Of the primates, orangutans are the ones that most prefer solitude, the ones that have the greatest variety in terms of the intellectual levels of their individuals and other orangutan characteristics that differentiate them from their relatives in the order primates, everything related to this species will be explained in this post.
Orangutan
The orangutan is one of the species belonging to the order Primates of the class mammalia, Yarn Chordata of the kingdom animals, el orangutan scientific name varies depending on the species, which are only three within the genus I put: Bornean orangutan or Pongo pygmaeus (which in turn has three subspecies), Sumatran orangutan or I put abelii and the recently found Tapanuli orangutan or I put tapanuliensis.
The first of them is bigger than the other two, the second differs by its lighter fur and the third one also has light fur, but curlier and its head is much smaller, its face is also different, it is flatter than that of the other two species.
These species are native to Indonesia and Malaysia, share 96,4% of the genome with homo sapiens and have an entire evolutionary line that relates them to gibbons, gigantopithecus and other apes that existed millions of years ago, however characteristics of the orangutan differentiate them somewhat from their relatives.
Habitat
A large distribution around the world is not one of the characteristics of the orangutan, in fact it is quite limited compared to homo sapiens and chimpanzees, they formerly inhabited the islands of Indonesia, but as their population decreased they remained in the island of Sumatra (specifically in the north) and the island of Borneo (in certain areas there) which are located exactly in Southeast Asia. It is because of their location that the species described above have those names.
Adaptation to various ecosystems is also not a well-known characteristic of the orangutan, by taking into account the locations mentioned above, an idea can be made of where do orangutans live or where they prefer to do it, the tropical forests are the ideal places for them, where the vegetation is abundant and they can find a wide variety of fruits and foods.
Although they also usually live in hillside forests, in swamps and even in valleys, the truth is that forests are the places where they develop properly, they are located in forests with good altitude such as the high mountain forests of the aforementioned islands.
Features
The first characteristics of the orangutan that will be mentioned in the following list correspond to a physical description of them, the rest of them are characteristics or general data of the species. To then talk about the behavior they have day to day, what do they eat orangutans and then the reproductive process that occurs after the orangutan and the orangutan meet to mate.
- The first of the characteristics of the orangutan is about the size they can reach and their weight, which is different depending on their sex, so that the males are the ones that can measure more: about 137 centimeters tall on average and can weigh approximately 75 centimeters. Meanwhile, females can reach only 115 centimeters, on average, and weigh 37 kilos.
- The arms of these primates are very long, just like those of chimpanzees, only the size is larger, a endangered orangutan it can have an arm up to 2 meters long. A length that facilitates their swinging through the trees and the reach of fruits in the places farthest from the trunks, this is an indication of the adaptations of their structure to the environment in which they lived, since they spend almost all day climbing on the trees. trees.
- Unlike the monkeys orangutans they do not jump from one tree to another, this is because their weight does not allow them. Instead they swing on branches, something made easier by their fingers and toes.
- The fur of these primates is red or orange, which is why they are sometimes called "red monkeys", it is also a little brighter than that of other primates.
Behavior
This specific species of the order of primates is not very fond of daily coexistence with others orangutans or from the communities of many individuals of their species, they are quite solitary and only share many years with their young, which at a certain moment move away to stay alone as well. This preference for solitude goes hand in hand with how aggressive they are in defending their territory.
They cover a relatively small space in the forest to sleep, although they walk throughout the forest to find food, but that space in which they marked their territory must be respected by others. orangutans to avoid violent clashes. Which can also occur if they are competing for a female with whom they want to mate, in this competition it is common to hear them make loud noises with their throats to intimidate their rival males.
Apart from that they sometimes eat together on the trees when there is too much food, otherwise they stay alone moving from one place to another. Tree to another when they are in search of fruits or any other food and when they are going to make a nest to rest, that nest is created little by little in the top of the trees with branches to form a mattress in which they will lie down at night.
Of the three species mentioned, the one found on the island of Sumatra is the one that has shown a more sociable behavior. In general, this is one of the characteristics of the orangutan that significantly differentiates them from other primates such as chimpanzees or gorillas.
