Orangutan

We read about the monkey, We read about the chimp, But info on the orangutan Is really very limp. Their eating habits, where they live, What causes them to smell? Research ignores the orangutan Because it's hard to spell. —Grandpa Tucker Copyright ©1997 by Bob Tucker

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BRITH OF A BABY ORANG-UTAN

CUTE BABY ORANG-UTAN

BORNEAN ORANGUTAN

The Bornean Orangutan, Pongo pygmaeus, is a species of orangutan native to the island of Borneo. Together with the slightly smaller Sumatran Orangutan, it belongs to the only genus of great apes native to Asia.

The Bornean Orangutan has a life span of about 35 to 40 years in the wild; in captivity it can live to be 60. A survey of wild orangutans found that males weigh on average 75 kg (165 lb), ranging from 50–100 kg (110-200 lb), and 1.2-1.4 m (4-4.7 ft) long; females averaging 38.5 kg (82 lb), ranging from 30–50 kg (66-110 lb), and 1-1.2 m (3.3–4 ft) long.

TAXONOMY

There is evidence that there was gene flow between the geographically isolated Bornean Orangutan populations until recently. The Bornean and Sumatran Orangutan species diverged 1.5 – 1.7 million years ago. This occurred well before the two islands (Borneo and Sumatra) separated. The two species of orangutan are more distantly related than the Common Chimpanzee and the Bonobo are. Despite this difference, the two orangutan species were only considered subspecies until as recently as 1996, following sequencing of mtDNA.

The Bornean Orangutan has three subspecies:

§  Northwest Bornean Orangutan P. p. pygmaeus - Sarawak (Malaysia) & northern West Kalimantan (Indonesia)

§  Central Bornean Orangutan P. p. wurmbii - Southern West Kalimantan & Central Kalimantan (Indonesia)

§  Northeast Bornean Orangutan P. p. morio - East Kalimantan (Indonesia) & Sabah (Malaysia)

The population currently listed as P. p. wurmbii may be closer to the Sumatran Orangutan (P. abelii) than the Bornean Orangutan. If confirmed, abelii would be a subspecies of P. wurmbii (Tiedeman, 1808). Regardless, the type locality of pygmaeus has not been established beyond doubts, and may be from the population currently listed as wurmbii (in which case wurmbii would be a junior synonym ofpygmaeus, while one of the names currently considered a junior synonym of pygmaeus would take precedence for the taxon in Sarawak and northern West Kalimantan). To further confuse, the name morio, as well as various junior synonyms that have been suggested, have been considered likely to all be junior synonyms of the population listed as pygmaeus in the above, thus 

leaving the taxon found in East Kalimantan and Sabah unnamed.

ECOLOGY

The Bornean Orangutan lives in tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests in the Bornean lowlands as well as mountainous areas 1500 m in elevation. It lives at different heights in the trees and moves large distances to find trees bearing fruit. Its diet consists of fruit as well as shoots, bark and bird eggs. It also eats insects but to a lesser extent than the Sumatran Orangutan. Bornean Orangutans have been seen using spears to catch fish.

The Bornean Orangutan travels on the ground more than its Sumatran counterpart. It is theorized this may be in part because there is no need to avoid the large predators which only exist in Sumatra such as the Sumatran Tiger.

BEHAVIOR AND REPRODUCTION

The Bornean Orangutan is more solitary than the Sumatran Orangutan. Two or three orangutans that have overlapping territories may interact for small periods of time. Males and females generally come together only to mate. Sub-adult males will try to mate with any female, though they probably mostly fail to impregnate them since mature females are easily capable of fending them off. Mature females prefer to mate with mature males.

Newborn orangutans nurse every three to four hours, and begin to take soft food from their mothers' lips by four months. During the first year of its life, the baby clings to its mother's abdomen by entwining its fingers in and gripping her fur. Babies stay with their mothers until they are about eight or nine years old and have a long childhood compared to other apes.

CONSERVATION STATUS

The Bornean Orangutan is more common than the Sumatran, with about 45,000 individuals in the wild; there are only about 7,500 of the Sumatran species left in the wild. Orangutans are becoming increasingly endangered due to habitat destruction and the bushmeat trade, and young orangutans are captured to be sold as pets, usually entailing the killing of their mothers.

The Bornean Orangutan is endangered according to the IUCN Red List of mammals, and is listed on Appendix I of CITES. The total number of Bornean Orangutans is estimated to be less than 14 percent of what it was in the recent past (from around 10,000 years ago until the middle of the twentieth century) and this sharp decline has occurred mostly over the past few decades due to human activities and development. Species distribution is now highly patchy throughout Borneo: it is apparently absent or uncommon in the south-east of the island, as well as in the forests between the Rejang River in central Sarawak and the Padas River in western Sabah (including the Sultanate of Brunei). The largest remaining population is found in the forest around the Sabangau River, but this environment is at risk. According to the IUCN, it is expected that in 10 to 30 years orangutans will be extinct if there is no serious effort to overcome the threats that they are facing.

