Palm oil production is the leading driver of orangutan habitat loss. Understanding the connection between consumer choices and orangutan welfare motivates meaningful action.
Orangutans face one of the most acute habitat crises of any large mammal. These highly intelligent, long-lived primates have extended childhoods - young orangutans stay with their mothers for 6-8 years, longer than any other non-human primate - making population recovery from habitat loss exceptionally slow. When forest is burned for palm plantations, orangutans that survive the fire become isolated in habitat fragments, malnourished, and vulnerable to capture for the pet trade. The welfare suffering of orangutans whose habitat is destroyed - stress, starvation, family separation, capture, and inappropriate captive conditions - is profound and ongoing. Consumer choices about palm oil products are directly connected to this welfare crisis.