Orangutans:

Critically endangered!

The only great apes found outside of Africa, the orangutans are highly intelligent animals which are considered to be man's closest relatives in the wilds sharing 97 per cent of our DNA.

These great apes are found in Asia, specifically on two islands - Borneo and Sumatra. There are two separate species living in the lowland and hilly tropical rainforests of these two islands. The Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii) is smaller than its Bornean cousin (Pongo pygmaeus).

They are the only strictly arboreal (relating to trees) apes and are actually the largest tree-living mammals in the world. They are sometimes called the 'Red apes' because of the unique bright reddish brown coloured hair among apes, and are also referred to as the 'Man of the Woods' due to the strong facial resemblance to humans.

These gentle red apes with an ability to think and reason are threatened with extinction mostly due to loss of habitat. In fact, the Sumatran species is listed as critically endangered while the Bornean species is listed as engangered. It is estimated that there are fewer than 7,000 Sumatran orangutans and 50,000 Bornean orangutans alive today.

Some of you may have seen these great apes in real life at the zoo. However, these intelligent animals especially with such human - like abilities do not belong in cages. They are animals that should be allowed to roam freely in their natural habitats on top of trees. Orangutans are known for their remarkable ability to travel through the forest tree tops and generally live in the forest canopy, building nests about 100 feet above the ground. They are very much at home on top of trees and travel from one place to another brachiating (swinging arm-over-arm)

Orangutans have arms with a reach of more than eight feet! That is more than the average height of an adult human. In fact, their arms are longer than their legs and when stretched out their arm span is longer than their body. Even though orangutans have two hands and two feet, some may choose to say they have four hands instead of two because of the way they use their feet 'as hands' especially to move about.

They are definitely graceful and agile when it comes to climbing, but when on the ground, they are somewhat slow and awkward.

Perhaps their gait also contributes to their clumsy appearance when walking on the ground. A male orangutan can weigh over 90 kilograms and a female up to 50 kilograms. They are believed to be four to seven times as strong as an adult human male. Male orangutans reach a height of approximately 4.5 feet while females are about 3.5 feet tall. Their hands are very much like ours. They have opposable thumbs which means they can touch each of their fingers with their thumb.

As orangutans are very intelligent animals, they use tools to do many things. Would you believe that these creatures sometimes use branches and sticks to test the depth of water before entering it? They are also known to use twigs to catch insects inside tree holes, use branches as fly swatters to swish away mosquitoes that bother them and and use huge leaves as umbrellas to protect themselves from heavy rain.

Female orangutans breed slower than any other primate and generally have three offspring in their entire lifetime. They give birth to one offspring every six to seven years.

The orangutans have the longest childhood dependence on a mother of any animals in the world. There's so much a baby orangutan needs to learn in order to survive and the mother has to be around to teach the offspring.

The babies usually nurse until they are about six years of age. Baby orangutans cry when they are hungry, whimper when they are hurt and even smile at their mothers.

As we explained earlier, orangutans live mostly on the tree canopy of the rain forest. So, how do they find their food, you may wonder. From the trees itself.

Almost all of the food they eat grows in the treetops such as tropical fruits (over 300 kinds) leaves, sprouts, bark and also insects. The water they need is obtained from the leaves which fill with rain water. When water is difficult to find, they chew leaves, make a sponge out of it and soak up the droplets of water retained in tree cavities.

The orangutan babies therefore must know what food to eat, where to find that food, in which trees and during which seasons.

The older orangutans seem to have a very complex map of the forest in their minds with a detailed knowledge of the fruiting cycles of many species of trees.

These gentle animals can live up to 35-50 years in the jungles if their natural habitats are not destroyed and they are not caught or killed by their human cousins. It is said that in captivity, they can even live over half a century.

However, they may definitely prefer to live, even for a lesser period of time, freely in their natural habitats than spend long lonely years behind bars in a cage.

Don't you think wild animals are best left in their natural habitats?

Facts and pix: Internet.

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 Fast facts

* Great apes are different from monkeys even though they are both primates. Apes do not have tails.

* Orangutans emit a variety of calls and vocalisation including the long call of the males and the kiss-squeak when any strangers get too close to them. They can make 13-15 different vocalisations.

* They are diurnal, meaning they are active during the day.

* A male orangutan's cheek pads keep growing for most of its life.

* Orangutans have 32 permanent teeth (the same amount as we do). Their canine teeth are very sharp with males having longer canine teeth.

* They build nests to sleep in every night, high up in the trees, sometimes with roofs of leaves.