Earlier this month, Malaysia announced plans to gift orangutans to countries that buy its palm oil. Dubbed “orangutan diplomacy,” the strategy aims to mitigate the environmental damage of palm oil production. The commodity is found in over half of supermarket packaged goods from ice cream to lipstick and plantations are a major driver of deforestation in Malaysia. But clearing land for palm oil plantations is destroying orangutan habitats. The southeast Asian country’s proposed orangutan policy is the latest example of “animal diplomacy,” where living animals are used by governments in their i…