PALM OIL & ORANGATUNS

PALM OIL & the FATE OF ORANGUTANS

RAINFOREST Yr 7 part 1

Rainforests are the most biologically diverse ecosystems on our planet.

Rainforests are important in maintaining global air quality. 

They contain more than 50 per cent of the world’s living things and much of the fresh water.

The 300 million people who inhabit rainforests are highly adapted to their environment. 

The impact of human activities on the rainforest is increasing due to population expansion and theoveruse of resources, highlighting the need for sustainable management of the rainforest environment

The rainforest environment covers about 6 per cent of the Earth’s surface, although this used to be over 14 per cent.

QUESTIONS:

a.  What does "biologically diverse" mean? 


NOTE: not all rainforests are tropical, there are also TEMPERATE RAINFORESTS. 

Tropical rainforests are named this way because they grow between the Tropics of Capricorn and Cancer.

They are also known as equatorial rainforests as they are close to the Equator. 

Tropical rainforests have a hot and wet climate all year.

QUESTIONS: answer them in the comments. 

1.  What is the latitude of the Tropic of Cancer?

2.  What is the latitude of the Tropic of Capricorn?

3.  What is the latitude of the Equator?

4.  What is another word for precipitation?

5.  What is the average temperature in July?

6.  What is the average temperature in May?

7.  What is the average temperature in October?

8. What is the average rainfall in June?

9. What is the average rainfall in May?

10. What does mm (to describe the amount of rainfall) mean?

FRAGILE WORLD OF RAINFOREST ECOSYSTEMS

Canopy and rainforest beauty .. 

Some more vocabulary

BIODIVERSITY:  the variety of living things

ECOSYSTEM:  a community of organisms interacting with one another and WITH the environment in which they live. 

DECOMPOSERS: organisms that break down leaves and other dead organic matter into nutrients

PRODUCERS: plants that use the Sun's energy, water and carbon dioxide to produce food and energy for consumers.

CONSUMERS: animals who eat plants (PRIMARY CONSUMERS - HERBIVORES) or animals who eat other animals who have eaten plants (SECONDARY CONSUMERS)

RESTORING RAINFOREST & BIODIVERSITY

Willie Smits has devoted his life to saving the forest habitat of orangutans, the "thinkers of the jungle." As towns, farms and wars encroach on native forests, Smits works to save what is left.

Biologist Willie Smits believes he has found a way to re-grow clearcut rainforest in Borneo, saving local orangutans -- and creating a thrilling blueprint for restoring fragile ecosystems.

IMPACTS of BURNING FORESTS

BURNING FOREST for plantations in Indonesia .. the smoke covers Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia in SMOG

Haze casts shadow over Singapore-Jakarta ties - Asia-Pacific - Al Jazeera English

Click on the link above .. and read (or listen) 

It's not fog .. it's smog

ORANG UTAN extinction

Click on this to see a video about orang utan orphans :(
JUNGLE ORPHANS in Borneo

ORANG UTAN General info

ORANG UTAN INFORMATION - General

‘Orang-hutan’ literally means ‘Man of the Forest’.

Orangutans are highly intelligent with an ability to reason and think. This large, gentle red ape is one of our closest relatives, sharing 98% of our DNA. 

Orangutans are part of the great ape family, so they don’t have a tail and tend to be larger and heavier than monkeys, even though they are both primates. 

Great apes also have a bigger brain and can use tools, such as sticks, to help them get food to eat or leaves to make a sunshade or umbrella. 

 Orangutans live in Asia and are found on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, living in lowland and hilly tropical rainforests 

The orangutan is the only strictly arboreal ape (live in trees only) and the largest tree-living mammal in the world. 

Although other apes do climb and build sleeping nests in the trees, they are primarily terrestrial (spending their lives on the ground). 

Even the bright reddish-brown hair colour is unique to the orangutan.

They have the most remarkable ability to travel through the forest treetops. Each night building a new nest out of leaves and branches in the very tops of the trees – sometimes as much as 100 feet above the ground. 

Almost all of the food they eat grow in the treetops and the frequent rains fill the leaves, supplying them with drinking water. 

