Where are orangutans found? Monkey orangutan - photo orangutan - great ape orangutan. Orangutan habitat
The orangutan is one of the three most famous great apes. Together with the gorilla and chimpanzee, it is one of the closest animals to humans. You can often find the erroneous spelling of the name of this beast - orangutan. But the word "orangutan" in the language of the locals means "debtor", and the word "orangutan" is translated as "forest man". In total, two types of orangutans are known - Bornean and Sumatran.
Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus).
The appearance of these monkeys is very peculiar and does not look like any other animal. In an upright position, the height of orangutans is only 120-140 cm, but the weight can reach 80-140 kg, in rare cases even 180 kg! This is due to the fact that orangutans have relatively short limbs and a thick belly, therefore, with a small size, these animals have a lot of weight. The torso of orangutans is rather square in shape, the limbs are strong, muscular. The arms of orangutans are so long that they hang down below the knees in an upright position, but the legs, on the contrary, are short and crooked. The feet and palms are large, and both on the hands and on the legs the thumb is opposed to the rest. This makes it easier to grab branches when climbing trees. At the ends of the fingers are human-like nails. The skull of orangutans is convex with a highly developed facial part. The eyes are close-set, the nostrils are relatively small. These animals have well developed facial muscles and they often grimace. Orangutans have a well-defined sexual dimorphism (the difference in the body structure of males and females): females are smaller and thinner (up to 50 kg), males are not only heavier, but also have a special skin roller around the face. This ridge forms the facial disk, which is especially pronounced in older males; besides, in males, mustaches and beards are more pronounced on the face. The coat color in young animals is fiery red, in older animals it is darker - brown.
The body of orangutans is covered with long, rather sparse hair, which hangs down like a fringe in older animals.
Orangutans live only on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra of the Malay Archipelago, that is, their natural range is relatively small. In nature, these animals inhabit exclusively tropical forests, and spend most of their lives on trees, rarely descending to the ground. They move along the trees, moving from branch to branch, and where the distance between neighboring trees is large, orangutans use flexible thin trunks or creepers. When moving, these monkeys often hang on their hands and generally use their forelimbs more actively than their hind ones. Unlike other monkeys, heavy orangutans do not jump from branch to branch. Despite this, traces of broken arms and legs are sometimes found in older animals.
Orangutans use tree branches as an overnight stay: more often they sleep right on the branches, sometimes they build primitive nests in the crowns.
A distinctive feature of these animals is a solitary lifestyle, which is generally not characteristic of primates. Orangutans differ sharply in their habits from other types of monkeys: they are extremely quiet and silent, their voices are rarely heard in the forest. Their nature is very calm and peaceful. Orangutans never fight, behave imposingly, move slowly. We can say that they have a certain intelligence. In the forest, each animal has its own area, but the protection of the territory is not associated with aggression. Orangutans avoid human proximity and instead of visiting human settlements in search of food, they seek solitude in the depths of the forest. When caught, they do not offer much resistance.
Orangutans feed on plant foods - leaves and fruits of trees, occasionally they eat the eggs of birds and small animals. They collect food in the crowns, slowly picking and chewing the shoots. Like many monkeys, orangutans do not like water, so they avoid swimming across rivers, and when it rains, they cover their heads with plucked leaves.
The orangutan is carefully examining the contents of the egg it has just eaten.
These animals breed all year round. The male, to attract the female, begins to roar loudly throughout the forest. If there are several rivals, they try to lure the female to their side with their songs, but they themselves rarely leave the boundaries of their own site. The female selects the strongest cavalier by sound and visits his territory for mating. Pregnancy lasts 8.5 months. The female gives birth to one, less often two cubs weighing 1.5-2 kg. The newborn is covered with rather long hair and clings tightly to the mother's skin.
The female orangutan tenderly cares for the baby.
At first, the female holds the cub on her chest, then the grown-up baby himself moves onto the back of the mother. The mother feeds the cub with milk for up to 2-3 years, then he accompanies her for a couple more years. Only at the age of 5-6 years, orangutans begin an independent life. They become sexually mature at the age of 10-15 years, and live on average 45-50. Thus, in her life, a female can raise no more than 5-6 cubs, that is, orangutans are extremely infertile.
