(Redirected from Orangutans)
The 'orangutans' are two
species of
great apes known for their intelligence and their long arms and reddish-brown hair. Native to
Indonesia and
Malaysia, they are currently found only in
rainforests on the islands of
Borneo and
Sumatra, though fossils have been found in
Java,
Vietnam and
China. They are the only extant species in the genus ''Pongo'' and the subfamily ''Ponginae'' (which also includes the extinct genera ''
Gigantopithecus'' and ''
Sivapithecus''). Their name derives from the
Malay and
Indonesian phrase ''orang hutan'', meaning "person of the forest".
[1][2]
Etymology
The word ''orangutan'' (also written ''orang-utan'', ''orang utan'' and ''orangutang'') is derived from the
Malay and
Indonesian words ''orang'' meaning "person" and ''hutan'' meaning "forest", thus "man of the forest". ''Orang Hutan'' is the common term in these two national languages, although local peoples may also refer to them by local languages. ''Maias'' and ''mawas'' are also used in Malay, but it is unclear if those words refer only to orangutans, or to all apes in general.
The word was first attested in English in 1691 in the form ''orang-outang'', and variants with ''-ng'' instead of ''-n'' as in the Malay original are found in many languages. This spelling (and pronunciation) has remained in use in English up to the present, but has come to be regarded as
incorrect by some.
[3] However, dictionaries such as
the American Heritage Dictionary regard forms with ''-ng'' as acceptable variants.
The name of the genus, ''Pongo'', comes from a 16th century account by Andrew Battell, an English sailor held prisoner by the Portuguese in
Angola, which describes two anthropoid "monsters" named Pongo and Engeco. It is now believed that he was describing
gorillas, but in the late 18th century it was believed that all great apes were orangutans; hence Lacépède's use of ''Pongo'' for the genus.
[ A history of gorilla taxonomy, , Colin, Groves, Gorilla Biology: A Multidisciplinary Perspective, Andrea B. Taylor & Michele L. Goldsmith (editors), 2002 ]
Ecology and appearance
Orangutans are the most
arboreal of the great apes, spending nearly all of their time in the trees. Every night they fashion nests to sleep in from branches and foliage. They are more solitary than the other apes, with males and females generally coming together only to mate. Mothers stay with their babies until the offspring reach an age of six or seven years. There is significant
sexual dimorphism between females and males: females can grow to around 4 ft 2 in or 127 centimetres and weigh around 100 lbs or 45 kg, while fully mature males can reach 5 ft 9 in or 175 centimetres in height and weigh over 260 lbs or 118 kg.
[4] Fully mature males can be distinguished by their prominent cheek phalanges and longer hair.
Bimodal Male Development
headshot of adult male
Adult male orangutans exhibit two modes of physical development, flanged and unflanged. Flanged adult males have a variety of
secondary sexual characteristics, including cheek pads (called "flanges"), throat pouch, and long fur, that are absent from both adult females and from unflanged males. Flanged males establish and protect territories that do not overlap with other flanged males' territories. Adult females, juveniles, and unflanged males do not have established territories. A flanged male's mating strategy involves establishing and protecting a territory, advertising his presence, and waiting for receptive females to find him. Unflanged males are also able to reproduce; their mating strategy involving finding females in estrus and forcing copulation. Males appear to remain in the unflanged state until they are able to establish and defend a territory, at which point they can make the transition from unflanged to flanged within a few months.
[5] The two reproductive strategies, referred to as "call-and-wait" for flanged male and "sneak-and-rape" for the unflanged male, were found to be approximately equally effective in one study group.
[6]
Diet
Orangutans eat mostly fruit which makes up 60% of its diet. Fruits with sugary or fatty pulp are favored. The fruit of
fig trees are also commonly eaten since it is easy to both harvest and digest. Other food items include: young leaves, shoots, seeds and bark. Insects and bird eggs are also included and even small vertebrates are taken.
Orangutans are thought to be the sole fruit disperser for some plant species including the climber species ''Strychnos ignatii'' which contains the toxic
alkaloid strychnine.
[7] It does not appear to have any effect on orangutans except for excessive
saliva production.
