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.

AT wild nature the life expectancy of orangutans reaches up to 35-45 years, in good conditions of captivity - up to 60 years.

Russian name- orangutan
Latin name-Pongo pygmaeus
English name- Orangutan
Detachment- Primates
Family- Great apes (Pongidae)
Genus- orangutan (pongo)

There is one species in the orangutan genus, which is divided into two subspecies that live in isolation - the Sumatran orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus abellii) and the Kalimantan or Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus).

The status of the species in nature

Currently, there is a critical threat of extinction of this species in nature. It is included in the international Red Book - IUCN (CR) and in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade (CITES).

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Orangutan populations are declining due to the destruction of their habitat and, earlier, due to the capture of animals for illegal trade.
Now the orangutan is on the verge of complete extinction from the wild. Orangutans are very sensitive to selective deforestation and leave areas where logging is intensive. Most of the forests outside the reserves are disappearing, turning into agricultural land, or have already disappeared. Thus, the only effective way to protect orangutans is to protect their habitat, which can only be possible with the creation of as many natural reserves and national parks as possible.

Spreading

Once orangutans were widespread throughout Southeast Asia and Indochina, are currently found in the north of about. Sumatra and in the low part of about. Kalimantan (Borneo).
They live in the jungle covering lowlands and hills, including in two-tier forests and forests in peat bogs. Orangutans are tree dwellers. Indonesians call them "forest people".

Appearance

The length of the body (including the head) of the male is about 100 cm, the female is about 80 cm.
The height of a male standing on his feet is about 140 cm, females - more than 110–115 cm. The weight of a male is 60 - 90 kg, females - 40 - 50 kg.
Coat of long, but sparse and coarse red hair. Hair color varies from bright orange in young animals to brown or dark chocolate in adults. The face is without hair, the skin of the face is black, slightly pinkish in the region of the nostrils and around the eyes - in young orangs. In adult males, buccal folds of porous tissue and a throat skin fold - a “bag” are clearly expressed. The teeth and jaws are quite massive and make it possible to split and crush hard shells of mollusks and large nuts. The arm span can reach 2 m, which helps the monkeys to easily move from tree to tree.
Sumatran orangutans have a thinner build, paler coloration, longer hair, and a more elongated face than Bornean orangutans.

Lifestyle and social organization

They live in trees, are active during the day, rarely descend to the ground. At night, they build nests from branches broken and laid in the forks of trees. They sleep under leaves and branches. Females try to stay high on trees - up to 20 m, males often go lower and much more often than females move on the ground.
Orangutans are solitary animals, usually traveling and feeding in isolation. This is especially characteristic of orangutans from about. Borneo. Orangutans living on about. Sumatra, more sociable.
Orangutans recognize the rights of another individual that shares territory with them, thus showing their sociality. Females often create preferential communication groups - depending on the age of the cubs. Although young males sometimes also form groups, but there relationships between animals are of a competitive nature. The victory cry - "long call", which an adult male publishes several times a day, forces younger or weaker males to stay away. When meeting, adult males show each other their aggressiveness and strength, and sometimes this leads to chases and battles on the ground. Adult males tolerate the presence of young males close to them only in those cases when the young maintain a certain distance.
Among captive primates, orangutans score the highest in intelligence experiments. In nature, orangutans often use their intelligence to create complex adaptations that enable them to reach food supplies that other animals cannot. These monkeys are excellent imitators: they quickly learn from each other the skills they need, including how to use tools. Their ability to repeat the behavior of other individuals leads to the emergence of behavioral traditions that are characteristic only for animals of a given area or group. Therefore, in different areas of their habitat, orangutans use different techniques for building nests, make different sounds, and extract and use food in different ways.

Vocalization

Orangutans are quite silent. There are a number of squeak-like sounds that mother and calf communicate with. The most famous is the so-called long cry (“long call”), which can be emitted by a sexually mature, self-confident male. This cry is heard in the jungle at a distance of several kilometers. With such cries, animals announce their presence, but these sounds do not carry either aggressive or sexual overtones.
Feeding and feeding behavior
Orangutans eat fruits (durian, rambutan, jackfruit, lychee, mangosteen, mango, figs), young shoots of vines and trees along with bark. Sometimes they find and eat bird eggs, small invertebrates and insects. These monkeys are very resourceful and skillful in different ways of obtaining food from hard-to-reach places.
There is also a noticeable difference in food preferences: Sumatran orangs eat more fruits and invertebrates, but less branch food than Bornean animals. Only Sumatran orangs know how to make tools for foraging.

