In Borneo's Rainforests, Not All ``Survivors'' Appear on Prime Time TV; New High Tech Tools Help Island's Other ``Jungle Men''.Business Editors IRVINE, Calif. & INDONESIAN BORNEO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug.22,2000 HighTower Software's Business Intelligence Technology Will Assist Research and Conservation Efforts for Indonesia's Endangered "Red Apes" Each week this summer, millions of Americans have watched and compared notes -- even around the digital water cooler known as the Internet -- on the struggles of a small band of now famous fortune-hunting "survivors" spending 39 days on a tiny jungle island Jungle Island is an animal theme park in the city of Miami, Florida. It was originally Parrot Jungle until it moved from the village of Pinecrest to its present location on Watson Island in the city of Miami and renamed as Parrot Jungle Island; the original is still open as off the northwest tip of Borneo. At the same time, near the southern coast of Borneo just a few hundred miles away, a small band of multi-nationals led by UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX graduate Dr. Birute M. F. Galdikas have been wrestling for some time with the survival of another band of islanders known to the people of Indonesia as "jungle men." This summer, however, the struggle of these jungle men will be somewhat different. Intrigued by Dr. Galdikas's long-term battle to preserve one of the only two habitats for what are commonly known as "orangutans," executives from HighTower Software, an advanced technology company, are putting their complex bits and bytes Bits and Bytes was the name for two Canadian television series, starring Billy Van, who teaches people the basics of how to use a computer. The first series debuted in 1983 and the second series, called Bits and Bytes 2, in 1991. to work on behalf of these "red apes." Using data analysis software called TowerView -- developed by the Irvine, Calif. company -- scientists are processing mountains of research data collected over the last 30 years in Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, region of Asia (1990 est. pop. 442,500,000), c.1,740,000 sq mi (4,506,600 sq km), bounded roughly by the Indian subcontinent on the west, China on the north, and the Pacific Ocean on the east. about the "survivors" known locally in Indonesia as the Orang Utan (Malay language Malay language: see Malayo-Polynesian languages. Malay language Austronesian language with some 33 million first-language speakers in the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, and other parts of Indonesia and Malaysia. for "jungle man"), and the islands they have lived on for thousands of years. Now working closely with the nearby Los Angeles-based Orangutan orangutan (ōrăng`  tăn), an ape, Pongo pygmaeus, found in swampy coastal forests of Borneo and Sumatra. Foundation International (OFI OFI Oxford Forestry InstituteOFI Open for Inspection (real estate) OFI Ornamental Fish International OFI Opportunity For Improvement OFI Other Financial Institution (banking cards) ) co-founded by Dr. Galdikas, HighTower has provided TowerView to the OFI to help researchers study, understand and work to conserve the planet's dwindling dwin·dle v. dwin·dled, dwin·dling, dwin·dles v.intr. To become gradually less until little remains. v.tr. To cause to dwindle. See Synonyms at decrease. population of orangutans in their vanishing natural habitats. HighTower, the world pioneer in data discovery for business intelligence, is now using TowerView to gain instant access to intelligence from the not-for-profit charity's massive 30-year library of data. Hand-collected by Dr. Galdikas and others over the years, the Years, The the seven decades of Eleanor Pargiter’s life. [Br. Lit.: Benét, 1109] See : Time data is expected to help determine environmental, physiological and behavioral patterns that make it possible to track individual orangutans and proactively implement protective measures for securing their survival. Also aided by TowerView, primate researchers can further understand intricate aspects of each individual orangutan's life, including such insights as eating patterns, traveling range, and genetic composition for establishing kinship relationships. "It's an honor to assist OFI's efforts to protect the endangered orangutans and help save their rainforest habitat," said Dr. Ursula Schwuttke, president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of HighTower Software. "I have been a long-time admirer of Dr. Galdikas's work. All of us at HighTower are excited to be playing a part in preserving the future of orangutans by providing the tools OFI needs to fully utilize their research data." One of only three principal types of "great apes" in the world, there are now less than 30,000 orangutans surviving in the wild. The destruction of the orangutans' remaining habitats -- the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia -- by permanent agriculture, mining and mechanized mech·a·nize tr.v. mech·a·nized, mech·a·niz·ing, mech·a·niz·es 1. To equip with machinery: mechanize a factory. 