ORANG UTAN INFORMATION - General
‘Orang-hutan’ literally means ‘Man of the Forest’.
Orangutans are highly intelligent with an ability to reason and think. This large, gentle red ape is one of our closest relatives, sharing 98% of our DNA.
Orangutans are part of the great ape family, so they don’t have a tail and tend to be larger and heavier than monkeys, even though they are both primates.
Great apes also have a bigger brain and can use tools, such as sticks, to help them get food to eat or leaves to make a sunshade or umbrella.
Orangutans live in Asia and are found on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, living in lowland and hilly tropical rainforests
The orangutan is the only strictly arboreal ape (live in trees only) and the largest tree-living mammal in the world.
Although other apes do climb and build sleeping nests in the trees, they are primarily terrestrial (spending their lives on the ground).
Even the bright reddish-brown hair colour is unique to the orangutan.
They have the most remarkable ability to travel through the forest treetops. Each night building a new nest out of leaves and branches in the very tops of the trees – sometimes as much as 100 feet above the ground.
Almost all of the food they eat grow in the treetops and the frequent rains fill the leaves, supplying them with drinking water.
When water is difficult to find, they chew leaves to make a sponge to soak up the droplets in tree cavities. Although, when it rains hard, they might make an umbrella for out of big leaves.
Some might say orangutans have four hands instead of two hands and two feet.
These appendages (hands & feet) make them graceful and agile while climbing through the trees, but makes walking on the ground somewhat slow and awkward. This is why they are at a great disadvantage on the ground, and rarely comes down from the treetops.
STATUS: Endangered.
DESCRIPTION:
Orangutans have thin, shaggy, reddish-brown hair. They have long, powerful arms and strong hands that they can use to manipulate tools. Orangutans have the ability to make 13 to15 different types of vocalizations.
SIZE:
Most orangutans are four to five feet long, some can reach a length of six feet. Adult males weigh between 100 and 200 pounds and adult females weigh between 65 and 100 pounds. Orangutans have an arm spread of about five feet.
POPULATION:
An estimated 19,000 to 25,000 orangutans live in the wild. Another 900 live in captivity.
LIFE SPAN:
In the wild, orangutans live for about 35 to 40 years.
LOCATION:
Orangutans are only found on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo in Southeast Asia.
Orangutans are only found on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo in Southeast Asia.
HABITAT Orangutans are arboreal creatures, which means they spend most of their lives slowly walking, swinging and climbing through dense rain forests.
FOOD:
Orangutans feed mainly on fruits, especially wild figs. They also eat other kinds of vegetation, insects, small vertebrates and birds eggs.
BEHAVIOUR:
Orangutans are solitary creatures. Adult males live primarily alone and only come together with females to mate. Adult females live with their young. Occasionally, adults will live with other adults for short periods in small temporary groups. Orangutans spend most of their lives in a "home range" of 0.4 to 3.7 square miles. Females have a smaller home range than males. Sometimes the home ranges of individual orangutans overlap.
OFFSPRING:
Females are able to give birth after age seven, but in the wild they generally do not mate until age 12. They give birth to one young at a time, which clings to its mothers stomach until it is about a year old. When an orangutan reaches adolescence at about four or five years, it becomes more independent but may seek protection from its mother until it reaches seven to eight years.
THREATS:
The orangutans most serious threat is the destruction of forest habitat from excessive logging. Female orangutans are also killed and their young are taken and illegally placed in circuses and zoos.
VOCABULARY - Write the meaning of the following words:
manipulate:
vertebrates:
arboreal:
terrestrial:
appendages:
DNA:
Use the information above and DESCRIBE orang utans in half a page.
manipulate:
vertebrates:
arboreal:
terrestrial:
appendages:
DNA:
Use the information above and DESCRIBE orang utans in half a page.
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