"Man of the Forest" #1 – Mosaïcultures Internationales de Montréal, Botanical Garden, Montréal, Québec

Borneo, the island part of Malaysia, contributed a display of mosaiculture sculptures illustrating the orangutans that live in its forests. Like many other large islands around the world, Borneo has a distinctive biodiversity.

Approximately 44 mammal, 37 bird, and 19 fish species live there and are found nowhere else on Earth. And this doesn’t include the thousands of species that Borneo shares with other islands in the area. This great biodiversity is a result of its tropical climate and dense forests. Up to 1,000 different animal species were once counted on one tree alone, the majority being insects.

Orangutans are an integral part of this biodiversity. Two species exist: the Bornean and the Sumatran. The word orangutan comes from the Malay and Indonesian languages and means "man of the forest". The orangutan is the world’s largest arboreal mammal. It spends almost half of its day foraging for food, and 39% of the day sleeping. The remainder of its day is divided between traveling around and building its nest, which it constructs anew every night.

Unfortunately, the survival of orangutans in nature has been seriously threatened by the development of human activities, particularly deforestation. About 80% of the orangutans’ habitat has been deforested in the past 20 years. Researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society predict that most of the orangutan population will be extinct within ten years.

For a description of the art of Mosaiculture and of the Mosaïcultures Internationales de Montréal competition, please turn to the first photo in this series at:

www.ipernity.com/doc/jonathan.cohen/33872015