Orangutan Facts

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Orangutans are great apes, as opposed to monkeys (monkeys have generally got tails), and are closely related to humans sharing some 97% of the DNA we share in common. This is reflected in the Malaysian and Indonesian name (they are very similar languages), orang-utan which means person (orang) of the forest (hutan). They are 2 species of the 7 great apes species, the others being; two Chimpanzees species (Common Chimpanzee and Bonobo), two Gorillas (Western Gorilla and Eastern Gorilla) and humans. This means that humans, orangutans, gorillas and chimps shared a common ancestor millions of years ago, but orangutans and humans diverged to make disctint species 12-16 million years ago.

The Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), on the island of Borneo shared between the countries of Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei (though no orangutans are found in Brunei), and the Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii), on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, used to be found all over the south of the Asian continent 10,000 years ago, from Thailand to southern China.

The Sumatran orangutan is by far the most endangered being listed as critically endangered by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, whilst the Bornean orangutans are classified as endangered. It is difficult to know exactly the numbers left in the wild, and all estimations are best guesses but commonly figures between 15,000 and 20,000 are quoted. The reason is that the little research that has been done has concentrated only a few areas. There are many areas that simply have not been looked at and orangutans are secretive and believe it or not, very well camouflaged.

Behaviour

They are extremely patient and intelligent creatures and scientists did not recognise this intelligence at first. Gorillas and chimps are quicker to react to tests and were therefore thought to have higher intelligence. There is a story of a researcher who carried out a screwdriver test, giving a chimp, a gorilla and an orangutan a screwdriver to do what they wanted with. The chimp used it as a tool to help it with its food (orangutans use feeding tools as well), the gorilla scratched itself in hard to reach places and the orangutan did nothing ..... until everyone had gone home. The next day the researchers came back to the laboratory only to find the orangutan had unscrewed the hinges to its cage and escaped. Apparently, the orangutan had seen humans using a screwdriver previously, understood what they were doing, had the brains to wait until no one was around and then had applied that knowledge to get out of there. Stories such as these are commonplace in zoos and holding centres around the world. Never underestimate an orangutan.

The other interesting fact about orangutans that people often forget or ignore is that they are dangerous animals. Sure the babies that keep getting shown on TV are cute and cuddly, but adults, both male and female, can be aggresive and dangerous to human beings. They are far stronger than humans and can hold onto a branch by one arm with a baby hanging on for several minutes. They can rip your arms out of their sockets, bite your fingers off and punch extremely hard. On the whole orangutans do not attack people but, having said that, it is not entirely uncommon for both males and females to be aggresive.

Threats

Orangutans are endangered for several reasons with the main threats being hunting, poaching, destruction of their habitat through forest fires, logging, plantations and in some areas mining for gold.

The bulk of the destruction happens in Indonesia where environmental laws are poorly enforced. However, there is evidence of problems in Malaysia too, even though the Government takes protection far more seriously.

Logging is obviously a problem for orangutans given that they spend their lives in trees. Degraded, partially logged forest (more common in Malaysia) is not ideal though they can still survive and reproduce. They are smart and adapt. However, when the forest is cleared completely, the orangutans habitat is destroyed and they must move on or die.

Fires overwhelm orangutans and they are often confused by the smoke. Fires start for different reasons but clearing the land for farming (mainly for beef) and to clear the undergrowth in oil palm plantations are common factors. Again, this is far less common in Malaysia than in Indonesia. During the dry season, the fires can get out of control and spread. When this happens, orangutans are very vulnerable and hundreds die each year. The smoke from the fires can be seen from space and cities like Kuala Lumpur find themselves shrouded in thick mists from the fires.

Poaching is where humans kill orangutans for their young (which they then sell on because they are cute) or for their skins or meat. Mothers are commonly killed for their babies in Indonesia. Babies will cling to their mothers until the age of 4-6 years and the only way of getting them is to shoot the female, often resulting in injury as the baby orangutan falls to the ground. The baby is then sold onto the black market for pets and ends up in places like Thailand, Taiwan or in someones back yard in Indonesia.

Something that people are little aware of is that orangutans are tasty to eat. For some tribes' people eating orangutans is taboo but for others it is not. Orangutans often stray close to local villages, and eat fruit that could be eaten by the local tribes' people hungry families, so they are shot and taken back to be eaten. Feeding thier family has priority over conservation issues which they little understand. This scenario still happens in the jungles of the tropics and is more common that people realise.

Oil Palm plantations are a threat to orangutan populations but not in places like Sarawak in Malaysia. This is because orangutans often share the same habitat and are displaced. Palm oil is used to make oil for cooking but is now being used for biodiesel as well. First the nuts are crushed in a mill to extract the oil, and then the oil is refined to get pure palm oil. Relatively little land is being developed in Malaysian Borneo, but it is a major concern in Indonesia where hundreds of thousands of hectares are being turned from forest to plantation. For a monoculture, oil palm is actually quite rich in species but nothing close to the thousands of plants, animals and fungi that grow in a primary rainforest.

Inbreeding is not always talked about but is nevertheless an important threat. As populations of orangutans are forced into smaller areas, and are not allowed to wander around the forests freely, they begin to reproduce with family members. If this continues, orangutans will suffer serious problems and die off.

Slow Reproduction

Orangutans reach sexual maturity in their teens and the mother is pregnant for roughly 8-8.5 months. They only have babies at 7 - 8 yearly intervals putting orangutans at great risk, as once they are killed their population is very slow to recover. With such current low numbers many people fear that orangutans will become extinct in the next 20-30 years unless something is done quickly to save them.

Happily, there does seem to be anectodal evidence that orangutans that are kept in semi-wild conditions (in the wild but still given extra food) reproduce more quickly, roughly every 3-4 years. This could prove to be useful in years to come when trying to repopulate areas where orangutans have previously been hunted out.

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