A baby orangutan learns to climb "lianas".
In the natural environment, this does not play a role, since large orangutans living on the tops of trees have practically no enemies. However, these animals are very rare. The number of orangutans is declining due to the destruction of tropical forests. The already small range of these monkeys has drastically decreased over the past 40 years. In recent decades, another problem has been added to the destruction of forests - poaching. As orangutans become rarer, their black market price rises and more and more hunters venture into the forest to hunt for prey. Often hunters kill the mother just to take the cub.
A female orangutan with a cub.
Young orangutans are resold to private zoos, but by no means for breeding. The usual destiny of such animals is to be a toy for people. Taking advantage of the fact that orangutans are very smart, learn quickly and do not show aggression even as adults, they are taught all sorts of tricks, grimaces and even bad habits.
The coat of orangutans is made up of long, but sparse and coarse red hair. In young animals, the hair is bright orange, in adults it is brown or dark chocolate. On the face, the skin without hair is black, in the region of the nostrils it is slightly pinkish. In adult males, the cheek folds and throat fold are markedly pronounced. The jaws and teeth are quite massive, which makes it possible to crack and crush large nuts and hard shells of mollusks. The arms span of monkeys reaches up to 2 meters, which helps them to easily move from one tree to another. The brushes are also wide and long, they look like a hook. The thumb is rudimentary, the other fingers are long. The legs are relatively short with long toes, the foot is in a bent state, therefore it is well adapted for grasping and is not inferior to the hand. Orangutans do not jump at all, but move at great speed, both vertically and horizontally. They walk on the ground on all fours.
Currently, orangutans are found only in the north of Sumatra and in the lowlands of Borneo. Animals are divided into two subspecies depending on the place of residence - the Bornean orangutan and the Sumatran orangutan.
Orangutans are tree dwellers. They live in the jungle that covers the hills and lowlands, in forests in peat swamps and in two-story forests. Orangutans lead a solitary life, feeding and traveling apart. Moreover, individuals from the island of Sumatra are more sociable than their relatives from the island of Borneo. They are active during the day, and descend to the ground very rarely. For the night, nests are built from broken branches, laying them in the forks of trees. Orangutans sleep under leaves. Females usually stay high in trees - up to 20 m, males go down lower and much more often than females move on the ground. These monkeys are excellent imitators. They very quickly adopt different skills from each other. Therefore, in different parts of their range, orangutans build nests, obtain and use food in different ways.
Orangutans usually feed on various fruits, young shoots of trees and vines along with bark. Sometimes they eat insects, bird eggs and small invertebrates. When obtaining food in hard-to-reach places, orangutans show ingenuity and skill.
There is no seasonality in orangutan breeding. Females become sexually mature at 10 years old, but for almost five years they do not give offspring. Their childbearing period lasts up to 30 years, giving birth to one cub every 3 to 6 years. Pregnancy in females lasts 230 - 270 days. The mother continues to feed the baby until the age of three, and by the age of 8-10, the young become completely independent.
In the wild, the life expectancy of orangutans reaches up to 35-45 years, in good conditions of captivity - up to 60 years.
Every living being has its own genetic code. With him we begin our life and with him we end. Much can be determined and predicted from this code, because genetics is indeed a very strong science.
The genetic code closest to humans is monkey orangutan- an interesting, unusual and intelligent animal. Why orangutan, but not orangutan, how do we all pronounce this word?
In fact, one and the second name can be used, but it would be more correct to call this animal an orangutan. The thing is that orangutans are called "debtors" in our language.
Orangutan in translation means "forest man", which fully characterizes this amazing creature. And although it is customary to call it differently, it is still better to pronounce their name correctly. There are two types of orangutans - Bornean and Sumatran.
Habitat
More recently, these anthropoid apes could be found in Southeast Asia. But today they are not there. Orangutan habitat limited to Borneo and Sumatra.
Animals feel comfortable in dense and humid tropical Malaysian and Indonesian forests. Orangutans prefer to live alone. They are smart and attentive. Animals spend all their free time on trees, so they are considered to be tree monkeys.
This lifestyle requires strong forelimbs, which in fact it is. Indeed, the forelimbs of orangutans are much larger and stronger, which cannot be said about the hind limbs.
