Why Are Orangutans Endangered?

What are the threats to orangutans?

Threats. Orangutan numbers and distribution have declined rapidly since the middle of the 20th century, due to human activities. These include hunting, unsustainable and often illegal logging, mining, and conversion of forests to agriculture.

How many orangutan are left?

On average, 2,000 to 3,000 orangutans are killed every year. While exact orangutan population counts are always a challenge – estimates put current counts between 50,000-65,000 orangutans left in the wild. At this rate of loss, many experts believe orangutans could be extinct in the wild in less than 50 years.

What will happen if orangutans go extinct?

If orangutans were to disappear, so would several tree species, especially those with larger seeds. The tropical rainforests where Sumatran orangutans live are also home to other spectacular species including rare Sumatran tigers, Sumatran elephants, and Sumatran rhinoceroses.

Why are orangutans important?

Orangutans are known as gardeners of the forest, because they help spread seeds around. You know how it works – they eat fruit from the trees, the seeds come out the other end, the forest spreads. Especially the larger seeds that don’t get spread by smaller animals.

Are orangutans aggressive?

Social Interactions. Orangutans are generally non-aggressive toward humans and each other. Many individuals reintroduced into the wild after having been in managed care are aggressive towards humans. Male-male competition for mates and territory has been observed between adults.

Who would win orangutan vs gorilla?

A gorilla would win in a fight against an orangutan. Gorillas are far better fighters and far more capable of inflicting fatal trauma on enemies. An orangutan might escape a gorilla by climbing trees, but that is not going to defeat the gorilla.

Do orangutans eat meat?

Introduction – It is generally assumed that in early humans, a calorie-rich, meat-based diet became available through an evolving kit of hunting tools and techniques (Richards 2002 ). However, Wrangham and colleagues suggest that the shift to a meat-based diet in the human lineage may have been impossible without the knowledge of cooking (Wrangham 2009 ; Wrangham and Carmody 2010 ; Wrangham and Conklin-Brittain 2003 ). Using chimpanzees as a model, Wrangham and Conklin-Brittain ( 2003 ) calculated that an early hominin with daily energy requirements of ≤2487 kcal/d (Aiello and Key 2002 ) would have had to spend 50% of a 12-h day chewing raw meat. This is a significant period for chewing per day because individuals must engage in other activities, and Wrangham and Conklin-Brittain ( 2003 ) used these results to support the hypothesis that early humans must have had a technique to tenderize meat, i.e., cooking, for meat to become an important part of their diet. At present, humans consume an average of 40 kg of meat per capita per year, with several countries reaching >100 kg of meat per capita per year (FAOSTAT 2011 ). Indeed, humans may rely entirely on meat in certain times of the year, e.g., Iglulik Central Eskimos in winter (Sinclair 1953 ). Vertebrate meat-eating is also practiced by a number of nonhuman primates such as capuchins ( Cebus sp.: Rose 1997 ) and baboons ( Papio anubis : Strum 1983 ), in which males typically capture the prey (Rose 1997 ; Stanford 1999 ; Strum 1983 ; Uehara 1997 ; Wrangham and van Zinnicq Bergmann Riss 1990 ). In great apes, meat-eating occurs in chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes : Boesch and Boesch 1989 ), bonobos ( Pan paniscus : Hohmann and Fruth 2008 ), and Sumatran orangutans ( Pongo abelii : Utami and Van Hooff 1997 ). However, in contrast to the diets of humans, those of great apes are composed primarily of fruits and other plant foods. Currently, evidence concerning the social and ecological conditions favoring meat-eating in great apes is scant, with the exception of data for chimpanzees (Gilby and Wrangham 2007 ; Gilby et al.2006, 2010 ; Mitani and Watts 2005 ; Watts and Mitani 2002 ). For chimpanzees, researchers have proposed 5 hypotheses: the fallback food hypothesis (nutrient shortfall hypothesis), meat-for-sex hypothesis, the nutrient surplus hypothesis, male social bonding hypothesis, and increased visibility hypothesis. There is no evidence to support the fallback food hypothesis, under which meat-eating is predicted to occur during periods of food scarcity (Gilby et al.2006 ). Hunting frequency was highest during the dry season (Stanford et al.1994 b), but it was unclear if food scarcity caused this trend (Gilby et al.2006 ). Equally, there is no evidence for the meat-for-sex hypothesis, whereby meat is exchanged for matings (Gilby 2006 ; Gilby et al.2006, 2010 ). However, there is some evidence in favor of the nutrient surplus hypothesis, wherein hunts are more frequent when energy reserves are high (Gilby et al.2006 ). At least 3 studies have shown that chimpanzees hunt more when ripe fruit is abundant (Gilby and Wrangham 2007 ; Gilby et al.2006 ; Mitani and Watts 2005 ). At Gombe (Gilby et al.2006 ) and Ngogo (Mitani and Watts 2005 ), this pattern is the result of increased group size when fruit is abundant, supporting the male bonding hypothesis (Hosaka et al.2001 ; Mitani and Watts 2001 ; Stanford et al.1994a ), whereas at Kanyawara, the positive effect of fruit abundance on hunting probability remains even after group size is controlled (Gilby and Wrangham 2007 ). Another ecological factor that has been found to influence meat-eating in chimpanzees is increased visibility. Chimpanzees hunt more in woodland and semideciduous forest vs. evergreen forest (Gilby et al.2006 ), and in areas where canopy is broken or with secondary growth (Watts and Mitani 2002 ). Researchers have observed several cases of meat-eating in wild Sumatran orangutans, although not in Bornean orangutans ( Pongo pygmeus : Russon et al.2009 ). However, meat-eating is rare at the Sumatran orangutan sites where this behavior has been observed despite numerous observation hours (van Schaik et al.2003 ). The available data suggest that unlike other primate species, orangutans do not show a male bias in meat-eating (van Schaik et al.2009 ). However, a male bias may also be absent in chimpanzees for more opportunistic prey, such as bushbabies (species not reported; Pruetz and Bertolani 2007 ) and bushbuck fawns ( Tragelaphus scriptus : I.C. Gilby, pers. comm,). Slow loris hunting has previously been observed in 2 adult female orangutans in the Ketambe population (Fig.1 ; Utami and Van Hooff 1997 ), and in 3 individuals (2 adult females and 1 flanged male) at Suaq Balimbing (van Schaik et al.2009 ). These studies reported a total of 9 cases of orangutans eating slow lorises (Utami and Van Hooff 1997 ; van Schaik et al.2009 ). A further case of an orangutan eating a gibbon (Sugardjito and Nurhuda 1981 ) is also likely to have in fact involved a slow loris (Rijksen and Meijaard 1999 ). Recently, we observed 3 new cases of meat-eating and recorded details of the meat-eating from prey discovery until the end of prey consumption, including, to our knowledge, the first video recording of the behavior (see supplementary video file ). We present these data, complemented with those of previous orangutan meat-eating observations where relevant data are available, and use these data to examine how orangutans find slow lorises and share meat. We also examine when and why orangutans eat meat in light of the hypotheses proposed to explain meat-eating in chimpanzees. Slow loris capture locations in the research area of Ketambe, including cases described by Utami and van Hooff ( 1997 ). (Illustrations by A.R. Lameira). The hypothesis of increased visibility is not applicable to orangutans because they inhabit tropical rain forest with continuous dense canopy throughout dry and wet seasons.

