Keystone Species
Keystone Species: Orangutans
Orangutans are a keystone species in Lear International Park. Many other species are impacted on orangutans and they depend on these furry creatures to keep their ecosystem stable. Orangutan's primary diet consists of large fruits. When they eat, a large amount of seeds from the fruit they consumed are dispersed around the tropical rainforest by these animals. Many fruits depend on orangutans to disperse their seeds around the forest to allow for plant reproduction. If orangutans became extinct, the whole ecosystem would be unbalanced. Several plants would not be able to reproduce, causing a large portion of the ecosystem's producers to be cut off or go extinct in the tropical rainforest. This would in turn cause many other herbivores to go extinct, and then primary consumers and so on. Orangutans are very important to this ecosystem and must be protected to keep the tropical rainforests in a happy equilibrium.
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