{"id":4403,"date":"2018-04-05T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-04-05T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/how-cellphones-are-killing-gorillas-and-other-threats-to-apes-you-didnt-know-about\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T13:49:44","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T20:49:44","slug":"how-cellphones-are-killing-gorillas-and-other-threats-to-apes-you-didnt-know-about","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/how-cellphones-are-killing-gorillas-and-other-threats-to-apes-you-didnt-know-about\/","title":{"rendered":"How cellphones are killing gorillas, and other threats to apes you didn\u2019t know about"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n    \n                                                    \n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-hero \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-hero\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n<div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--image\">\n\n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n              \n      <img\n                            data-src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-2781-768x432.jpg\"\n          data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-2781-768x432.jpg 768w\"          data-sizes=\"(min-width:1200px) 75vw, (min-width:768px) 83vw, 100vw\"          class=\"lazyload\"\n        \n                  alt=\"How cellphones are killing gorillas, and other threats to apes you didn\u2019t know about\"\n        \n        \n                                      \/>\n\n    \n    \n  \n  \n\n<\/div>\n  \n      <div class=\"image-caption\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  Wild chimpanzees are in danger of disappearing as their natural habitats are being destroyed. Photo by Craig Stanford.\n\n\n<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n  \n  <div class=\"text-wrapper\">\n          <nav aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\" class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n        <ul>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\">News<\/a><\/li>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\/?category=faculty\">Faculty<\/a><\/li>\n                  <\/ul>\n      <\/nav>\n    \n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--page-title\">\n\n    \n  <h1>How cellphones are killing gorillas, and other threats to apes you didn\u2019t know about<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n          <div class=\"subtitle\">\n            \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  USC Dornsife researchers, including primate expert Craig Stanford, are working to understand how to better protect these animals, who could be extinct in just 100 years.\n\n\n<\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    \n           <strong class=\"author-field\"><span >By<\/span><a href=\"mailto:communication@dornsife.usc.edu\">Joanna Clay<\/a><\/strong>\n    \n          <span class=\"post-date-field\">April 5, 2018<\/span>\n      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--social-share \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--social-share\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"content-wrapper\">\n    <span class=\"a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list\" style=\"line-height: 32px;\">\n      <span class=\"title\">\n        Share\n      <\/span>\n                        <a class=\"a2a_button_copy_link\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/#copy_link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Link\">\n            <span class=\"a2a_svg a2a_s__default a2a_s_copy_link\">\n              <svg height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 19 19\" width=\"19\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"m7.43475275 9.52380952-2.17490843 2.26076008c-1.08745421 1.058837-1.68841575 2.518315-1.68841575 4.0350275 0 1.5167124.60096154 2.9475732 1.68841575 4.0350274 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xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"m8.14285714 9.42857143c-.17142857 0-.34285714 0-.51428571.08571428l7.28571427 6.34285719c.3428572.2571428.6857143.2571428.9428572 0l7.2857142-6.34285719c-.0857142-.08571428-.2571428-.08571428-.4285714-.08571428zm-1.28571428 1.11428567v.1714286 8.5714286c0 .6857143.6 1.2857143 1.28571428 1.2857143h14.57142856c.6857143 0 1.2857143-.6 1.2857143-1.2857143v-8.5714286c0-.0857143 0-.0857143 0-.1714286l-7.2 6.3428572c-.7714286.6857143-1.8857143.6857143-2.6571429 0z\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" transform=\"translate(-6 -9)\"\/><\/svg>\n            <\/span>\n            <span class=\"a2a_label visually-hidden\">Email<\/span>\n          <\/a>\n                  <\/span>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n \n\n\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--rich-text \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--rich-text\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n      \n<div class=\"f--field f--wysiwyg\">\n\n    \n  <p>All great apes are considered severely endangered. It\u2019s possible that 100 years from now, species such as orangutans will be wiped off the planet entirely.<\/p>\n<p>Apes are the only animals to share 99 percent of their DNA with humans, making their potential loss particularly catastrophic for our understanding of human evolution.<\/p>\n<p>USC Dornsife researchers, such as primate expert <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/cf\/faculty-and-staff\/faculty.cfm?pid=1003727\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Craig Stanford<\/a>, aim to understand how to better protect these animals. To do that, they must understand the threats they face. Here are four things that at first glance seem unlikely reasons for the extinction of great apes but that could lead to their disappearance.