Sumatran elephants could be extinct in 30 years

JAKARTA, Indonesia  — The Sumatran elephant could be extinct in the wild within three decades unless immediate steps are taken to slow the breakneck pace of deforestation, environmentalists warned Tuesday.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature recently listed the animals as "critically endangered" after their numbers dropped to between 2,400 and 2,800 from an estimated 5,000 in 1985.

The decline is largely because of destruction of their habitat, with forests all across the Indonesian island of Sumatra being clear-cut for timber, palm oil and pulp and paper plantations.

Sumatra has some of the most significant populations of Asian elephants outside of India and Sri Lanka and is also home to tigers, orangutans and rhinos.

"The Sumatran elephant joins a growing list of Indonesian species that are critically endangered," Carlos Drews of the conservation group WWF said in a statement Tuesday. "Unless urgent and effective conservation action is taken these magnificent animals are likely to go extinct within our lifetime."

Indonesia's endangered elephants sometimes venture into populated areas searching for food and destroy crops or attack humans, making them unpopular with villagers.

Some are shot or poisoned with cyanide-laced fruit, while others are killed by poachers for their ivory.

Monkey Thought to Be Extinct Reappears

Jakarta - A monkey species once thought to be extinct has shown not only is it alive, but living in an unexpected area.

Scientists from Simon Fraser University in Canada tracking Indonesian wildlife instead found images of the primate known as the Miller's Grizzled Langur.  They were surprised by the find, especially since they had no way to compare them outside of sketches. 

"We were all pretty ecstatic, the fact that wow, this monkey still lives, and also that it's in Wehea ," said Ph.D. student Brent Loken.  Loken is one of the lead researchers in the find.

Wehea forest is a nearly 40-thousand rainforest in Borneo, the third-largest island in Indonesia.

The fears the monkeys went extinct were expressed several years ago after a search for them turned up nothing.  The theory was that fires, deforestation, human encroachment, and conversion of the land for agricultural use were responsible.

Loken said the next step is to return to the forest to find out exactly how many of the langurs are still alive.  Although there are more than four-thousand images of the animals, scientists say they may be just one or two families reappearing.