Behaviour and language
Like the other great apes, orangutans are remarkably intelligent. Although tool use among
chimpanzees was documented by
Jane Goodall in the
1960s, it was not until the mid-
1990s that one population of orangutans was found to use feeding tools regularly. A
2003 paper in the journal ''Science'' described the evidence for distinct orangutan cultures.
[ Roads through rainforest threaten our cultured cousins ]
According to recent research by
Harvard University psychologist, James Lee, orangutans are the world's most intelligent animal other than man, with higher learning and problem solving ability than chimpanzees, which were previously considered to have greater abilities. A study of orangutans by Carel van Schaik, a Dutch primatologist at
Duke University, found them capable of tasks well beyond chimpanzees’ abilities — such as using leaves to make rain hats and leakproof roofs over their sleeping nests. He also found that, in some food-rich areas, the creatures had developed a complex culture in which adults would teach youngsters how to make tools and find food.
[8]
The first orangutan language study program, directed by Dr.
Francine Neago, was listed by ''Encyclopedia Britannica'' in 1988. The Orangutan language project at the
Smithsonian National Zoo in
Washington, D.C., uses a computer system originally developed at
UCLA by Neago in conjunction with IBM.
[9] .
.jpg)
Orangutan "laughing"
Zoo Atlanta has a touch screen computer where their two Sumatran Orangutans play games. Scientists hope that the data they collect from this will help researchers learn about socializing patterns, such as whether they mimic others or learn behavior from trial and error, and hope the data can point to new conservation strategies.
[10]
Although orangutans are generally passive, aggression toward other orangutans is very common; they are solitary animals and can be fiercely territorial. Immature males will try to mate with any female, and may succeed in forcibly copulating with her if she is also immature and not strong enough to fend him off. Mature females easily fend off their immature suitors, preferring to mate with a mature male.
Orangutans have even shown laughter-like vocalizations in response to physical contact, such as wrestling, play chasing, or tickling.
Species
Adult female orangutan
★ 'Genus ''Pongo'' '
★
★ Bornean Orangutan (''Pongo pygmaeus'')
★
★
★ ''Pongo pygmaeus pygmaeus'' - northwest populations
★
★
★ ''Pongo pygmaeus morio'' - northeast and east populations
★
★
★ ''Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii'' - southwest populations
★
★ Sumatran Orangutan (''P. abelii'')
The populations on the two isolated islands were classified as subspecies until recently, when they were elevated to full specific level, and the three distinct populations on Borneo were elevated to subspecies. Some suggest that the subspecies ''wurmbii'' is conspecific with the Sumatra population (''P. abelii''). In that case, the resulting species, which would be distributed in Sumatra and southwestern Borneo, would be known as ''Pongo wurmbii'', as that is the older name.
In addition, a fossil species, ''P. hooijeri'', is known from Vietnam, and multiple fossil subspecies have been described from several parts of southeastern Asia. It is unclear if these belong to ''P. pygmaeus'' or ''P. abeli'' or, in fact, represent distinct species.
Conservation status
The Bornean species of orangutans is highly endangered,[ Database entry includes justification for why this species is critically endangered] according to the IUCN Red List of mammals, and both are listed on Appendix I of CITES. The Borneo population is estimated at about 50,000 in the wild, while the Sumatran species is estimated at 7000-7500 individuals. The orangutan is an official state animal of Sabah in Malaysia.
Orangutan habitat destruction due to logging, mining and forest fires has been increasing rapidly in the last decade.[11] A major factor in that period of time has been the conversion of vast areas of tropical forest to oil palm plantations, for the production of palm oil.[12] Some UN scientists believe that these plantations could lead to the extinction of the species by the year 2012.[13] Much of this activity is illegal, occurring in national parks that are officially off limits to loggers, miners and plantation development. There is also a major problem with the poaching of baby orangutans for sale into the pet trade; the trappers usually kill the mother to steal the baby.
Major conservation centres in Indonesia include those at Tanjung Puting in Central Kalimantan, Kutai in East Kalimantan, Gunung Palung in West Kalimantan, and Bukit Lawang in the Gunung Leuser National Park on the border of Aceh and North Sumatra. In Malaysia, conservation areas include Semenggoh Wildlife Centre in Sarawak and Matang Wildlife Centre also in Sarawak,and the Sepilok Orang-utan Rehabilitation Centre near Sandakan in Sabah.
