Females virtually never travel on the ground and adult males do so only rarely. This is in contrast to Bornean orang-utans, especially adult males, which more often descend to the ground. A third species of orangutan was announced in November, With no more than individuals in existence, the Tapanuli orangutan is the most endangered of all great apes.
This new third species lives in North Sumatra, but is genetically and behaviorally distinct from the two other species. An international team of scientists described the new species in Current Biology.
The Tapanuli orangutan Pongo tapanuliensis is distinguished from other orangutan populations based on morphological and genomic evidence. The new species is endemic to square miles of upland forest in the Batang Toru Ecosystem of Sumatra and is believed to have been isolated from other orangutan populations for 10,, years. Flanged male Bornean orangutan Pongo pygmaeus.
Tree emerging from tropical rainforest. Key facts. Did you know? Meaning of name Orang-utan means 'man of the forest' in Malay language. Species news.
But today Asia's great ape is confined to just two islands, Borneo and Sumatra. As the orang-utan's range has decreased so have its numbers. A century ago, there were probably , orang-utans - around four times as many as there are today.
Their dense forest home makes it difficult to determine population sizes, but the Bornean orang-utan is estimated to number around , individuals, while there are under 14, Sumatran orang-utans. The Sumatran orang-utan is now restricted to the north of Sumatra. It depends on high-quality primary forests, and is less able to tolerate habitat disturbance than Bornean orang-utans.
The population is currently fragmented into 13 populations in 21 forest blocks. Only 6 of these populations boast more than animals and are therefore regarded as viable in the long term, but even these groups are under threat due to ongoing habitat loss.
The Bornean orang-utan was once distributed throughout large areas of Kalimantan Indonesia and Sarawak and Sabah Malaysia on the island of Borneo. Most Bornean orang-utans are now found in Kalimantan, especially along the east coast. The majority of wild populations are located outside of protected areas, in forests that are exploited for timber production or are in the process of being converted to agriculture.
Three subspecies live in different parts of the island: Northwest Bornean orang-utan is the most threatened subspecies with over 3, remaining. Northeast Bornean orang-utans are the smallest in size. Around 16, live in Sabah and parts of eastern Kalimantan. Central Bornean orang-utans are the most common subspecies with around 35, surviving.
What are the main threats? Habitat loss is by far the greatest threat to orang-utans. Huge tracts of forest have been cleared throughout their range and the land used for agriculture, particularly palm oil - a product that is found in more than half of packaged products in supermarkets around the world. Road development, illegal timber harvesting and unsustainable logging, mining and human encroachment also contribute to habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation.
But even protected areas are not secure since the boundaries of protected areas in Borneo are often not clearly delineated, which makes them difficult to patrol. Furthermore, many parks are understaffed and underfunded. Consequently, oil palm companies and logging firms have encroached into all the parks.
Along with habitat loss, young orang-utans up to the age of seven are sought after for the illegal pet trade. When infants are targeted, usually the mother is killed so this trade represents a real threat to wild orang-utan populations. In addition, orang-utans are hunted in some areas for food. They are also sometimes killed when they move into agricultural areas and destroy crops. Assuming that males and females are killed in equal numbers, then between and 1, female orangutans—or between 0.
University of Oxford wildlife ecologist Amy Dickman said she was not surprised by the number of orangutans being killed in Indonesia. The project studies conflicts between people, lions, and other large carnivores in Tanzania. Another problem is that people often have the upper hand in run-ins with wildlife, said Dickman, who is not involved in the new study. One possible silver lining is that the study found that only a small number of people reported killing an orangutan.
Also most people who do kill orangutans in Kalimantan kill only one or a few of the animals in their lifetimes, according to the survey. The University of Oxford's Dickman said one key to stopping human-wildlife conflicts is to provide people with the means to coexist peacefully with animals. This action has reduced the rates of livestock attacks by large carnivores from an average of two a week to zero.
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Epic floods leave South Sudanese to face disease and starvation. Equipped with very long, powerful arms and hook-shaped hands and feet, these apes climb and swing from tree to tree with ease. They reach from one tree to the next with their long arms, grasping the next branch with long hands or feet, and swing their bodies across the gap. If a baby following its mother reaches a gap between trees that is too wide for it to navigate, its mother makes a living bridge for the baby to scamper across.
Sometimes heavier males can't find branches strong enough to hold their weight, so they climb down to get to the next suitable tree.
On the ground, orangutans walk on all fours. Orangutans find their food in the trees where they live. More than half their diet consists of fruit. They also eat nuts, bark, and other parts of plants and trees. Every once in a while they eat insects such as ants and termites , as well as bird eggs. Orangutans find the water they need for drinking up in the trees—in hollows, on leaves, or even on their own fur after a rain.
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