Orangutan

Zoo Atlanta installed a touch-screen computer enabling the Sumatran Orangutans to play video games while zoo visitors watch. The data collected from the computers will teach researchers about their socializing patterns and the orangutan’s methods for learning. Once enough data has been collected and evaluated, hopefully, it will make a difference in new conservation strategies. The Orangutans are native to Malaysia and Indonesia and can only be found in rainforests on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. In the tree tops are where orangutans can be found spending most of their time. Their solitary life style leaves them nesting alone among the trees and very territorial. Mothers will stay with their babies until they reach an age of six to seven years old.

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Orangutans, the Bornean species, are highly endangered and the Sumatran species is critically endangered. There are only roughly 7,000 Sumatran individuals left in the wild. Habitat destruction is the number one cause of the population declining. Logging, mining, and man-controlled forest fires all rapidly decrease the forests; home of the orangutans. The land is cleared for the production of palm oil. Find ways to protest to government agencies and corporations requesting to lower the production of palm oil.

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Sumatran Orangutan Society

Orangutans are recognized for being very intelligent. The two species of Great Apes, Sumatran and Bornean, both have long arms and reddish brown hair. The Latin root-word for orangutan breaks into “orang” meaning man and “hutan” meaning forest. These magnificent animals truly are the “Men of the Forest”. They can be found feeding themselves with tools and have been observed showing problem-solving skills far more advanced than chimpanzees. Orangutans build themselves leak-proof roofs and pass on the knowledge by teaching the younger orangutans.

Pongo pygmaeuss

Baby Orangutans become

abandoned and confused;

left alone to survive in

the destroyed rainforests.

http://www.orangutan.net/