However, seasonal variations in high-quality foods may elicit meat hunting. Because previous cases were not reported during mast years (Utami and Van Hooff 1997 ), this may suggest that the seasonal shortage of food elicits a need for fallback foods in the form of meat (Boesch and Boesch-Achermann 2000 ; Mitani and Watts 2005 ; Rose 1997, 2001 ; Stanford 1996 ; Teleki 1973 ).

Accordingly, we test whether meat-eating negatively correlates with fruit availability. Finally, we calculate meat chewing rates, and grams and calories consumed per hour for orangutans and use these to estimate the minimum time necessary for a female Australopithecus africanus to reach its daily energy requirements when feeding partially on raw meat.

Orangutans have more robust jaws than early humans and are more similar in their dentition to australopithecines than to Homo erectus (Grine and Kay 1988 ). Some australopithecines are suggested to have relied on fruits, and their fallback food may have been harder, tougher (or granular) than fruit (Teaford et al.2002 ).

As this is also the case for orangutans in comparison with chimpanzees (Vogel et al.2008 ), whose dentition is more similar to that of Homo erectus (Wood 1995 ), orangutans are a useful model in this context.

How intelligent are orangutans?

Intelligence in great apes has historically been determined by the extent of tool use shown by wild populations, particularly as tool use and tool manipulation was once thought to be a distinctly human ability. As a result, for a long time chimpanzees, which exhibit a dizzying array of complex tool use at various research sites in Africa, have often been thought of as the most intelligent non-human ape, and the one most like ourselves. Tool use in wild orangutans was usually thought to be restricted to two behavioral contexts: nesting/ covering and agonistic displays (Galdikas, 1982). Orangutans manipulate branches, saplings, and leaves to build their night nests, and have been observed breaking off and dropping or throwing branches and sticks at other orangutans, species or human observers during agnostic displays (Galdikas, 1995).

