24/1/06 PARIS (AFP) - Deforestation and palm oil plantations are driving orangutans in the Malaysian part of northeastern Borneo to the verge of extinction, according to a study.

The evidence comes from a DNA database of orangutans living in the Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary in the Malaysian state of Sabah, says the study, published in PLoS (Public Library of Science) Biology, a US journal.

By collecting faeces on the ground and hair from tree nests, researchers were able to build up a genetic picture of around 200 orangutans in this community.

By using this information and comparing it in a computer simulation against a stable population, they found that little more than a century ago, the Kinabatangan orangutans had a much broader genetic base, signifying that their community was far more numerous.

But the base started to narrow as deforestation began in the region in the 1890s. The trend accelerated in the 1950s and 1970s as the apes in the gene pool got fewer and fewer.

When extrapolated for orangutans across the region, the news is grim.

"The genetic study shows that there is a high risk of extinction in Sabah in the near future if this decline goes on unabated," warned one of the authors, Marc Ancrenaz of the Kinabatangan Orangutan Conservation Project.

Orangutans are the only great ape to be found outside of Africa.

There are two species: Pongo abeli, found only in northern Sumatra, Indonesia, and Pongo pygmaeus, found in Borneo, an island shared by Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. Most of the P. pygmaeus orangutans are in Sabah.

A figure of 27,000 for the overall two populations has been advanced, but many experts say the number is unreliable.

There is unanimity, though, that both population have declined dramatically.

This is especially the case among Borneo orangutans, whose numbers may have declined by as much as a third in 1996 and 1997 as a result of forest fires and drought.

The Sabah apes are further at risk by managed forests and palmoil trees, which fragments their habitat, leaving the orangutans in isolated communities and unable to breed.

"This population will disappear forever if (natural) forests are converted to oil-palm agriculture," Laurentius Ambu, deputy director of the Sabah Wildlife Department, said in a PLoS press release.

"The results of our genetic study underscore the need to act now to protect the long-term survival of the species. The animals still show enough genetic diversity to stabilize, if immediate steps are taken to reconnect remnant forest patches and halt further deforestation."

Last Tuesday, the Malaysian government said it planned to boost palm oil product by up to 25 percent to meet surging demand for the alternative fuel biodiesel.

The country hopes to achieve this by boosting yields by a quarter over the next five years, in addition to increasing agreage in Sabah and the eastern state of Sarawak