Clearance of rainforests to make way for oil palm plantations is the single greatest threat to orangutans, which could be extinct within 20 years, reports Riverside Brookfield Landmark magazine

Rescue mission
Conservationists meet at Brookfield Zoo to raise awareness of orangutans’ plight
By JONATHAN RUBIN, Medill News Service
23 December 2007

If something isn't done soon, one of mankind's closest cousin may go the way of the dodo.

Orangutans, who live exclusively in the Asian jungles of Borneo and Sumatra, are dying at an alarming rate-5,000 every year. Only 62,000 are alive in the wild. At this rate, scientists say, they will be extinct in less than 20 years.

Conservationists from the around the world met at Brookfield Zoo last Thursday for the largest gathering ever dedicated to saving this great ape.

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