Despite these observations, orangutans retain their status as symbols of fragile, untouched nature ( 9, 10), and recent findings on adaptive behavior have not yet been broadly incorporated into orangutan conservation strategy ( 19). Recent research has also documented the orangutan’s flexibility in response to human alteration of their habitat, with some populations living in previously logged forest ( 13, 14) and even persisting in human-dominated environments such as forestry and palm oil plantations and agroforestry landscapes, engaging in behaviors including feeding on crops and building nests in exotic trees, including oil palms ( Fig. However, orangutans have been subject to human influence for at least 70,000 years ( 11, 12). Since the 1970s, the charismatic, critically endangered orangutan has been an icon of wild nature under threat due to current human activities ( 9, 10). Orangutans provide a valuable opportunity to explore the potential of this approach. Investigating how humans have shaped the abundance, distribution, and behavior of species in the past may help inform conservation planning and practice for a future increasingly dominated by human activities ( 2– 4, 7, 8). Our limited understanding of how adaptability and threat interact to determine species’ vulnerability to extinction hinders our ability to anticipate the implications of these trends for conservation ( 7). These human impacts have increased since at least the late Pleistocene ( 2), and this trend will likely continue as we advance into the Anthropocene, a new epoch proposed to acknowledge the pervasive worldwide impact of human activities ( 6). Widespread Pleistocene extinctions and the current extinction crisis also demonstrate that human activities threaten many species ( 4, 5). A long history of human hunting, habitat modification, translocation, and domestication has shaped the distribution, abundance, morphology, and behavior of most modern taxa ( 2, 3). Humans have been described as the world’s greatest evolutionary force ( 1). Orangutans provide an illustrative example of how acknowledging the long and pervasive influence of humans can improve strategies to preserve biodiversity in the Anthropocene. Broad cooperation can be encouraged through incentives and strategies that focus on the common interests and concerns of different stakeholders. This highlights the need for a multifaceted, landscape-level approach to orangutan conservation that leverages sound policy and cooperation among government, private sector, and community stakeholders to prevent hunting, mitigate human-orangutan conflict, and preserve and reconnect remaining natural forests. Our findings indicate that orangutans are vulnerable to hunting but appear flexible in response to some other human activities. We synthesize fossil, archeological, genetic, and behavioral evidence to demonstrate that at least 70,000 years of human influence have shaped orangutan distribution, abundance, and ecology and will likely continue to do so in the future. Orangutans are viewed as icons of wild nature, and most efforts to prevent their extinction have focused on protecting minimally disturbed habitat, with limited success. Recognizing how interactions with humans have shaped taxa such as the critically endangered orangutan ( Pongo spp.) offers insights into this relationship. Conservation benefits from understanding how adaptability and threat interact to determine a taxon’s vulnerability.
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