The Great Apes - Part 2 - Orangutans

In the Malay language Orangutan means "Person of the Forest". They are some of the largest of the Great Apes. The male Orangutan is usually towers about 5 feet tall and weighs about 200 pounds. The females are generally about 1/2 that size. They are covered with a reddish brown coat of hair. The males are noted for the wide cheeks called "cheek pads" and a throat sac that is used to make the Long Call. A vocalization made when the male is mature and searching for a female.

Male Orangutans live alone, while females will sometimes be seen with other females and their young. The closest relationship in the Orangutan world is between the mother and her child. Unfortunately, numerous mother orangutans have been killed to supply baby orangutans to the pet trade. People want them when they are babies because they are so cute and human-like. The sad fact is the babies grow up into adults needing much more than a human can easily supply, physically and emotionally. The orangutan has joined the list if endangered animals because of the massive impact reduction of their numbers due directly to killing as well as the terrible raging fires in their natural habitat. The fires are wide spread and burning everything in sight, including the homeland of the orangutans. It has destroyed the forests and all things that live inside of it. The ongoing drought also means many animals are starving and vulnerable to villagers hunting for food to replace crops.

Orangutans spend most of their day hunting for food. They like to eat fruit, bark, flowers, insects and bird eggs. When they sleep at night, it is in a nest that they build very high up in a tree, usually 40 to 60 feet off the ground. Once the trees are burnt to the ground the orangutans lose their beds and food provided by the trees.

These marvelous animals need your support. The following links will guide you to ways of helping them out as well as providing further information for your reading pleasure.

Take a look at captive orangutans being studied at the Think Tank at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. at this link: "http://icarus.online.discovery.com/cams/..."

Balikpapan Orangutan Society - U.S.A.: "http://www.orangutan.com/orangutan.shtml"

"http://www.discovery.com/stories/nature/..."

"http://www.ns.net/orangutan/"

"Orangutan Research & Conservation Program started in 1971 by Dr. Biruté Galdikas and her former husband, Rod Brindamour. The purpose of the program was and continues to be the study of the behavior and ecology of wild and excaptive orangutans as well as the conservation of the orangutan and its rain forest habitat. Dr. Galdikas received her original encouragement from Dr. Louis Leakey, for which she named the camp location (Camp Leakey) and funding from a variety of sources."

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