This view is also supported by the United Nations Environment Programme, which states in its report that due to illegal logging, fire and the extensive development of oil palm plantations (see Environmental impact of palm oil), orangutans are endangered, and if the current trend continues, they will become extinct.

 information from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orangutan

SUMATRAN ORANGUTAN

The Sumatran Orangutan (Pongo abelii) is one of the two species of orangutans. Found only on the island of Sumatra, in Indonesia, it is rarer and smaller than the Bornean Orangutan. The Sumatran Orangutan grows to about 1.4 metres (4.6 ft) tall and 90 kilograms (200 lb) in males.Females are smaller, averaging 90 centimetres (3.0 ft) and 45 kilograms (99 lb).

BEHAVIOR

Compared to the Bornean Orangutan, the Sumatran Orangutan tends to be more frugivorous and especially insectivorous. Preferred fruits include figs and jackfruits. It also will eat bird eggs and small vertebrates. The

Sumatran Orangutans spend far less time feeding on the inner bark of trees.

Wild Sumatran Orangutans in the Suaq Balimbing swamp have been observed using tools. An orangutan will break off a tree branch that's about a foot long, snap off the twigs and fray one end. It then will use the stick to dig in tree holes for termites. They'll also use the stick to poke a bee's nest wall, move it around and catch the honey. In addition, orangutans use tools to eat fruit. When the fruit of the Neesia tree ripens, its hard, ridged husk softens until it falls open. Inside are seeds that the orangutans love, but they are surrounded by fiberglass-like hairs that are painful if eaten. A Neesia-eating orangutan will select a five-inch stick, strip off its bark, and then carefully collect the hairs with it. Once the fruit is safe, the ape will eat the seeds using the stick or its fingers. Although similar swamps can be found in Borneo, wild Bornean Orangutans have not been seen using these types of tools.

NHNZ filmed the Sumatran Orangutan for its show Wild Asia: In the Realm of the Red Ape; it showed one of them using a simple tool, a twig, to pry food from difficult places. There is also a sequence of an animal using a large leaf as an umbrella in a tropical rainstorm.

The Sumatran Orangutan is also more arboreal than its Bornean cousin; this could be because of the presence of large predators like the Sumatran Tiger. It moves through the trees by brachiation.

Sumatran Orangutan at Bukit Lawang

Life cycle

The Sumatran Orangutan is more social than its Bornean counterpart. Groups of these orangutans gather to feed on the mass amount of fruiting on the fig trees. However adult males generally avoid contact with other adult males. Rape is common among orangutans. Sub-adult males will try to mate with any female, though they probably mostly fail to impregnate them since mature females are easily capable of fending them off. Mature females prefer to mate with mature males.

Interval birth rates for Sumatran Orangutan were longer than the Bornean ones and are the longest reported interval birth rates among the great apes. Sumatran orangutans give birth when they are about 15 years old. Infant orangutans will stay close to their mother for up to three years. Even after that, the young will still associate with their mother. Both orangutan species are likely to live several decades; the longevity estimate can span for more than 50 years. The average of the first reproduction of P. abelii is around 12.3 years old with no indication of menopause.

Status

A Sumatran orangutan being taken care of at Bukit Lawang.

The Sumatran orangutan is endemic to Sumatra island and is particularly restricted in the north of the island. In the wild, Sumatran orangutans survive in the province of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD), the northernmost tip of Sumatra. The primate was once more widespread, as they were found more to the south in the 1800s such as in Jambi and Padang. There are small populations in the North Sumatra province along the border with NAD, particularly in the Lake Toba forests. A survey in the Lake Toba found only two inhabited areas, Bukit Lawang(defined as the animal sanctuary) and Gunung Leuser National Park. In 2002, the World Conservation Union put the species on the IUCN Red List with critically endangered status. The species is considered one of "The World's 25 Most Endangered Primates."

A survey in 2004 estimated that around 7,300 sumatran orangutans still live in the wild. Some of them are being protected in five areas in Gunung Leuser National Park; others live in unprotected areas: northwest and northeast Aceh block, West Batang Toru river, East Sarulla and Sidiangkat. A successful breeding program has been established in Bukit Tiga Puluh National Park in Jambi and Riau provinces.

Nonja, thought to be the world's oldest in captivity or the wild at the time of its death, died at the Miami Metro Zoo at the age of 55. The oldest captive Sumatran orangutan was, until her death in Singapore Zoo on 8 February 2008 at the age of 48, Ah Meng, born in 1960.

 information from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orangutan