To move between far-standing trees, orangutans do not have to descend to the ground. To do this, they use vines with great skill and enthusiasm, swinging on them, like on ropes, and thus moving from tree to tree.
In the trees, they feel completely safe. They even try to look for water somewhere, so as not to go down to the ground - they collect it from leaves and even from their wool. If for some reason they have to walk on the ground, they do it with the help of all four limbs.
This is how they move at a young age. Older orangutans, on the other hand, use only their lower limbs for walking, which is why at dusk they can sometimes be confused with the local population. For the night, these animals choose tree branches. Sometimes they have a desire to build something like a nest.
The appearance and behavior of the orangutan
With their appearance, orangutans, although they are not the standard of beauty, evoke sympathy. There is something about this bully that makes you smile. They are difficult to confuse with any other animals.
If it stands upright, its height reaches 130-140 cm. Their average weight can be about 100 kg. Sometimes the mark on the scales reaches up to 180 kg. The torso of orangutans is square in shape. Their main feature is strong and muscular limbs.
You can determine that this is an orangutan, and not someone else, by the animal's too elongated forelimbs, usually they hang below their knees. The hind limbs, on the contrary, are too short.
In addition, they are crooked. The feet and palms of the animal are quite large. Another distinguishing feature of them is the thumb opposed to all the rest.
This structure helps the monkey well when moving through the trees. At the ends of the fingers there are nails that are very much reminiscent of human ones. The front part of the animal's head is strongly prominent with a convex skull.
The eyes are set close to each other. The nostrils are not particularly prominent. The facial expressions of orangutans are well developed, so they are big fans of grimacing. The female orangutan is significantly different from her male. Its weight is usually no more than 50 kg.
The male can be identified not only by its large size, but also by a special roller around their muzzle. It becomes even more expressive in very adults. Added to it is a beard and mustache.
male orangutan
The wool of young orangutans has a rich red color. The older they get, the more the coat becomes dark brown. It is long enough. Its length in the shoulder area sometimes reaches 40 cm.
As for the behavior of orangutans, it differs significantly from all other primates. They behave quietly and silently, it is almost impossible to hear their voices in the forest.
These are calm and peaceful creatures who have never been the instigators of fights, prefer to behave with impressiveness and even choose a slow pace when moving. If I may say so, orangutans behave much more intelligently among all their other brethren.
They divide the territory into their own personal plots, for which they do not have to wage aggressive wars with each other - somehow all this among the orangutans is resolved peacefully. But this can only be said about females. Males, on the other hand, zealously defend their territory, uttering loud cries and sometimes even entering into a fight.
Because of their calm and peaceful nature, orangutans do not resist much when captured. They are comfortable living in captivity, which is why this animal can most often be found in zoos. These monkeys are terrified of water, even though they live in the jungle. They have absolutely no ability to swim, there have been cases when they drowned.
This is the most intelligent living being after humans. Being close to a person for a long time, orangutans can easily find a common language with them, adopt their habits.
In history, there were even such humanoid apes who comprehended sign language and communicated in this way with people. True, due to their modesty, in this way they communicated only with people they knew closely. For everyone else, they pretended that it was unfamiliar to them.
Orangutans can whimper and cry, puff and puff loudly, males, when they need to attract a female, roar deafeningly and loudly. These animals are on the verge of extinction.
This is facilitated by the constant destruction of their habitat and poaching. orangutan cubs. And female orangutan at the same time, she has to kill because she will never give her baby to anyone.
Orangutan food
These animals cannot be called pure vegetarians. Yes, their main food is leaves, bark and fruits of trees. But it happens that orangutans allow themselves to eat bird eggs and sometimes even chicks.
Some of them can hunt lorises, which are distinguished by their slowness. Monkeys are very fond of sweet honey and nuts. They are delighted with bananas, mangoes, plums, figs.
They mainly get their food from trees. The fact that orangutans have an impressive size does not mean that they are gluttonous. Orangutans eat a little, sometimes they can go without food for a long time.
Reproduction and lifespan
At 10-12 years old, orangutans are ready to continue their kind. It is at this time that they carefully choose a couple for themselves. Under natural conditions, sometimes there are several females with cubs for one of the strongest males.