Reproduction and rearing of offspring

Reproduction is non-seasonal, and mating occurs not only during the period of ovulation. In nature, females reach sexual maturity at 10 years old, but usually do not bear offspring for another five years. The childbearing period lasts up to 30 years. One cub is born to the female every 3 - 6 years, pregnancy lasts 235 - 270 days. The female feeds the baby up to 3 years old, but young orangutans become completely independent only by the age of 7–10 years.
Males reach sexual maturity by the age of 12, and by this time they acquire all the signs of adulthood. An adult male is twice as large as a female, the skin on his cheeks grows in the form of folds - a “facial disk”, a characteristic neck bag and a hair “hood” on his head are formed. Rapidly developing males may mature earlier than 10 years, while others may take a long time to mature. Such developmental delay, which probably represents an adaptive strategy for the survival of the species, is more characteristic of the Sumatran subspecies. Here, the ratio in the population of adolescent males and adult males is three times higher than in Borneo.
After the birth of the baby, the mother constantly carries the cub on herself during the entire first year of his life. For another four years, the cub is constantly connected with the mother if she moves from place to place. Mothers are very patient with their babies, who sleep in the mother's nest until they are weaned. Even at the end of breastfeeding, the cub communicates a lot with the mother. The interval between births of cubs is several years. In the wild, females live up to about 45 years, and in their life they are able to bring only 4-6 viable cubs - this is the lowest figure among mammals.
After weaning (at about 3 years old), the little orangutan becomes more independent. Teenagers and young people play with each other for a long time, travel together and later sometimes create married couples. As adults, males usually break off relations with their mothers, and young females often return to their mother. The male does not take part in the upbringing of children.

Lifespan

In the wild, they live up to 35-45 years, in captivity - under good conditions - up to 60 years.
History of Life at the Zoo
Orangutans live in the "Monkeys" pavilion in the New Territory of the Zoo, in the warm season they move to outdoor enclosures with pleasure. These monkeys have been kept in the Moscow Zoo since the 1960s. In 1985, when there were 8 individuals in the collection, work was started on breeding this species. Pairs were formed first, which took over a year. These highly intelligent animals are guided by their own likes and dislikes when choosing a partner, so sometimes there is a psychological incompatibility between the male and the female. Together with the staff of the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics of the 2nd Medical Institute and the Center for the Protection of Mother and Child Health, the reproductive status of each individual was clarified and the necessary therapy was carried out.
When two females became pregnant, specialists from these institutions constantly monitored the animals. Now the second generation of orangutans lives in the Moscow Zoo. Work on their maintenance and breeding is carried out within the framework of the Pan-European Program for the Conservation and Breeding of Rare and Endangered Species (EEP).
The zoo exhibits a group of Sumatran orangutans (an adult male, two females and two cubs - a female and a male) and a group of Bornean orangutans (also one male, two females and two cubs).
When keeping orangutans in captivity, the problem of their employment is most acute, since their highly developed intellect requires an adequate lifestyle. Therefore, orangutans are constantly given a variety of play material, while people have to be almost more inventive than animals, since the monkeys quickly get bored with the same activity. For a long time it takes orangutans to collect seeds in a bale of hay scattered on the floor. Some of our intellectuals draw with crayons. At one time, transparent "puzzle glasses" stood in the enclosures, from which orangs could get their favorite treats - nuts and candied fruits with chopsticks. When the animals learned to cope with the task quickly, they dismantled the transverse partitions and began to use these "glasses" as places to rest, miraculously fitting into them. Then he got tired of it, and the male literally “blew” the “glass” into small pieces. Orangutans enjoy trying on human clothing, which employees give them from time to time. But blankets, or at least pieces of burlap, are in special demand - "forest people" are happy to wrap themselves in them during their holidays.
Feed orangutans, like other great apes, three to four times a day. The diet is very diverse: fruits (apples, bananas, grapes, oranges, pears, peaches), vegetables (potatoes, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, herbs), cottage cheese, yogurt, cereals, chicken, eggs, various nuts. Monkeys drink, in addition to water, juices, tea and compote.

A shaggy creature lives in tall trees and strong vines. Most of the life of these animals takes place on trees, but adult, large and heavy males, whose branches can no longer withstand, live mainly on the ground.

These large beasts walk on their hind legs, and locals who see them warn of danger by calling Orang Hutan. Translated into Russian, this phrase means "forest man".

