Children's book: Research and development- Borneo Forrest

Resources used;

www.wwf.panda.org
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orangutan

Initial Research

Borneo has an incredible biodiversity.
The climate provides ideal conditions for a wide variety of species to thrive.
Dipterocarp trees hold the greatest insect diversity on Borneo- over 1000 species in 1 tree.
Thousands of plants, lichens and fungi. These form the base of the food chain that nurtures a wide range of species.
Most of the forrest is unexplored which means that theres undiscovered and rare wildlife in Borneo.

Response

From initial research, I have learnt that Borneo is incredible diverse. This means that when I'm creating the children's book about diversity, this fact will come in use.

The Borneo Orangutan

largest tree climbing mammal and the only great ape found in Asia.
1/3 of its population was lost during the 1997/8 forests fires.
also known as "man of the forest"
Orangutans are solitary.
feast on wild fruit, lychees, figs and slurp water from holes in trees.
Nest in trees of vegetation

Borneo orangutans descend from trees to move around the ground.
Its population has declined by 50% over past 60 years and the habitat has reduced by 55% over past 20 years.
Their habitat is seriously affected by logging and hunting. Theres rapid deforestation due to palm and agriculture plantations.
Young orangutans are imperilled by the illegal pet trade and their mothers are killed.

They have muscular arms and gripping hands and feet
they are very intelligent- the construct tools
The tools are made from branches and leaves- scratch, scrape, wipe, sponge, swat, fan, hook, probe, scoop, pry, chisel, hammer
dig for termites with sticks, have been seen to measure the depth of water with a stick too.

Response

These facts are incredibly interesting regarding the orangutan. The information definitely favours my two different plans. The information on the deforestation is incredibly vast and could help me a lot if I went down the path of making the book revolve around the impact of palm oil, logging and hunting.

It also favours my idea regarding diversity and the orangutan wanting to fit in. As they are normally a solitary animal, it could be interesting to use that in my book. Also, the Borneo orangutan travels down to the ground every so often so this could be the perfect start to the Orangutan finding different animals. It could be compelling to the child reader if I include the orangutan making tools to try and fit in. For example using leaves to construct a trunk or wings, sticks to create horns etc. This could link back to my research as they are incredibly intelligent.

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