The pregnant female in this small group enjoys a special location. In captivity, it was noticed that it was her very first to be passed to the feeder. The duration of pregnancy lasts half a month less than in humans - 8.5 months.
Childbirth goes by quickly. After them, the female takes the baby in her arms, eats the place, licks it, gnaws through the umbilical cord and attaches it to her chest. The weight of the baby is not more than 1.5 kg.
From birth until the age of 4, little orangutans feed on mother's milk. Up to about 2 years, they are almost absolutely inseparable from the female. Wherever she goes, she will take and carry her baby in her arms everywhere.
In general, there is always a very close relationship between the mother and the little orangutan. The mother takes care of the cleanliness of her child, often licking him. The father in the process of the birth of the heir into the world and his further upbringing does not take part at all. Everything that happens during the appearance of the baby scares the head of the family.
With an already grown baby, males play to a greater extent only from the initiative of the baby. If you observe the families of orangutans, you can conclude that their life takes place in a calm and measured atmosphere, without screaming and aggression. They live for about 50 years.
These monkeys are among the three most famous humanoid primates, along with chimpanzees and gorillas, and are the closest, in terms of blood composition and DNA structure, to humans. It is no coincidence that the local tribes dubbed this shaggy jungle dweller, moving on the ground on two legs, "man of the forest" - "orang" (man) "utan" (forest). Having studied in detail the DNA of this primate and making sure of its similarity with its own (97% coincidence), a person retained a rather superficial knowledge about this very interesting “relative”.
And even its name is still written incorrectly, adding the letter “g” at the end, turning “man of the forest” into a “debtor”, since “utang” in Malay means “debt”.
Description of orangutans
Orangutans belong to the genus of arboreal apes, standing out among other primates with a higher level of development. Orangutans are often confused with its African counterpart - another highly developed great ape -. Meanwhile, there are fundamental differences between them, both external and behavioral properties.
Appearance
In size, orangutans lose to gorillas. But this is not their main difference. There is no other animal on Earth that would be so different from an animal and so reminiscent of a person. He has nails, not claws, amazingly intelligent eyes, excellent facial expressions, small "human" ears and a large, developed brain.
In the erect posture of homo sapiens, the orangutan barely reaches 150 cm, but at the same time it is a heavyweight - it can weigh 150 kg or more. It's all about body proportions. The orangutan has short legs and a massive square body with a thick belly. The arms are very long - both in comparison with the body and with the legs. Strong, muscular, they help the orangutan easily, and even gracefully, "fly" through the trees.
It is interesting! The length of the orangutan's arms in a span greatly exceeds the height and reaches 2.5 m. When the monkey is in an upright position, its arms hang below the knees and reach the feet, being an additional support when moving on the ground.
The special structure of the thumb, protruding and curved with a hook, helps the orangutan to deftly cling to the branches of trees. On the feet, the big toes are also opposed to the rest and curved, but poorly developed and of little use. The crooked fingers of the front paws also help the monkey to easily pick fruits from trees, but their functions are limited to this. Such limbs are not capable of more complex manipulations.
Orangutans are covered with coarse red hair. It is long, but at the same time rare, which is not surprising, given the hot climate of the tropical jungle. The color of the coat changes shade with the age of the primate - from bright red in youth to brown in old age.
The coat is unevenly distributed over the body of the orangutan - it is thicker on the sides and less often on the chest. The lower body and palms are almost bare. Orangutans have pronounced sexual dimorphism. Their males are endowed with a number of outstanding features: frightening fangs, a funny "beard" and "puffed out" cheeks. Moreover, the cheeks of males grow as they grow older, forming a roller around the face. Orangutan females have no beard, no mustache, no ridges on the face, and their size is much smaller, and the skeleton is thinner. Their usual weight does not exceed 50 kg.
Lifestyle, behavior
Orangutans spend most of their lives in trees.. The exception is large male primates, whose weight becomes threatening for the branches.
These monkeys move from tree to tree, actively using their long and tenacious forelimbs. The purpose of such migration is to find a source of food. If there is enough food at the top, then the orangutan will not even think of descending to the ground. He will build himself a kind of nest-couch from bent branches and will lie down, leading a leisurely and measured lifestyle. Even the thirst that has arisen, this monkey will prefer to quench with the help of the water that it finds above, in the leaves or hollows of tropical trees.
