Intro to orangutans
Who they are and where they live.. -graceful and agile
1.Part of the great ape family, two classifications of Asian apes=gibbons and orangutan ,
2They are unique in the fact that they only come from asia where as the other three apes( gorilla , chimpanzee and bonobo) come from africa.
3Exclusively live in Borneo and Sumatra
4Two classes of orangutan- in regards to where they live 1. Bornean from borneo and the Sumatran from Sumatra, they have different physical traits also ( they share the same traits such as ……..males and females look different, long shaggy hair, male is larger up to 190 pounds, grows check pads and beards, female is almost half the size, fist walkers vs knuckle walkers, mother infant is the primary social group, males are solitary meeting only to mate, this is thought because evolved due to food shortage, slowest life history meaning slow to reproduce every 7-8 years and takes a long time to grow up baby stays with mother for at least the first 5 years. Age span is roughly 45 years in the wild.
Vegetarians
Borneo is darker brown fur and males have larger check pads
Sumatra has a red orange coat white around mouth and belly and a better throat beard
Home sweet Home
They are Arboreal 90% of the time unlike the other apes who are terrestrial
Better climbing and hanging agility than other apes , arms are longer than legs and shoulders wider than hips
Largest tree living mammal in the world
Build nests to live and sleep
How closely related we are Orangutan is closely related to human however chimpanzees sharing 98% of the same dna making them even more closely related. . or are they? New study finds that physical resemblance may be closer sharing 28 unique characteristics when only sharing 2 with chimps and 7 with gorilla. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/06/090623-humans-chimps-related.html)
Orangutans are very gentle have a high level of intelligence
Abilty to reason and think
Express emotion just like us
Exhibit many social traditions that get passed down from one generation to the next 2.
When water is difficult to get, they chew leaves to make a sponge to soak up water in tree cavities. When it rains very hard the orangutan makes an umbrella for himself out of big leaves.4.
They use tools in the wild and have excellent memories, making mental maps of their forest home in order to find fruiting trees throughout the seasons.3.
Used to live through put asia and as far north as southern china
3 major causes of threats
Deforestation
Human impact ( urban growth , farm land, plantation) palm oil is a huge problem , first burning the land and then create palm oil plantation sometimes the fire spread out of control Poachers, babys are sold as exotic pets which means the mother is killed
, the adults are eaten whether from hunger or poverty
Could disappear in as little as 10 years from the wild
Why we need them
Keystone species – meaning it has an important role in maintaining ecological structure. . Keystone species are species whose very existence in an ecosystem greatly effects