Based on this, the title orangutan not correct, but in Russian it is often used to name these, although in writing this will be considered a mistake, you need to say it correctly orangutan.

Orangutan habitat

In nature, these great great apes inhabit exclusively the tropics. There are two subspecies of orangutans - Bornean and Sumatran, according to the names of the islands where they live.

Marshy lowlands, on which grow vast, continuous forests - this is the environment orangutan habitat. When the distance between the trees is large, they jump over it using thin and flexible vines.

They move along the branches, using mainly the forelimbs, on which they often simply hang. The arm span of an adult is about 2 meters, which is much larger than the height of the animal.

monkey orangutan She is so accustomed to living in the canopy of trees that she even drinks water from leaves, old hollows or from her own wool so as not to go down to the reservoirs. If nevertheless there is a need to walk on the ground, then the animals use all four paws.

Adult individuals walk on the ground on their hind legs, which is why they can be confused with representatives of wild tribes. Orangutans spend the night right on the branches of trees, rarely arrange a semblance of a nest.

The appearance and behavior of the orangutan

Appearance humanoid gorillas are quite cute, as can be seen from multiple photos, but at the same time, adult males look intimidating. They have a massive body, a slightly elongated skull, their hands reach the feet and serve as a support for the orangutan when they are forced to walk on the ground.

The big toes are very poorly developed. Adult males are up to 150 cm tall, while their arm circumference is 240 cm, and their body is about 115 cm in volume. The weight of such an animal is 80-100 kg.

Orangutan females are much smaller - up to 100 cm tall and weigh 35-50 kg. The lips of the monkey are plump and strongly protrude forward, the nose is flat, the ears and eyes are small, similar to human ones.

Orangutans are considered one of the smartest monkeys.

Primates are covered with hard, long, sparse reddish-brown hair. The direction of hair growth on the head and shoulders is up, on the rest of the body - down.

On the sides it is a little thicker, while the chest, lower body and palms are almost devoid of vegetation. Adult males have a fairly thick beard and large fangs. Females are smaller and tend to be friendlier.

If we talk about the structural features of the body of an orangutan, then the first thing worth mentioning is their brain, which is not similar to the brain of others, but more comparable to a human one. Thanks to the developed convolutions, these monkeys are considered the most intelligent mammals, after humans.

This is also proved by the facts that orangutans know how to use tools to get food, adopt the habits of people if they live next to them, and are even able to perceive speech, adequately reacting with facial expressions. Sometimes they even cease to be afraid of water, like a person, although by nature they cannot swim and can even drown.

Orangutans can communicate through various sounds, which was recently proved by the Englishwoman Regina Frey. Monkeys express anger, pain and irritation by crying, smacking and puffing loudly, threatening the enemy, and males mark their territory or attract a female with a long deafening cry.

The lifestyle of these animals is solitary, males know the boundaries of their territory and do not go beyond them. But they will not tolerate strangers on their land. If two males meet, then each will try to demonstrate his strength to each other, breaking tree branches and shouting loudly.

If necessary, the male will defend his possessions with his fists, although in general they are peaceful animals. Females, on the contrary, calmly communicate with each other, can feed together. Sometimes they live as a couple.

Orangutan food

Orangutans feed mainly on plant foods - young shoots of trees, buds, leaves and bark. Sometimes they can catch a bird, ruin a nest or catch insects and. They love sweet, ripe mangoes, bananas, plums, figs.

Their metabolism is slow, similar to that of a sloth. This is 30% less than necessary for their body weight. These large animals consume few calories and can go without food for several days.

The monkeys are provided with everything they need to feed on the trees, so they rarely go down. Water is found in the same place, in the crowns of tropical thickets.

Reproduction and lifespan of the orangutan

Orangutans do not have to wait for a specific season to breed, they can do so at any time of the year. The male attracts the female with loud calls.

If several “machos” at once came up with the idea of ​​mating, they will each shout in their own territory, attracting a female who will choose the most pleasant voice for her and visit the boyfriend’s possessions.

In the photo, a female orangutan with a cub

The female's pregnancy will last 8.5 months. Most often one is born baby orangutan, rarely two. Newborn babies weigh about 1.5-2 kg. At first, the cub clings tightly to the skin on the female's chest, then, for convenience, moves onto its back.

Little monkeys eat milk for 2-3 years, then live next to their mother for a couple more years. And only at the age of six years they begin to live independently. Orangutans become sexually mature, approaching the age of 10-15 years. Living on average 45-50 years, female orangutan manages to raise 5-6 cubs.