It is interesting! Unlike other monkeys, orangutans do not jump from branch to branch, but move from tree to tree, clinging to flexible trunks and vines with their hands and feet.
These are very strong animals. Significant own weight does not prevent them from conquering 50-meter peaks. Moreover, they have enough intelligence to make their task as easy as possible. So, for example, for a prickly trunk of a kapoko tree, orangutans make special “gloves” from large leaves, which allow them to easily reach their goal - sweet tree sap.
Orangutans can communicate using a set of sounds. This monkey expresses pain and anger by whimpering and crying. To demonstrate a threat to the enemy, it emits a loud puff and smack. The deafening lingering roar of the male means a claim to the territory and is shown to attract the attention of the female. This roar is powered by a special orangutan throat sac that inflates like a balloon, spewing a squelching sound that turns into a throaty cry. You can hear such "vocals" for a kilometer.
Orangutans are polygamous loners. Which, in general, is not characteristic of primates. It happens that they live as a couple. But large communities in one place are impossible in view of the lack of food for everyone, so orangutans disperse at a distance from each other. At the same time, males carefully protect the boundaries of the territory on which his harem is located.
If a stranger wanders into the protected area, the owner organizes a militant performance. The matter, as a rule, does not reach the point of “assault”, but there is a lot of noise. Rivals begin to shake trees and break their branches, accompanying these crushing actions with an equally crushing yell. This continues until one of the "artists" loses his voice and is exhausted.
Orangutans cannot swim. And they are afraid of water, do not like it, avoiding rivers and covering themselves from the rain with large leaves like an umbrella.
The orangutan has a slow metabolism. This means that he can go without food for several days. There is a version that such a metabolic rate (30% below normal with such a body weight) is caused by the lifestyle of primates and their vegetarian diet.
Orangutans are peaceful creatures. They are not prone to aggression and have a calm, friendly and even intelligent disposition. When meeting a stranger, they prefer to move aside and never attack first.
Even when caught, they do not show strong resistance, which is abused by a person, catching these animals for profit.
orangutan species
For a very long time, the species diversity of orangutans was limited to two subspecies: Sumatran and Bornean / Kalimantan - after the name of the Indonesian islands on which they live. Both species are very similar to each other. At one time, there was even a version that the Sumatran and Kalimantan orangutans were representatives of the same species. But over time, this opinion was recognized as erroneous, differences were found.
It is interesting! It is believed that the Kalimantan orangutan is larger than the Sumatran, and the Sumatran is more rare. There are tigers on his island and he prefers to stay away from them, rarely descending to the ground. The Kalimantan, having no such predators nearby, leaves the tree more often.
At the end of the last century, there was a replenishment in the species range of orangutans.. A new species was discovered - in Sumatra, in the Tapanuli region. Tapanuilsky became the third species of orangutans and the seventh among large great apes.
Scientists have found that the primates of the Tapanuli population, despite the fact that they live on the same island as the Sumatran ones, are closer in DNA structure to the Kalimantan ones. They differ from Sumatran relatives in their diet, curly hair, and higher voice. The structure of the skull and jaws of the Tapanuil orangutan is also different from its cousins - the skull is smaller and the fangs are wider.
Lifespan
The average life expectancy of orangutans in natural conditions is 35-40 years, in captivity - 50 and above. They are considered champions in longevity among primates (not counting humans). There are cases when the orangutan lived up to 65 years.
Both chimpanzees and orangutans are apes. And this means that: they are very smart, their forelimbs are much longer than their hind limbs, they have nails on all fingers and in terms of body structure they are more like humans than other primates.
There are 2 versions of the name of this primate - "orangutan" and "orangutan", but in the scientific world it is customary to use the first option. Previously, only one species of this animal was distinguished - an ordinary orangutan ( Pongo pygmaeus), which was divided into 2 subspecies: Sumatran and Bornean orangutans.