They are very intelligent and it has been demonstrated through the years by the studies that have been done to those that are in captivity, in addition to the observation of those that are in the wild, the orangutans they can make mental maps to remember the best places in the forest, they can use tools to facilitate a feeding or survival task, for example, they use leaves not only to drink liquids but to protect themselves from the rain or as gloves so as not to prick themselves with thorns.
Food
The type of food they have goes with their omnivorous diet, that is, they can eat both plant and animal organisms indifferently. However, they seem to prefer wild fruits to animals, although they have the size and strength to capture various prey. Instead, they spend all their days looking for fruits and eating them, regardless of whether they are ripe or not, among the diet of these animals you can find:
- The magicians
- the lychos
- Figs
- Durians and many more wild fruits
As for the drink, they do not usually drink too much water, their diet allows them to extract water from the fruits and plants they consume, but when they need to drink something they put their hands together like chimpanzees and humans to form a cup and drink water from there, in fact, they raise their hands above them so that the water falls into their mouths.
Reproduction
One of the characteristics of the orangutan is that it is a viviparous species, that is, the female keeps the embryos inside her uterus that when they develop, thanks to the oxygen and nutrients that she gives them, they will be born and will form as new specimens of that species. The gestation period that an orangutan has is nine months, after that they can have only one offspring in the nest they have built for childbirth, it is estimated that in her life a female can have only three offspring.
At birth they stay with their mothers and move on them when they go out to look for food, they stay together for eleven years or even more, the first three they will feed on their mothers' milk and the rest is so much so that they can learn everything they need to survive on their own in the environment they are in.
This learning is based on the construction of nests to sleep, how they can climb trees, what plants they can feed on, where they can get them, how they can communicate with other individuals of their species, how they can use tools to facilitate the tasks they They must make day by day, for example, the sticks to dig, the leaves that they can use to drink water, among other things. It is a whole learning process just like the one that human beings have.
Another characteristic of the orangutan is that they develop quite slowly, which is why the permanence of the young with their mothers is longer than that of other species. An orangutan can be considered sexually mature when they are 12 or 15 years old, these are the ages at which they normally begin to reproduce. This late maturity and the small number of offspring they can have makes it more difficult to have a large population.
Threats and relationship with humans
This is one of the primate species that enters the list of Endangered animals in the world, this according to the registry kept by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. This taking into account a series of factors that serve as threats that affect them, starting with human activity, which encompasses all those actions that directly and indirectly affect the integrity of animals like these, for example:
- Deforestation
- The burning of hectares
- La Water contamination, of the atmosphere and all types of pollution caused by human activity
- Hunting, which is carried out to sell illegally to orangutans as a pet (babies especially draw a lot of attention from humans for their cuteness)
- The destruction of their habitats for urbanization in those spaces
Many of the cases in which orangutans babies have been removed from their mothers have occurred in national parks, other unresolved situations occur within the boundaries of these parks where these things should not occur because the intention of "nature conservators", "park rangers" or park owners zoos is to care for the species they keep in captivity. In any case, the population of orangutans has drastically decreased to the brink of extinction.
Other natural factors must also be taken into account, such as the natural fires that occur in the areas where they live, the low rate of reproduction of this species and, of course, the fight against predators that attack or kill them to feed, for example, their mortal enemies: leopards, tigers, crocodiles and even bears.
Not only are these species the main predators of the orangutans, really people are the most dangerous animals that have caused the greatest number of casualties of this species. These and other causes have contributed to the disappearance of many specimens, it is estimated that approximately 5.000 die annually. orangutans worldwide.
As human beings enter more spaces of nature, the number of hectares of their habitats that are lost increases, in addition to that, without the need to build, hunting occurs to "clean" the area, this was the case in the XNUMXth century when they were captured orangutans babies to exhibit them in zoos in many countries, it may seem like something positive, but it was not because the mothers were murdered so that they would not continue defending their babies with such violence.
There are only about 15.000 orangutans of the Borneo species, 5.000 of the Sumatran orangutan and approximately 800 of the Tapanuli spice. The controls of the nations or the laws that they have created do not seem to have the desired effect or the supervision and the sanctions have not been applied correctly, this is not a species that has been successfully conserved, so if the path continues as it goes until now in a few years this species could be one of those that are considered extinct