When water is difficult to find, they chew leaves to make a sponge to soak up the droplets in tree cavities. Although, when it rains hard, they might make an umbrella for out of big leaves. 

Some might say orangutans have four hands instead of two hands and two feet. 

These appendages (hands & feet) make them graceful and agile while climbing through the trees, but makes walking on the ground somewhat slow and awkward. This is why they are at a great disadvantage on the ground, and rarely comes down from the treetops.

STATUS: Endangered.

DESCRIPTION:

Orangutans have thin, shaggy, reddish-brown hair. They have long, powerful arms and strong hands that they can use to manipulate tools. Orangutans have the ability to make 13 to15 different types of vocalizations.

SIZE: 

Most orangutans are four to five feet long, some can reach a length of six feet. Adult males weigh between 100 and 200 pounds and adult females weigh between 65 and 100 pounds. Orangutans have an arm spread of about five feet.

POPULATION:

An estimated 19,000 to 25,000 orangutans live in the wild. Another 900 live in captivity.

LIFE SPAN:

In the wild, orangutans live for about 35 to 40 years.

LOCATION:
Orangutans are only found on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo in Southeast Asia.

HABITAT Orangutans are arboreal creatures, which means they spend most of their lives slowly walking, swinging and climbing through dense rain forests.

FOOD:

Orangutans feed mainly on fruits, especially wild figs. They also eat other kinds of vegetation, insects, small vertebrates and birds eggs.

BEHAVIOUR:

Orangutans are solitary creatures. Adult males live primarily alone and only come together with females to mate. Adult females live with their young. Occasionally, adults will live with other adults for short periods in small temporary groups. Orangutans spend most of their lives in a "home range" of 0.4 to 3.7 square miles. Females have a smaller home range than males. Sometimes the home ranges of individual orangutans overlap.

OFFSPRING:

Females are able to give birth after age seven, but in the wild they generally do not mate until age 12. They give birth to one young at a time, which clings to its mothers stomach until it is about a year old. When an orangutan reaches adolescence at about four or five years, it becomes more independent but may seek protection from its mother until it reaches seven to eight years.

THREATS:

The orangutans most serious threat is the destruction of forest habitat from excessive logging. Female orangutans are also killed and their young are taken and illegally placed in circuses and zoos.

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com.au/kids/animals/creaturefeature/orangutan/

VOCABULARY - Write the meaning of the following words:
manipulate:
vertebrates:
arboreal:
terrestrial:
appendages:
DNA:

Use the information above and DESCRIBE orang utans in half a page. 

PLANT ADAPTION TO A RAINFOREST

RAINFOREST LAYERS

RAINFORESTS

Rainforests have layers .. which is mostly because of the different access to sunlight. And the plants and animals adapt - to live in the different layers. 

Emergent layer
Canopy 
      Upper Canopy
      Lower Canopy
Understory
Forest Floor

BENEATH THE CANOPY

RAINFORESTS - WHERE, WHAT, HOW, WHY?

ECOSYSTEMS

ECOSYSTEMS

Malaysia - location with maps.

MALAYSIA: West Malaysia (where the Capital, Kuala Lumpur is), and East Malaysia (the states of Sabah and Sarawak). Brunei and part of Indonesia are also on the island - Borneo. It's not far from Vietnam and Cambodia and Thailand.

KOTA KINABALU (capital of the State of Sabah) is 6 degrees north of the equator.
KUALA LUMPER (Capital of Malaysia) is 4 degrees north of the equator.

QUESTIONS:  Answer in the comment box: 

1. What direction will we be travelling 

a.From Singapore to Kuala Lumpur?
b.From Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu?
c.From Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan?
d. From Sandakan to Kota Kinabalu?
e. From Kota Kinabalu to Singapore?


2. What direction IN DEGREES is

a. Singapore FROM Kuala Lumpur?
b. Kuala Lumpur FROM Singapore?
c. Sandakan FROM Kota Kinabalu?

3. What is the approximate LATITUDE of Singapore?

4. How many KILOMETRES are there between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur?

5.  What sea will we be flying over when travel from Kuala Lumpur to KK (Kota Kinabalu)?