Word: borneo
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With their giant eyes and spiky red hair, baby orangutans are the epitome of cute - and that's exactly why they are the most sought-after prey of poachers in Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo). Thousands have been hunted and captured over the years, prised from the hands of their slain mothers, to sell as pets. Those who are spared this fate are left to cope with a habitat that is shrinking daily, as agribusiness firms continue their relentless drive to turn Kalimantan's forests into palm-oil plantations. "I cannot convey the horror of it," says Canadian primatologist Birute Galdikas...
...nearly two centuries, hundreds of thousands of Gurkhas have been plucked from the foothills of the Himalayas to serve primarily in the British and Indian armies. They have often been given dangerous frontline duties in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Borneo, the Falklands, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq. The British army has awarded more than a dozen Victoria Crosses to Nepalese soldiers over the years, but despite the job's prestige at home, Gurkhas have long complained of being treated differently from native soldiers. For decades, Gurkhas have struggled with the British government for parity of pay, pensions, and perks, and more recently...
Grann's journey, shadowing Fawcett's, is actually the least interesting part of the book. (For a livelier account of an innocent's adventures in the jungle, look up Redmond O'Hanlon's classic Into the Heart of Borneo.) You never quite get a fix on what Fawcett means to Grann, and you find yourself wishing, uncharitably, that he would narrowly escape death a little more often. What keeps you going is the backstory. The theory that the Amazon basin conceals the capital of an advanced civilization has a long history--it's one of those ideas that's just...
Wilcove then discussed the harmful effects of oil palm cultivation on bird and butterfly populations in Borneo. His studies found that the conversion of forestland into plantations caused huge drops in biodiversity...
Armed with a host of colorful land distribution charts and photographs from his research, Wilcove discussed the biodiversity-friendly methods of pastoralism and planned burning in Kenya, and contrasted them with the disastrous effects of oil palm cultivation in Borneo...