|
The Head - The
orangutan has a large head with a
prominent mouth area. Adult males have
large cheek flaps (which get larger as
the ape ages).
Senses - Orangutans
have senses very similar to ours,
including hearing, sight, smell,
taste, and touch.
Hands and Feet -
Orangutan hands are very much like
ours; they have four long fingers plus
an opposable thumb. Their feet have
four long toes plus an opposable big
toe. Orangutans can grasp things with
both their hands and their feet. The
largest males have an arm span of
about 7.5 feet (2.3 m).
Size - Orangutans are
about 2/3 the size of the gorilla.
|
Orangutans
|
Height
|
Weight
|
|
Female |
2.6-3.5 ft (0.8-1.1 m)
|
110 lb (50 kg) |
|
Male |
3.2-4.5 ft (1-1.4 m) |
200 lb (90 kg) |
Diet - Orangutans are
omnivores (they eat both plants and
animals) but are mostly herbivorous
(plants comprise most of their diet).
They eat fruit (their favorite food),
leaves, seeds, tree bark, plant bulbs,
tender plant shoots, and flowers. They
also eat insects and small animals
(like birds and small mammals).
Orangutans don't even have to leave
their tree branches to drink, they
drink water that has collected in the
holes between tree branches.
Intelligence and Language -
Orangutans are very
intelligent. They have been known to
use found objects as tools; for
example, they use leaves as umbrellas
to keep the rain from getting them
wet. They also use leaves as cups to
help them drink water.
Behavior and Social Habits -
Orangutans are shy, solitary
animals that are active during the day
(they are diurnal ). They live alone
in large territories. This is probably
due to their eating habits; they need
a large area in order to get enough
food and too many orangutans in one
area might lead to starvation. The
only long-lasting orangutan social
group is the mother and offspring, who
live together for about 7 years. When
mating, the male and female orangutan
stay together for only a few days.
Sleeping Platforms -
Each evening, orangutans construct a
"nest" in the tree branches for the
night in which they will curl up and
sleep. These nests are made out of
leaves and branches. Nests are shared
by a mother and her nursing offspring.
Sometimes, the orangutan will use a
leaf as a "roof" to protect itself
from the rain. Orangutans often nap in
the afternoon after a morning spent
obtaining food.
Communication and Vocalization
- Male orangutans are capable
of very long, loud calls (called "long
calls") that carry through forests for
up to 0.6 mile (1 km). The "long call"
is made up of a series of sounds
followed by a bellow. These calls help
the male claim his territory, call to
females, and keep out intruding male
orangutans. Males have a large throat
sac that lets them make these loud
calls.
Locomotion -
Orangutans usually move by swinging
from one branch to another; this is
called brachiating. Orangutans can
also walk using their legs (but rarely
do). Orangutans do not swim.
Life Span -
Orangutans live about 50 years in
captivity; their life span in the wild
is only 30-45 years (like most
animals, they live longer in
captivity).
Habitat - Orangutans
live in tropical rain forests.
Distribution -
Orangutans live in Asia . They are the
only great ape from Asia . They are
found in tropical rain forests in
northern Sumatra , Indonesia and in
low-lying swamps in Borneo .
Subspecies (perhaps a subspecies)
Pongo
pygmaeus pygmaeus (From
Borneo, with a round face and dark red
hair)
Pongo
pygmaeus abelii (From Sumatra
, with a narrow face and paler hair)
Reproduction and Baby Orang
Utans - Orangutans are mature
and capable of reproducing beginning
when they are 7 to 10 years old.
Females are pregnant for 8.5 to 9
months and give birth to a single
baby. Young orangutans are weaned from
their mothers at about 6-7 years of
age even more. about the number of the
baby they can produce In Tanjung
Puting National Park some female
Orangutan have 4 babies.
Natural Enemies - The
animal that poses the biggest threat
to the orangutan is man (who uses its
habitat and sells young orangutans as
pets).
Population -
Orangutans are an endangered species.
They are decreasing in numbers quickly
as they lose habitat to people.
Further aggravating the problem, baby
orangutans are caught and sold around
the world as pets.
The Evolution of Orangutans -
The earliest-known primates
date from about 70 million years ago
(Macdonald, 1985). The greater apes
(family Pongidae, gorillas,
chimpanzees, bonobos, and orangutans)
split off from the lesser apes (family
Hylobatidae, gibbons and siamangs ) 20
million years ago.
CLASSIFICATION
Orangutans belong to the:
Kingdom Animalia (all
animals)
Phylum Chordata
Subphylum Vertebrata
(animals with backbones)
Class Mammalia
(warm-blooded animals with fur and
mammary glands)
Order Primates (which
includes 11 families, which include
lemurs, monkeys, marmosets, lesser
apes, great apes, and humans)
Family Pongidae (the
great apes, including gorillas ,
chimpanzees , bonobos, and orangutans)
Genus Pongo (
gorillas and orangutans)
Species pygmaeus
Subspecies (perhaps a subspecies)
P. p. pygmaeus (with
a round face and dark red hair; found
in Borneo ) Subspecies (perhaps a
subspecies)
P. p. abelii (with a
narrow face and paler hair; found in
Sumatra )
Subspecies or Not? -
Some scientists think that these two
groups of orangutans are different
subspecies (a subdivision of a
species), others think that they are
not. Since these two groups of
orangutans have been geographically
separated for a long time, they are
now physically distinct from each
other. They are not different species
since they are genetically similar
enough to interbreed.
Source : www.orangutan.org
click here
to select orang utan tours |
