A new study led by a researcher from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology has found that following peatland wildfires in Borneo, the behavior and voices of critically endangered orangutans change. These pronounced changes make it possible to assess the health of wild populations by monitoring the frequency and quality of their sounds—an alternative to the dangers posed by trying to study the animals in person during a wildfire. The study was published on June 13 in the journal iScience.
“The animals move around less to conserve energy,” said lead author Wendy Erb, a Cornell Lab postdoctoral associate. “The orangutans also don’t vocalize as much and their voices take on the equivalent of a human smoker’s hack. Their voices are deeper, more raspy and shakier. These vocal features have been linked to inflammation, stress and disease–including COVID-19–in human and nonhuman animals.”
Wildfires have been increasing in frequency and severity across Indonesia, as they have in other parts of the world, often related to climate change. In Indonesia, wildfire occurrence is also closely linked to El Niño cycles of warming in the Pacific Ocean. But unlike other types of wildfires, peatland fires can smolder underground for weeks and produce exceptionally high emissions of hazardous gasses and particulate matter.
Erb, in the Cornell Lab’s K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics, worked with a team from the Tuanan Orangutan Research Program to collect data on adult male orangutans in Borneo. During the fire season, the region experienced its highest concentrations of particulate matter, with average daily concentrations rising nearly 12 times higher than the amount classified as hazardous to human health by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
2023-06-15 12:30:04
Original from phys.org