Males have also been observed pushing over snags while performing their long calls, and during the first 9 years of a long-term wild study at Tanjung Puting in Borneo, orangutans were also observed rubbing their faces with crumpled leaves pulled off adjacent branches, before dropping them or throwing them at human observers.

Only once during this period of the study was an instance of tool use observed in a context other than agnostic displays or nesting, when an adult male broke off the end of a dead branch and scratched himself in the vicinity of his anus for 30-35 seconds, before putting the stick in his mouth and biting a piece off (Galdikas, 1982).

• More recent studies at Suaq Balimbing in Sumatra have found evidence of orangutans using tools to extract honey, ants or termites from tree holes, manipulation of vines to swing across gaps in the canopy and using leaves to fashion gloves to handle prickly fruits (Russon et al, 2009).
• Further similar levels of innovative feeding techniques have been observed at the Tuanan site in Borneo (van Schaik et al, 2003).

In comparison to the relative rarity of tool use observed in wild populations, such activities are common in rehabilitant, ex-captive, and semi-wild orangutans. At Tanjung Puting in Borneo, semi-wild ex-captive orangutans were observed using sticks to dig holes, jab at other orangutans, stir liquids, rake objects from fires, prying loose objects and as an arm extender to reach far away objects (Russon et al, 2009; Russon, 2004).

1. Sticks and branches seem to be an important part of ex-captive innovation, with similar activities at other rehabilitation sites having been observed.
2. At Ketambe in Sumatra orangutans were observed using sticks to open fruit, disturb ant nests, probe rat burrows and poke other animals in cages (Russon et al, 2009), and at a rehabilitation center in Ketapang, West Borneo, a female adult orangutan was observed using a stick to try and pry open the lock on her cage.

Human-made objects available are often used, and orangutans raised in their vicinity have proved to be expert imitators, with orangutans at Tanjung Puting being observed putting together make-shift clothes out of leaves and rags, putting rice on to ‘plates’ of bark, trying to put mosquito nets overnight nests, breaking in to buildings and commandeering dugout canoes (Galdikas 1982 & 1995).

American Sign Language (ASL) lessons conducted by OURF president Gary Shapiro on ex-captive females Princess (Shapiro, 1982) and Rinnie (Shapiro & Galdikas, 1999) at this site demonstrated that orangutans were just as able to communicate with humans via this medium as were the famous signing chimpanzees and gorillas, although Princess and other orangutans did seem to be generally more reluctant to converse about topics other than food.

A recent study on intentional gestural signals of wild Bornean orangutans identified 21 types of such signals that led to acquiring 8 types of goals (Knox, et al., 2019) suggesting a natural behavioral substrate for the inculcation of a human trained language.

• A number of reasons have been put forward to explain the discrepancy in the level of tool use, tool manipulation and innovation observed between wild and ex-captive orangutan populations.
• Why, if orangutans at rehabilitation centers are intelligent enough to make and manipulate tools for their own gain, why do they generally not do so in the wild? Studies have shown social learning and cultures contribute substantially to orangutans’ level of innovation in the wild, with many of the different types of tool use observed being passed down through generations.

Ex-captive orangutans, deprived of their mothers’ guidance, have to invent their own way of doing of things, and, lacking the social constraints of life in the wild, are free to explore their surroundings and take advantage of objects wild orangutans would generally ignore.

The levels of imitation shown by ex-captives are also a likely result of humans having replaced orangutans as parental figures. As already discussed, orangutans have an extraordinarily long period of infant dependency, with infants spending between 5- 9 years learning every aspect of orangutan life from their mothers.

Deprived of this, ex-captive orangutans seem to pick up atypical, or unusual, behavior from watching humans, and this contributes to the level of imitative behaviors displayed. Ex-captive orangutans at most sites also receive supplemental feeding, and freed from the endless quest to find food, which underpins almost all aspects of wild orangutan behavioral ecology, ex-captive orangutans have the time to experiment and innovate in different ways (Galdikas 1982; Russon et al., 2009).

How old can orangutans live?

6. Males are majestic – Some adult male orangutans develop flaps of fatty tissue on both sides of their face – known as flanges – which develop when they’re fully mature, at around 35 years old. Like all great apes, an orangutan has a long lifespan and can live to over 30 years in the wild—many live to 50. Studies show that some females may consider flanges when selecting a mate. ©

Why are orangutans becoming rare?

The habitats of Asia’s only great apes are fast disappearing under the chainsaw to make way for oil palm plantations and other agricultural plantations. Illegal logging inside protected areas and unsustainable logging in concessions where orangutans live remains a major threat to their survival.

Do orangutans help humans?

The people who believe orangutans are family My grandfather became an orangutan,” says hunter Kubi anak Mani. “In his old age, he started to grow long hair from his arms and liked to swing from the longhouse beam. Finally he just walked out into the forest.” Instinctively I look around at the faces of the people sitting with us on the communal platform of the longhouse.

