Oldest orangutan, Major turns 50

Orangutans are losing their homes in the rainforest. Tropical rainforests are being cut down for wood to make paper and furniture and theland cleared to grow palm oil for fuel and as an ingredient in lots of foods.

Baby orangutans are also taken from their mothers to be sold as pets.

It is thought that Sumatran orangutans may be the first Great Apes to become extinct unless people help to protect them.

At a time when our closest relatives in the wild are threatened with extinction it is heartening to hear of orangutans who have lived for fifty years. According to recent reports a Sumatran orangutan believed to be the oldest reproductive specimen in captivity celebrated his 50th birthday on July 17 at a zoo in western France. Major, a 125-kilogram ( 275-pound ) father of 16, blew out the candles on a strawberry birthday cake at the zoo in La Boissiere-du-Dore near Nantes in western France, where he has lived for more than 20 years. Born in 1962 in Indonesia, Major was captured seven years later and held in zoos in Germany before being transferred to France in 1989.His keepers said Major, who lives at the zoo with his three female companions and four children, is especially prized for his reproductive prowess.

"When you know that an interval of four to five years is needed between each birth for a female, it's exceptional," zoo director Sebastien Laurent said.

[Fact file]

* Orangutans are a Great Ape along with gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos. The Great Apes have large brains, forward-facing eyes and gripping hands. Humans are also Great Apes. In fact we share 96.4 per cent of our genetic makeup with orangutans! The easiest way to distinguish between monkeys and apes is to look for a tail. Apes don't have tails whereas most monkeys do.

* Orangutans live in Indonesia and Malaysia on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. These are the only places where they live in the wild.

* There are two species or types of orangutan - the Bornean orangutan which is found on the island of Borneo and the Sumatran orangutan which is found on the island of Sumatra.

* The word orangutan comes from the Malay language and means 'person of the forest' - from the words 'orang' meaning people and 'hutan' meaning forest.

* Male and female orangutans look quite different - they both have long red hair, but males are much bigger than females. Males can be 1.5m tall and weigh as much as 120kg. Females are much smaller.

They grow up to 1m tall and weigh about 45kg.Male orangutans grow a beard and moustache when they become adults, some male orangutans also grow cheek pads and throat pouches.

* In the wild, orangutans may live up to 45 years or more. The oldest captive orangutan was a male called "Guas" at the Philadelphia Zoo who lived until he was 58 years old!

* Orangutans eat mostly fruit - their favourites are huge spiky fruits called Durian, these fruits smell very bad, and taste a bitlike custard and garlic, but orangutans love them! Orangutans also eat some flowers, honey, bark, leaves and insects.

* About 100 years ago there were 315,000 orangutans in the wild but today there are only around 60,000. Less than 7,000 of these remaining orangutans live in Sumatra.