In nature, these animals have practically no enemies, because they live high in the trees and are inaccessible to predators. But in connection with the massive deforestation of tropical trees, they are losing their habitats.

Poaching has become an even bigger problem. Rare in our time, orangutans are very expensive on the black market, so those who want to make money can kill a female in cold blood to take away her cub.

Animals are sold for the joy of people, taking advantage of the fact that they are very smart and easy to learn. These animals can be taught bad habits, which can only be called bullying.

But not everyone sees fun or a toy in these monkeys, there are also caring people who are ready to help save the population and treat orangutans like human beings. There was even a whole series about helping babies of anthropoid apes, it's called orangutan island.

In general, these monkeys are very friendly, they become attached to people, communicate with them, make grimaces and can even perform something like an orangutan dance, the video of which you can easily find on the Internet.

Currently, illegal deforestation, habitats for orangutans, continues. Despite the fact that national parks are being created, these monkeys are endangered. The Sumatran orangutan is already in critical status, the Kalimantan is in danger.

photo:David and Becky

The birthplace of this animal is the island of Borneo and Sumatra. They are very rich in water and tropical forests. The orangutan lives on the top of the trees. The orangutan can reach a height of 1.60 meters, and its weight is up to 100 kilograms. It is covered with rather long and shaggy hair. The face is gray, growths protrude on the side, the ears are very similar to human ones, powerful limbs and the neck are bare. Orangutans climb trees perfectly. Even in a very dense forest, they make their way with ease.

photo:Michael Malherbe

The animal's hands are very human-like and adapted specifically for grasping. With the help of them, the orangutan clasps the trunks of trees, along which he climbs to the top. Its long fingers allow it to display powerful strength and grip. Like its arms, its hindquarters are a good way to climb. The fingers are as long as on the hands. The inward-facing feet help the orangutan grasp trunks, branches, and some plants. Hands in the direct position of the animal reach the ground. Compared to the legs, they seem to be quite long. This length is necessary for jumping and climbing. Also, long arms are very useful when picking fruits.

photo: Lana Anderson

The strength of an orangutan is much greater than that of a human. It is essential to the life he leads. Developed muscles have his arms, shoulders and chest. That is why the front is much larger than the back. In the skeleton of the orangutan, the shoulder blades and collarbone are strongly developed. In order to bring food to the mouth, the orangutan has a small neck.

photo:cyclo900

On the ground, an orangutan is very rare, because the trees have everything necessary for his life. It feeds on trees, and animals drink water from the leaves. They often collect rainwater. But when he descends to the ground, he moves awkwardly and somewhat awkwardly. He walks mostly on all fours, as his legs are not adapted for walking.

photo: Susan Knodle

The orangutan feeds on young shoots of leaves and a variety of fruit fruits. In captivity, he is able to consume the same food as humans. Because the body system is in many ways similar to the human body. Just like humans, an orangutan has 32 teeth.

photo:Yulia Smirnova

Only crocodiles and boas dare to attack an orangutan. But even in the fight against them, he wins much more often. He has a very loud voice. From his roar, a lot of animals are frightened. The voice is amplified by his large guttural sacs. They fill with air, and when you roar, the air comes out.

Photo: Albuquerque BioPark

An animal can attack a person only with extreme necessary self-defense. Once a year, the female gives birth to a cub. She takes care of him and protects him. Such a strong love for children is seen in all monkeys. Before going to bed, the orangutan creates a nest on the branches. He makes it from knots and leaves. After that, he spends the whole night there.

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Orangutans are one of the world's most famous and popular species of great apes. Scientists consider them, along with gorillas and chimpanzees, to be among the closest animals to humans. Currently, only two species of these red monkeys are known - the Sumatran and Bornean orangutans. In this article, we will consider in detail only the first of them.

Orangutan or orangutan?

Some people believe that the pronunciation and spelling of the name of this monkey is entirely reduced to one single option - “orangutan”. Even Microsoft "skip" this word, while the word "orangutan" is underlined in red. However, this spelling is erroneous.

The fact is that in the language of the population living in Kalimantan, "orangutan" is a debtor, and "orangutan" is a forest man, a forest dweller. That is why preference should be given to the second version of the name of this beast, even though some text editors still "consider" its spelling incorrect.

Where is this monkey?

The Sumatran orangutan, whose photo you can see in our article, lives throughout the territory and Kalimantan. However, the vast majority of these monkeys are found in the northern part of Sumatra. Their favorite habitats are tropical forests and jungles.