1. They nod seriously in agreement.
2. Although the event took place in another longhouse, they’ve heard this story too often to doubt it.
3. I was in the longhouse too when that happened,” says my guide Bayang anak Penguang.
4. I was very small but I remember it.
5. When Kubi’s grandfather left, he was still wearing the kandi pouch around his neck that he kept his betel nut in.

For years people often saw an orangutan in the forest wearing the same kandi.” Neighbouring and Lanjak Entimau National Parks are the last viable breeding range for orangutans in Sarawak on Borneo. This combined area of more than 2,000km 2 of extremely diverse Bornean rainforest is home to around 2,500 orangutans. A baby orangutan clings tightly to its mother in the canopy near Nanga Sumpa longhouse. © Mark Eveleigh “They can be our friends,” Bayang, a guide with local travel company, explains the next morning as we wade across the river in front of the longhouse to trek further into the rainforest in search of the great red apes.

What do orangutans do all day?

Life in the Trees – Orangutans are the largest arboreal animal on the planet. Most of their lives are spent in trees where orangutans travel from branch to branch by climbing, clambering, and brachiating, Diurnal animals, orangutans spend a large portion (60% by time at Tanjung Puting) of daylight hours foraging for food.

• Since over 90% of the food orangutans eat is found in the canopy, their arboreal existence is not surprising.
• Although mostly arboreal, males in Borneo occasionally travel on the ground to move between stands of trees.
• At Tanjung Puting adult males have traveled over two miles on the ground during the course of a day.

While females stay near their mothers’ home ranges during the course of their lifetimes, males may migrate long distances away from their mother’s home range.

Why are orangutans stronger than humans?

Shoulders & Arms – Orangutan arms are one and a half times longer than their legs. When stretched out to the sides, an adult male orangutan’s arms may measure 213 cm (7 ft.) in length. Their strong arm muscles enable them to swing from tree to tree and, along with its shoulders, support the weight of their body.

Are orangutans nice?

The name “orangutan” literally translates into English as “person of the forest”. It comes from Malay and Bahasa Indonesian orang (person) and hutan (forest). Orangutans are extremely intelligent creatures who clearly have the ability to reason and think.

• Their similarity to us is uncanny.
• Baby orangutans cry when they’re hungry, whimper when they’re hurt and smile at their mothers.
• They express emotions just like we do: joy, fear, anger, surprise.
• It’s all there.
• If you take a few minutes and watch an orangutan, you’ll swear they’re just like us.
• And they kind of are.

Orangutans are large, but in general they are quite gentle. Adult males can be aggressive, but for the most part they keep to themselves. They are uniquely arboreal – living their lives quietly up in the trees away from predators and only descending to the forest floor when they must.

1. If not for the occasional squealing of a baby or calling out of a big male, you would hardly even know they were there.
2. They don’t bother anyone.
3. They don’t want anything to do with us.
4. They’re too busy getting on with their lives.
5. Local Indonesian mythology has it that orangutans actually have the ability to speak, but choose not to, fearing they would be forced to work if were they ever caught.

Legends aside, even if this were the case, who could blame them?

Are orangutans the smartest ape?

Deemed some of the smartest apes on the planet, orangutans are exceptional creatures with expressive faces. Overall, the species considered most intelligent among the ape species, apart from humans, are orangutans.

Are orangutans smarter than gorillas?

Recent studies have placed the orangutan as the most intelligent of all great apes (aside from humans), with reasoning abilities beyond those of both gorillas and chimpanzees.

What is the orangutan natural enemy?

Predators – Aside from human activity, young orangutans are preyed on by clouded leopards, bearded pigs, crocodiles, pythons, and black eagles.

Can orangutans problem solve?

The orangutan is probably the most intelligent of all of the great apes, especially if intelligence is measured by the ability to problem solve.

How peaceful are orangutans?

ARE ORANGUTANS DANGEROUS OR AGGRESSIVE? – Normally, no. But, sometimes in captivity they can become aggressive as a result of how they have been treated. They are significantly stronger than humans, with two strong hands and feet, and an incredibly hard bite.

What is the orangutan natural enemy?

Predators – Aside from human activity, young orangutans are preyed on by clouded leopards, bearded pigs, crocodiles, pythons, and black eagles.

Why are orangutans threatened by palm oil?

Palm Oil Plantations Endangering Orangutans – During the past decade the orangutan population has decreased by approximately 50 percent in the wild. This is primarily due to human activities including rainforest destruction for palm oil plantations. At present, 80 percent of orangutan habitat has been altered or lost.

Why is deforestation a threat to orangutans?

The impact the destruction of forests has on this endangered primate