Orangutan-Person Of The Forest
Orangutan-Person Of The Forest
2. Use tools to fish for termites or even kill slow lorises.
3. Largest arboreal (tree dwelling) animal in the world.
4. Reddish-brown in color and some males grow white or yellow beards. Also characteristic are their bare faces with round eyes and small ears; their long, shaggy hair; long arms. They can grasp with both their hands and their feet. Both their thumbs and big toes are opposable, like our thumbs. Arms are stronger and longer than their legs.
5. Reach from fingertip to fingertip can be up to 7-8 feet.
6. Pucker their lips to feel the texture of a piece of fruit before they bite into it. All orangutans don’t necessarily do this each time they eat.
7. Males are loners. As they move through the forest they make lots of rumbling, howling calls to ensure that they stay out of each other's way. The "long call" can be heard over a mile away. Females are loners too, after they leave their mother and until they have a baby.
8. Mothers and their young share a strong bond. Infants stay with their mothers for 6-8 or more years until they develop the skills to survive on their own: what to eat, where to find it, now to eat it, how to build a nest.
10. Males are larger than females and when mature they can develop a throat pouch and cheek pads. These may develop when the male is between 15 (in captivity) and 30 years of age. If adolescent males are in the vicinity of a large adult male, their adult characteristics may be suppressed, sometimes for years. The oldest captive orangutan was a male called “Guas” at the Philidelphia Zoo who lived until he was 58!
11. Basically vegetarian, but have been seen catching and eating a small prosimian called the slow loris.
12. They use leafy branches to shelter themselves from both sun and rain and incorporate these into their nests.
13. Some populations in Sumatra use sticks to probe for termites.
14. In the wild, they spend most of their time in the trees. When they do come down they generally walk on all fours, using their palms or their fists. Males come to the ground more often due to their large size.
15. Build a new nest every night. Youngsters sleep with their mothers until they become independent.
17. The only one of the four great ape species that is not native to Africa. All the rest (gorillas, chimpanzees, and bonobos) live in Africa.
18. Remember that monkeys have tails, apes do not!
19. When males fight, they charge each other, grapple, and bite each other’s heads and cheekpads.
20. Cheyenne Orangutan has never had a baby of her own, but she has acted as the foster mother for three baby orangutans: Luna (Kelly’s first baby), and Elok and Indah from the Memphis Zoo. Bornean and Sumatran orangutans are now recognized as different species, not subspecies.
21. Orangutans are a species of great ape along with gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos.
22. An orangutan’s favourite fruit is the durian, renowned for their horrible smell but orangutans love them!
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