National Public Radio: Radio Expeditions
Orang Metropolis Uncovered
Newly Found Population a Boost for Conservation
by Christopher Joyce
Listen to the report on RealOne: http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/me/20021120.me.15.ram
Recordings of orangutan calls: http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/me/20021120.me.ocall.ram
QuickTime video: http://nature.org/exclude/popups/orangutanvideo.html

Vocabulary:

paradise
monkey
it might well be
Indonesia
Kalimantan
island
Borneo
located in
South East Asia
pig-tailed macaque
grizzled leaf monkey
species
rainforest
ape
primate
orangutan
National Geographic
Radio Expedition
explorer
remarkable
endangered
Scott Stanley
for weeks at a time
towering
woods
gibbon
calls
hornbill
helmeted hornbill
rhinoceros hornbill
fortunate
long call
shaggy
oval
deep-set eyes
button eyes
stuffed animal
male
nest
basically
low, long, drawn-out
grunt
to step on a tack
last refuge
East
sizable
viable

roughly
acres
continuous area
identify
survey
unique
great ape
typically
per night
Nature Conservancy
conservation group
Sumatra
extinct
lifetime
Washington
to deliver
rare good news
remote
Berau
canoe
by foot
dense
muddy
amazed
calculate
square mile
undiscovered
Atlantis
data
to come back
to add up the numbers
formulas
to allow
to estimate
frankly
level
density
population
increase
big boost
endangered animal
statistic
to encounter
bushes
to stare
fully grown

 to weigh
shocked
to take off = to run away
dumbfounded
incredible
evolution
similar
to come that close
to lose out
Ramon Janis
provincial government
cute
to keep s.t. as pets
economic value
poaching
market
export
pet
source of energy
protein
biggest pressure
timber
to log
at a frantic pace
to struggle out of
economic depression
forest floor
to dry out
Doug Fuller
geographer
to map
selective logging
susceptible to
to be resigned to the fact that
forest cover
metropolis
decade
or so
to announce
to confirm
to conserve
to that end
hardware retailer
The Home Depot
wildlife
to certify



Listening comprehension questions:
1. Where is Kalimantan?
2. What do you have to do to find wild orangutans?
3. What is different about the orangutan's appearance as compared with other great apes?
4. What did Scott Stanley compare the sound of the orangutan's 'long call' to?
5. How large is this area, and what is so special about it?
6. What does an orangutan usually do each night?
7. Where are the only places that orangutans still live, and how many orangutans were estimated to be left?
8. Why was the place referred to in the report called 'an orangutan Atlantis'?
9. How much does this discovery increase the estimated number of orangutans left?
10. What does 'orangutan' mean in Malay?
11. What shocking experience did Scott Stanley have? What was the reaction of the other party?
12. What are some of the reasons for poaching orangutans?
13. Indonesia's economy depends on income from timber export, but what problems does timbering cause in Indonesia?
14. What kind of deal has the Home Depot signed with Nature Conservancy in Indonesia? What advantage might the Home Depot reap from this agreement?

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