Family: Pongidae.
Status: Critically endangered.
Size: Height 3 to 4 ft., 80 to 175 lbs.
Diet: Omnivore.
Characteristics: Intelligent, gentle, active by day.
Area: Borneo, Sumatra.
Offspring: One baby every three to six years.
Trivia:
·
Orangutan
means “man of the jungle” in Malay, an Indonesian language.
·
It is illegal to kill, own, or export orangutans.
·
Clyde, the orangutan in the Clint Eastwood movie, Any
Which Way You Can, died soon after completion of the film due to maltreatment
by his owner/trainer.
·
Orangutans shelter themselves from rain and sun
by holding leafy branches over their heads.
These animals are amazingly like humans, not only because of
their intelligence and capability for learning, but due to their affectionate
natures and desire to be hugged. The
orangutan has a placid, gentle nature and in captivity has shown incredible
ingenuity, learning symbols to represent words as well as displaying an
exceptional ability to manipulate mechanical objects. In the wild, orangutans
spend most of their time in trees, using all four limbs to swing from branch to
branch. Adult males spend more time walking on the ground than other
orangutans, because the branches of smaller trees can’t hold their weight.
Older orangutans tend to be solitary, but youngsters socialize and play with
each other. Orangutans eat mostly fruit, but also
leaves, soft bark, nuts, flowers, insects and eggs. Orangutans store fat to
prepare for the heavy rains which occur from April to October, when food
becomes scarce. Males and females are easily distinguishable from each
other—not only are males much larger, but they have a bag-like skin flap
hanging from the throat which allows them to make loud calls through the
forest.
Although orangutans once lived in the jungles of Southeast
Asia, they were wiped out by hunters and now live only on the islands of Borneo
and Sumatra in the lowland swamp and
forests. They are an endangered species due to past excessive hunting as
well as the destruction of their habitat—including large-scale logging and the
burning of forests. It is illegal to kill or own orangutans, but poaching has
continued, with people capturing them for pets or to put on display at a hotel
or public establishment. In 1997 and 1998, massive forest
fires on Sumatra and Borneo killed thousands of orangutans and destroyed the
habitat of many thousand more, endangering their survival.
A female who is ready to mate will seek
out a mate, and the couple will stay together for several days until the female
becomes pregnant. The two then go their separate ways. Pregnancy lasts almost
nine months, and occurs once every three to seven years. Mothers and infants
have a warm, loving relationship and can often be seen cuddling. The infant
stays close by his mother for his first two to three years, then begins to
become more and more independent until he can finally go his own way at about
eight years of age. Mother orangutans sometimes pair up with other mothers for
short periods of time so their youngsters can play together. Orangutans can
live over 30 years in the wild, and up to 50 in captivity.