<\/p>\n<h2>The cellphone threat<\/h2>\n<p>There\u2019s an item in your pocket that is killing gorillas: the smartphone.<\/p>\n<p>Coltan is an ore found in all sorts of everyday items, such as phones and Playstation consoles. Eighty percent of the world\u2019s supply is found in the forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo, \u201cthe last stronghold of the eastern lowland gorilla,\u201d Stanford said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey mine it in rivers, kind of like the way they mined gold in California \u2013 very low tech,\u201d said Stanford, a biologist who spent years researching alongside celebrated primatologist Jane Goodall and is the author of <i>Planet Without Apes <\/i>(Belknap Press, 2012) and most recently <i><a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/2772\/wild-chimps-can-teach-us-about-aggression-communication-and-soci\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The New Chimpanzee: A Twenty-First-Century Portrait of Our Closest Kin<\/a><\/i> (Harvard University Press, 2018).<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not the mining itself that\u2019s destructive, he said, but rather, the culture around it. Miners aren\u2019t given meals or money. Instead, Stanford said, they\u2019re given guns to hunt for their food and in turn, they end up eating endangered gorillas and chimps.<\/p>\n<h2>The $50 orangutan<\/h2>\n<p>Smartphones have also revolutionized the pet trade.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 480px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/migration-uploads\/orangutans-james-askew-SOCP450x290-2781.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of orangutan in a tree.\" width=\"480\" height=\"309\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Orangutans are also critically endangered, due to palm oil harvesting. (Photo courtesy of James Askew, Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cYou can pick up an orangutan on Instagram for as little as $50,\u201d said <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/jamesaskew\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">James Askew<\/a>, a USC Dornsife doctoral student and orangutan researcher.<\/p>\n<p>Stationed in Indonesia for three years, he was scouring Instagram one day in his hotel room and within a few minutes, discovered tigers and gibbons for sale.<\/p>\n<p>Much of the selling is into the pet trade. The Indonesian elite scoop up the exotic pets, only to get rid of them when they grow up to be big and strong, and not as cute.<\/p>\n<p>The owners drop them off at quarantine or rehabilitation centers, which will attempt to release them back into the wild. While he was in Borneo, Askew saw about 1,000 orangutans in such conditions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s 1,000 incidents of poaching,\u201d he said, noting hunting or catching apes is illegal in Indonesia. \u201cIn total, there\u2019s been about six prosecutions for killing or selling ever in the history of Indonesia. There\u2019s no political will or desire to enforce Indonesian law against this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To put that in context, orangutans are critically endangered with only about 115,000 left in the wild, with up to 100,000 in Borneo, 14,000 in Sumatra and roughly 800 in Tapanuli.<\/p>\n<p>Other species like chimpanzees and gorillas are sold to buyers in the Middle East, Eastern Europe or Asia for medical research or to put in zoos, according to Stanford.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you go to Romania or Poland, [zoogoers] don\u2019t think, \u2018Where did this baby chimp come from?\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cThey don\u2019t think it was taken from a mom who was shot in Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In some Asian countries, exotic pets are seen as a status symbol, Stanford added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt one time a few years ago, there were more baby orangutans being kept as pets in homes in Taiwan than there likely were in the rainforests of Indonesia,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<h2>Off-menu delicacies<\/h2>\n<p>Chimp meat passes through Paris\u2019 Charles de Gaulle Airport each year, ending up on the plates of restaurantgoers in Paris. It\u2019s off-menu, but ask the right questions and offer cash, and it might end up on the plate.<\/p>\n<p>Bushmeat is a tricky problem, especially in Africa, where it has a long history as a delicacy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s like telling Americans not to eat turkeys at Thanksgiving,\u201d Stanford said.<\/p>\n<h2>The trouble with palm oil<\/h2>\n<p>For people who live thousands of miles from ape habitat, there is a way to make a difference: buy sustainable products.<\/p>\n<p>The harvesting of palm oil, which is used in household and beauty items, has led to the destruction of the orangutan habitat, Askew said. Efforts are being made to certify palm oil that\u2019s made sustainably, but Askew says it\u2019s a difficult process and conservationists \u201chave concerns that the supply chain is difficult to quantify, and even \u2018sustainable\u2019 palm oil might drive deforestation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nearly half of all the orangutans in Borneo \u2013 more than 100,000 \u2013 disappeared over two decades, likely due to illegal logging, mining and clearing land for agriculture, such as palm oil plantations, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/02\/15\/science\/orangutans-endangered-species.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">recent study<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Home Depot, which carries 1 percent of the world\u2019s lumber, made a vow to only purchase sustainable Indonesian hardwood when it discovered lumber practices in the country were threatening orangutan populations, the species closest to extinction, Stanford pointed out.