See also
★ Ability to swim
★ Ah Meng, celebrity orangutan of the Singapore Zoo
★ Biruté Galdikas
★ Chantek
★ Jeffrey H. Schwartz
★ List of apes
★ Human evolutionary genetics for more information on the speciation of humans and great apes.
★ Orangutans in popular culture
References
1. Orangutan Foundation International: All About Orangutans
2. {{cite journal | year = 2004 | title = Tracking Orangutans from the Sky | url = http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0030022 | journal = PLoS Biol | volume = 3 | issue = 1 | pages = e22 | id =
3. Orangutan
4. Sumatran Orangutan Society
5. Orangutan
6. The orang-utan mating system and the unflanged male: A product of increased food stress during the late Miocene and Pliocene?, , Mark E., Harrison, Journal of Human Evolution, 2007
7. A Field Study on Sumatran Orang Utans (Pongo pygmaeus abelii, Lesson 1827): Ecology, Behaviour and Conservation, , H. D., Rijksen, The Quarterly Review of Biology, 1978
8. [1]
9. Orangutan Language Project
10. Orangutans play video games at GA. zoo Turner, Dorie
11. Our Vanishing Relative: The Status of Wild Orang-utans at the Close of the Twentieth Century, Rijksen, H.D. and Meijaard, E., , , Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1999,
12. http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/reports/oil_for_ape_summary.pdf
13. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2042243,00.html
External links
'General Information'
★ Primate Info Net ''Pongo'' Factsheet
★ Information from Grungy Ape on the difference between the two Orang-utan species
★ OrionSociety.org - 'Does an orangutan find Freedom in the Gift of Words? Do We?'
★ Orang utan language project
★ Facial Expression & Vocalizations
★ Dr. Francine Neago Directed world's first orangutan language study.
★ World's first eye cataract operation on an great male orangutan named Aman recovering well! (May 2007)
'Orangutan protection'
★ The Ape Alliance international coalition of organisations and individuals, working for the conservation and welfare of apes.
★ Orangutan Foundation International non-profit organization dedicated to "''support the conservation and understanding of the orangutan and its rain forest habitat while caring for ex-captive individuals as they make their way back to the forest.''"
★ Orang Utan Republik Education Initiative non-profit organization whose mission is to secure the future of the orangutan through programs of education and outreach in Indonesia.
★ Preserving orangutans and their habitat. Orangutan Language.
★ The Oil For Ape Scandal Published by Friends of the Earth, the Ape Alliance, the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, the Orangutan Foundation, and the Sumatran Orangutan Society
'In Borneo'
★ The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation
★ The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOS) - Australia
★ Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation UK Part of a worldwide group dedicated to saving and preserving Orangutans in Borneo
★ WWF Heart of Borneo conservation initiative - The WWF's information about the Heart of Borneo - 220,000 km² of upland montane tropical rainforest, where endangered species such as the orang-utan, rhinoceros and pygmy elephant cling for survival
★ Orangutan Tropical Peatland Research Project non-profit organization dedicated to studying and conserving orangutans in the Sebangau National Park,. Kalimantan."
★ Great Orangutan Project collaborative conservation of semi wild orangutans through responsible volunteering in Malaysia.
'In Sumatra'
★ Sumatran Orangutan Society International non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of Sumatran orangutans
★ Sumatra Orangutan Conservation Program A program under PanEco which reintroduces captured orangutans in the wilds among many other projects in Sumatra.
'Photos and video'
★ Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center Photos - Photos from a rehabilitation center in Borneo, Malaysia
★ ARKive - images and movies of the Bornean orang-utan ''(Pongo pygmaeus)''
★ ARKive - images and movies of the Sumatran orang-utan ''(Pongo abelii)''
★ Orangutan Rehabilitation Center in Sepilok, Sandakan - Photos and videos of the oldest Orangutan Rehabilitation Center in the world
★ Video of young orangutans being cared for at Nyaru Menteng, Kalimatan
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