2. logging interests has accelerated the demise of an already dwindling "red ape" population. Insufficient funding for research has further heightened threats of extinction for the orangutans. Survivors in Common Separated by culture and genetics, the dwindling band of minor CBS (Cell Broadcast Service) See cell broadcast. television celebrities featured on the Borneo island of Pulau Tiga Pulau Tiga is a group of small uninhabited Malaysian islands in Kimanis Bay off the western coast of Sabah. The islands were formed on September 21, 1897, when an earthquake on Mindanao caused a volcanic eruption near Borneo. do share one major goal with Dr. Galdikas's survivors, however -- getting "home" is paramount. Central to the conservationist's work -- and a critical part of the data to be extracted from research by HighTower's software -- is information on the best ways to return hundreds of once captive and often orphaned orangutans to the wild. The data can also be used to help preserve the primates' remaining home territories in the heavily harvested Indonesian Borneo rainforests. "Rapid deforestation deforestation Process of clearing forests. Rates of deforestation are particularly high in the tropics, where the poor quality of the soil has led to the practice of routine clear-cutting to make new soil available for agricultural use. in Southeast Asia is threatening to destroy much of the information about the orangutans' natural habitat," said Dr. Galdikas, president of OFI and a veteran of nearly three decades of orangutan field research. "This information is needed to understand and protect this endangered species endangered species, any plant or animal species whose ability to survive and reproduce has been jeopardized by human activities. In 1999 the U.S. government, in accordance with the U.S. ; the ability to thoroughly analyze this exhaustive data is just as critical. Using TowerView, we can quickly analyze important information and hard-to-establish behavioral patterns drawn from the raw data of previous and ongoing research," she explained. "We expect the critical time saved by using this cutting-edge technology to help us more rapidly implement protective measures with the Indonesian government and local citizens for saving orangutans and their environment," concluded Dr. Galdikas. Irony and Origins Now being used to help maintain the health of an endangered species, High Tower's TowerView software traces its technological origins to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory “JPL” redirects here. For other uses, see JPL (disambiguation). Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a NASA research center located in the cities of Pasadena and La Cañada Flintridge, near Los Angeles, California, USA. in Pasadena, Calif., where it was first developed and used to constantly measure the "health" of unmanned space satellites like NASA's Voyager, Galileo, and Cassini space missions. The potential irony of these scenarios has not escaped all observers, either. The use of certain primates as test subjects in pre-manned flights in the last century helped launch mankind's "giant leap" into space. Now, technology perfected in other unmanned flights is in use as part of the effort to move one of the planet's most endangered primates "one small step" further from extinction. In addition to donating the TowerView solution, HighTower will also work to configure its advanced data analysis software and help train the Orangutan Foundation's staff for efficient use of the application. The estimated value of these contributions is in excess of $100,000. About the Orangutan Foundation The Orangutan Foundation International was established by nature-lovers and scientists to increase understanding of the orangutans and their natural habitat, the tropical rainforests of Indonesia. The Foundation also supports the study of fauna, flora, and ecology of these tropical forests. It is dedicated to the support and promotion of international public education and awareness of orangutans and their habitat. OFI is also establishing the first-ever North American North American named after North America. North American blastomycosis see North American blastomycosis. North American cattle tick see boophilusannulatus. sanctuary for orangutans in a non-native rainforest in Hilo, Hawaii. More information on OFI can be found at www.orangutan.org About HighTower Software HighTower Software is the world pioneer in business intelligence solutions for massively large data applications in Internet infrastructure, data warehouses, and e-business. Since its inception in 1997, Irvine, Calif.-based HighTower has commercialized technology developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and enabled businesses to proactively manage operations through visual representation of real-time e-business data. Information about HighTower and its products is available at www.high-tower.com. |
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