07/07/2008 (International Herald Tribune), Bangkok, Thailand - A researcher says the number of orangutans in Indonesia and Malaysia has declined sharply mostly because of illegal logging and the rapid expansion of palm oil plantations.

Serge Wich, a scientist at the Great Ape Trust in Iowa, says the orangutan population on Sumatra island dropped almost 14 percent since 2004 because of shrinking habitat, and fell about 10 percent on Borneo island from deforestation. His group's study is one of the most comprehensive on the endangered apes and appears in this month's peer reviewed, science journal Oryx.

But Wich, in an interview Saturday, insists there is reason for optimism. He says government commitments in Indonesia to protect forest and increasing conservation programs could help save the remaining 61,600 apes.