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBe conscious of what you\u2019re buying, what\u2019s inside of it and where it\u2019s come from,\u201d Askew said. \u201cThat\u2019s very meaningful.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Are gorillas endangered?<\/h2>\n<p>USC Dornsife researchers are studying the great apes, getting data on chimpanzees and orangutans in the wild, such as their population status, their rate of decline and extinction threats. That way, governments, nongovernmental organizations and others can get an accurate picture of the habitat destruction and fragmentation, their habits in light of these threats, and how to best protect them.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 480px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/migration-uploads\/Tapanuli-Orangutan-James-Askew-450x290-2781.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of orangutan with baby.\" width=\"480\" height=\"309\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Tapanuli Orangutan is a rare new species that USC researcher James Askew is studying. (Photo courtesy of James Askew, Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Such research led to an exciting discovery of a new species: the <a href=\"https:\/\/news.nationalgeographic.com\/2017\/11\/new-orangutan-species-sumatra-borneo-indonesia-animals\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tapanuli orangutan<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>With only 800 living in the Sumatran mountains, the discovery highlights how dire apes\u2019 plight really is, said Askew, a co-author on the study.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt emphasizes how little we know about all these species that are going extinct,\u201d Askew said. \u201cWe would have never known they existed and they\u2019d be gone in 10 to 20 years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also important since they are our nearest relatives. In his latest book, Stanford chronicles apes\u2019 many humanlike behaviors discovered in recent years, and reminds us that there\u2019s still so much more to uncover.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s really shocking to see how much deforestation, hunting and mining are leading these apes to extinction. For me, driving out to the jungle through an ocean of oil palm was one of the saddest experiences of my life, and something that has driven me to try and make a difference,\u201d Askew said. \u201cMy USC colleagues working to study apes in Africa and Asia will [likely] have similar experiences. But I\u2019m also really hopeful that we will continue to work to conserve them and keep producing research to help save great apes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Askew is also hopeful that having more USC boots on the ground will continue to spark a passion for conservation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s impossible to go and study great apes in the wild and not want to do something to prevent their extinction,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n  \n        \n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-related-stories \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-related-stories\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n    \n                  <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/dexter-holland-the-offspring-usc-dornsife-commencement-speaker-2026\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >Dexter Holland, frontman for rock band The Offspring, to deliver USC Dornsife commencement address<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n              <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/sar11-one-of-earths-most-abundant-organisms-surprisingly-fragile\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >One of Earth\u2019s most abundant organisms is surprisingly fragile<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n              <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/in-memoriam-william-mcclure-scientist-developed-uscs-neurosciences-programs\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >In Memoriam: William McClure, scientist who developed USC\u2019s neurosciences programs<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n            <\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>USC Dornsife researchers, including primate expert Craig Stanford, are working to understand how to better protect these animals, who could be extinct in just 100 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":4406,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,10,17],"tags":[844,65],"class_list":["post-4403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dornsife-global","category-faculty","category-student","tag-craig-stanford","tag-environment"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How cellphones are killing gorillas, and other threats to apes you didn\u2019t know about<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"USC Dornsife researchers are working to understand how to better protect these primates, who could be extinct in just 100 years.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/how-cellphones-are-killing-gorillas-and-other-threats-to-apes-you-didnt-know-about\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How cellphones are killing gorillas, and other threats to apes you didn\u2019t know about\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"USC Dornsife researchers are working to understand how to better protect these primates, who could be extinct in just 100 years.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/how-cellphones-are-killing-gorillas-and-other-threats-to-apes-you-didnt-know-about\/\" 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