Sumatran orangutan. Description of the species

It is believed that these have their African counterparts - gorillas. Maybe this is so, but the monkey features of orangutans are much more pronounced than those of gorillas. For example, the front limbs of the red monkey are long, and the hind limbs are noticeably shorter than those of their African relatives. Hands and feet with long curved fingers in orangutans play the role of a kind of hooks.

With the help of his crooked fingers, the Sumatran orangutan easily clings to branches and picks delicious fruits, but we will talk about this a little later. Unfortunately, for the most complex actions, his limbs are not adapted. As for the size of these monkeys, adult male orangutans are inferior to gorillas in their dimensions, and they weigh less. The Sumatran orangutan, whose weight does not exceed 135 kilograms, can reach a height of only 130 centimeters.

However, if you do not compare the size of orangutans with the size of gorillas, then these are rather impressive anthropoid apes: the length of their arms in a span is 2.5 meters, and their torso is massive and dense, completely overgrown with red hair hanging in tatters. The Sumatran orangutan, whose head has a round face with swollen cheeks, turning into a funny "beard", also makes peculiar sounds, which we will learn about later.

Why do Sumatran orangutans grunt?

Researchers observing the behavior and lifestyle of Sumatran orangutans have noticed that these monkeys constantly and heavily sigh. Once, the famous zoologist and professor Nikolai Nikolaevich Drozdov, studying these animals in one of his television programs, remarked: “He groans like an old man in pain. But he's not an old man, and he's not in pain. He is an orangutan."

It is curious that the throat sac in these animals swells like a ball, making squelching sounds, gradually turning into a deep throaty moaning. These sounds cannot be confused with any others. You can hear them even for a whole kilometer!

Orangutan lifestyle

The average life expectancy of these animals is about 30 years, the maximum is 60 years. These red-haired "old men" prefer to live alone. If you ever happen to meet a small group of Sumatran orangutans, then know that this is not a clan of monkeys, but just a female with her offspring. By the way, females, meeting with each other, try to disperse as soon as possible, pretending that they do not see each other.

As for males, the situation here is, of course, more complicated. Each adult Sumatran orangutan has its own territory, where several females live at once. The fact is that the males of these monkeys are polygamous creatures and prefer to have a whole harem at their disposal. The owner of the territory with loud cries warns strangers who have wandered into his possessions. If the stranger is not going to leave, then a showdown begins.

This happens in a very unusual way. Both orangutans, as if on command, rush to the nearest trees and convulsively begin to shake them. It resembles a real circus: the trees are shaking, the leaves are falling from them, heart-rending screams are heard throughout the district. This show goes on long time until one of the opponents loses their nerve. Usually, the losing male Sumatran orangutan tears his throat and gets tired in order.

The main part of the life of red monkeys takes place exclusively on trees. They also sleep high above the ground, having previously arranged a comfortable bed for themselves. It is worth noting that the Sumatran orangutan is a rather peaceful animal. However, as we already know, this principle does not apply to their relatives: fights for territory between them occur on an ongoing basis.

What do these monkeys eat?

In principle, the Sumatran orangutan (photos of these monkeys usually cause a lot of impressions) is a vegetarian. So they enjoy eating mangoes, plums, bananas, figs.

Thanks to their incredible strength and other physical data, these monkeys quite deftly climb the highest tropical trees of the islands for their favorite delicacy - mango. If, for example, the upper branches of trees are thin, an anthropoid red ape of impressive size calmly sits down in the middle of the crown, bending the branches towards itself. Unfortunately, this is to the detriment of the trees themselves: the branches break and dry out.

Orangutans that live on fairly quickly gain weight. And all because summer here is the most favorable time for the red-haired "forest dwellers". The abundance of variety allows the monkeys not only to quickly gain weight, but also to store fat for the rainy season, when they will have to eat exclusively bark and leaves.

orangutan population

As mentioned above, in nature there are two types of these monkeys: the Bornean and the Sumatran orangutan. The number of these animals over the past 75 years, unfortunately, has decreased by 4 times. The main factors negatively affecting their population are:

• constant pollution of the environment;
• illegal capture of young animals and their sale.

Moreover, the animals are highly dependent on the state of the tropics in which they live. That is why the widespread deforestation of the jungle, which leads to the death of orangutans, should be stopped. Currently, there are only about 5 thousand of these monkeys left. If timely measures are not taken to protect them, they can disappear from the face of the Earth forever.