Orangutans are large apes with long, red hair. They have very long arms that are used for movement in the trees. Its hands and feet are hook-shaped for latching onto branches. They also use their hands to grasp small twigs that they can use as a tool to obtain food and hold food in their hands while they move about.
Males are about twice as big as females and have striking flaps on their cheeks. They can make very strong calls by inflating a pouch in their throat, which adds resonance to their call. Orangutans have large brains and exhibit a high level of intelligence.
Food
Orangutans can eat a large amount of food. About 60% of their diet consists of fruit, including mangoes, figs, jackfruits, lychees, durians, and rambutans. The other 40% of their diet is made up of leaves, insects, tree bark, and occasionally eggs and small vertebrates.
Habitat
Orangutans live in humid jungles of Borneo and Sumatra. They spend most of the time in the trees, but occasionally move down to the ground.
Social Structure
Adults are live in solitude, occasionally pairing up during mating season. The territory of an adult is not exclusive, but instead frequently overlaps the territory of other adults. When several adults meet for a single food source, they often eat and leave without any social interaction. Males keep track of each other by giving loud calls.
As a result, confrontations are rare. However, when two males do spar, it usually amounts to nothing more than an aggressive show of charging, breaking limbs, and other displays of strength. One of the males usually backs down. Otherwise, the orangutans grab and bite each other until one gives up.
Birth & Offspring
Since they are single adults, orangutans have no family structure. Mothers raise one child at a time. The child in not weaned for up to three years and rides on its mother’s back during that time. Females usually have one child every six years. This approach attempts to have fewer offspring that are given large amounts of care and nurturing.
Lydia King is a huge animal lover and has always been fascinated with learning about the animal kingdom. She enjoys writing about anything animal related from scientific information about rare species to animal references in pop culture.