Bornesian orangutan 
Sumatran orangutan Now there are 2 independent species: the Sumatran orangutan ( Pongo abelii) and the Bornean orangutan ( Pongo pygmaeus). The latter, in turn, is divided into 3 subspecies, the main difference between which lies only in the habitats on about. Borneo. The word "orangutan" is translated as "forest man".
These monkeys are found only on 2 large Indonesian islands - Sumatra and Borneo. The dense crown of trees is their home. Here they eat, sleep and rest. In connection with the arboreal way of life, they even drink water from hollows, from leaves, or dip their shaggy paw in water and lick off what is left.
Females are easy to distinguish from males. They are much smaller. If orangutan males weigh about 60-90 kilograms and their height can reach 1.5 meters, then females grow no more than 1 meter in height and weigh only 30-50 kilograms. With a very massive physique, their hind limbs are short, but the front ones are very long. In scope, they can reach 2-2.5 meters.
male and female Thanks to this structural feature, orangutans move very well through the trees. They do it slowly. But before moving to another branch, they check their strength. Good tenacity to the monkey is provided by the big toes, opposed to the rest of the fingers. On the ground, they walk on all fours, stepping on the ground with the back of the middle phalanges of the forelimbs.
Their entire body is covered with a sparse but long red-brown hairline. It darkens as the animal ages. In males, special growths of connective tissue and fat are located on the face in the cheek area, and a large throat pouch adorns the neck, which helps to amplify the voice.
Cheek pouches in males Orangutans live either alone (most often this applies to males), or in small groups consisting of 2-4 individuals (a female with 1-2 cubs or a male with a female and their offspring).
Each male has its own territory, which is inhabited by several females. The latter treat each other quite calmly and even sometimes can feed together. With males, the situation is somewhat different. If they met, then a showdown cannot be avoided.
The demonstration of strength begins with a formidable growl and is accompanied by the breaking of branches. However, fights are usually avoided. One of the males sooner or later gives in and leaves the place of the "battle". Still, these are very peaceful animals, unless it comes to protecting their cubs, but more on that later.
With the onset of the evening, everyone together begins to prepare for bed. Preparation consists in building a sleeping nest. Most often, it is located in the fork of large branches in the middle part of the tree and is a litter of twigs. The baby sleeps with the mother. Here they rest during the day.
Waking up early in the morning and stretching sweetly, they go to breakfast. Orangutans feed on leaves and fruits of trees. A special delicacy for them is the fruits of durian, resembling green balls with thorns. Having opened their shell, the monkeys begin to extract the white flesh with their fingers. In addition to leaves and fruits, they will also be happy to snack on insects, bird eggs or feast on honey, nuts and tree bark.
After a good breakfast or lunch, they have a rest time, when the children begin to play, and adults lie peacefully in their nests.
Orangutans do not like water, so during the rains they try to hide under wide leaves. They also cannot swim, and if they fall into the water, they can drown.
With the onset of the mating season, males begin to attract their future chosen ones with a song that is a mixture of grunts and a vibrating roar. After 8.5 months, the female has 1, less often 2 cubs. They weigh only 1.5-2 kilograms. Almost immediately after birth, the cub clings to the wool on the mother's chest and begins to suck milk. Lactation continues up to 3-4 years.
Simultaneously with feeding milk, the female begins to gradually accustom the cub to plant foods, placing well-chewed leaves on it. From the age of 4, a small orangutan already becomes independent, but still continues to live next to its mother until the age of 6-8.
Sexual maturity in females occurs at 8-12 years, in males - at 14-15 years. Orangutans can live up to 30 years in the wild, and even longer in captivity.
These monkeys became famous for their intelligence and ingenuity. They learn everything quickly. In zoos, they often adopt human habits. Some of them figured out to use various tools for getting food, for example, sticks. With their help, monkeys can bring fruits floating on the surface of the water closer to them.
But, alas, every year there are fewer and fewer of these wonderful monkeys. The reason for this was the destruction of their habitat and poaching. The hunt is for orangutan cubs, but the female will never give up her child, so she is killed. At the moments of protection of their family, males can be a mortal danger for people or animals.
One case is known when in 1984 in the north of about. Borneo poachers were attacked by male orangutans after they started shooting at the female to take away her cub. Three poachers were beaten to death by animals. Even guns didn't save them.