Please make a small contribution to one of the projects detailed below, or it may be that we lose the most precious thing - our heritage. The Ape Alliance is an international coalition of organisations and individuals, working for the conservation and welfare of apes. Orangutans are the largest arboreal ape. They are found only in Sumatra and Borneo. Orangutans are in grave danger of extinction because their rainforest habitat is being converted for human use - the biggest threat is permanent agriculture in the form of palm oil plantations and more recently illegal logging within protected areas.
Chimpanzees are, along with bonobos, our closest living relatives.
They live in complex communities in forests and woodland in about 20 African countries, but their numbers are declining over most of their range. They are thought to have become extinct recently in Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Burkina Faso, Togo and Benin. Bonobos are sometimes known as pygmy chimpanzees, or gracile chimpanzees. Only recognised as a distinct species in 1929, they are, along with chimpanzees, our closest living relatives. Unfortunately, their distribution in the wild is limited to war torn Democratic Republic of Congo, south of the River Congo.