150,000 Borneo orangutans CULLED by shameful hunters and palm oil farmers in just 16 years on paradise island

PALM oil farmers and hunters have caused the deaths of nearly 150,000 orangutans in Borneo over the past 16 years, researchers claim.

Borneo, the third biggest island in the world, has seen forests cut down at an alarming rate, removing orangutans' habitat.

A recent report from the Current Biology Journal has blamed forest loss on miners, loggers and palm oil producers.

Researchers from Liverpool John Moores University were so concerned at the animal's losses they thought they "had made a mistake somewhere".

Palm Oil is used in household products from chocolate bars to medicines and make up, and requires the mass-clearing of land for production.

Among other causes, the oil production has led to 29,000 kilometres squared of forest cut down in Borneo since 1985, an area the size of Belgium, the WWF has said.

Giant companies like Nestle and Pepsi Co. are now being called on to take action against the damaging farming practises.

Using ground breaking aerial technology to monitor species numbers, the worried researchers predicted 148,500 orangutans were lost in 16 years.

The Journal showed that between 1999 and 2016 orangutan numbers had effectively halved.

However, removing the orangutans' running ground isn't the only problem.

The report also raised alarm that orangutan hunting - which are not included in their figures - mean the loss could be even more severe than predicted.

Even in pristine forests, untouched by farmers and miners, the threat from human hunting is so severe that thousands more could already be lost.

Hungry hunters may be motivated to kill the creatures for food if they can't find more common pigs and deer on food searches.

It could be the biggest threat to orangutans in the next few decades, the report concluded.

Conservationists are now worried that as little as 70,000 remain on the island.

They have warned that unless dramatic action is taken to address the causes of hunting and habitat loss, another 45000 creatures could go by 2050.

Orangutans are one our closest relatives, sharing over 97% of our DNA.

The "genius" creatures may even be capable of finding medicine to each other, with angry activists demanding protection for the human-like species.