast Asia are critically endangered in their native areas. The gorilla in particular are down to about a thousand creatures. And the primary reason for this is that humans in their ranges are extremely poor and look on these creatures as “bush meat.” The conservation societies have done quite a bit to encourage eco-tourism to produce funds to increase the law enforcement to protect these primates from the locals. But there are many risk factors that end up adding to the cumulative mortality of these animals. The pet trade steals young apes for rich collectors and there are various markets for body parts (heads, hands and feet) of the great apes.
Now, these two species are far from unique in the conservation problems faced by rare animals. Rhinos, elephants and other megafauna are in danger of disappearing from Africa and Asia along with the mountain gorilla and orangutan. But I think there is an extenuating circumstance for making them a special case. Namely, they are remarkably close to the human family. Now the chimpanzee is actually closer. They really are a close cousin. But there are a lot more chimpanzees in the wild than either of these two species. Also, I dislike chimpanzees. They’re too much like humans. The level of aggression they demonstrate makes them far from an attractive target for my crusade. I think the personalities of the mountain gorilla and the orangutan make them a much more sympathetic and interesting subject for my project.
In a nutshell I propose that two small Hawaiian Islands be made into a permanent refuge for each of these species. Now I will confess I haven’t really worked out any of the logistics. Are there two islands big enough to support a large colony of each of these species? Does the US government have sole jurisdiction over any of these smaller islands? So right now, this idea is a pipe dream.
But I think if it can be organized, it would provide an enormous service for humanity. The extinction of either of these species would be a terrible waste of biological knowledge about species that are important relatives of humans. Even from the point of view of medicine and biological science they are priceless resources that shouldn’t be allowed to go extinct just because they currently live in third-world hellholes. Even from the point of view of neurological research, having two other primates so closely related to humans is something that in the future will provide enormous insights into the evolution of our brains.
And going along with the idea of eco-tourism, millions of people would pay good money to view these apes in an environment that doesn’t expose themselves to the dangers of entering the third world areas where these two species are native.
But from a non-utilitarian perspective, these are magnificent creatures that are fascinating for humans to observe and learn from. And I’ll bet if they were brought into a safe environment like Hawaii, I think they would start exhibiting behavior characterized by lower levels of stress. Aloha fellow Hominidae.