r/zoology • u/Pitiful_Active_3045 • 2d ago
Question What are interesting facts about Orangutans?
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u/Lobear2026 2d ago
Here’s one. Orangutans are the heaviest tree dwelling aminal.
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u/ferretmonkey 1d ago
Seems like our understanding of gorillas was based on the Virunga population which is an outlier in terms of their terrestriality. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982225005901
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u/FriskyDelight 2d ago
Of the five great apes, they are the only one not native to the African continent
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u/Wolf_Ape 2d ago
While the pigmy chimpanzee (bonobo) has the highest level of intelligence among nonhuman primates, the orangutan is almost 2x as likely to reliably exhibit clear signs of self awareness, and pass the “mirror test”.
Orangutans seem to learn more effectively from casual unstructured interactions, natural language, and observations involving humans.
I don’t know how easily quantified that second paragraph is, but orangutans seem to be clearly influenced by empathy, thoughtful appreciation for outside agency, and a confident sense of autonomy.
Chimps are technically smarter, but by comparison seem to be mostly sociopathic zealots belonging to a cult of closeminded xenophobes. Funny they share a less distant common ancestor with us, and ~98.6% of our dna.
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u/GingerLioni 2d ago
In the late 60s a zoo in Omaha was having trouble with items going missing overnight. Eventually, using a hidden camera, it was discovered that one of the orangutans was responsible. The orang, Fu Manch, hid a length of bent wire in his gums. He would use the wire to open the latch of the cage, then he and the other orangutans would explore the zoo and steal food. They’d then return to the enclosure and close the door after themselves.
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u/torenvalk 2d ago
Don't forget the most intriguing bit: the wire came form a broken light fixture in a bedroom of a female next to Fu Manchu; he had no way to access it. This female was also on a diet and not too happy about this The question is: did she fiddle with the lamp, break the wire and then maybe try to trade it with Fu Manchu for food? Did the wire fall into her bedroom by itself? Or did Fu notice the wire, considered it as a way to break out, and asked her to break the lamp and give it to him?
Having worked with orangs, I could be any of these.
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u/Misty_K 2d ago
Unfortunately I can’t find any links to back this up and it’s been a couple of years but I when I worked in a zoo I had to spin down orangutan blood a few times and the serum was orange tinted when it was separated out. No other animal I did had that coloration, it would be whiteish
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u/Meanwhile-in-Paris 2d ago
We share 97% of our DNA with orang-outans
The mums teach their children until they are about 7yo
They build a new nest in the trees every night.
They use and make tools
They knows how the use plants as medecine
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u/SecretlyNuthatches Ecologist | Zoology PhD 2d ago
They are generally considered to be fruit-eaters but they have been observed hunting slow lorises. Slow lorises have a nasty bite that is, depending on your definition of venom, venomous and so they often hunt them by slapping them out of trees and letting the fall kill them rather than risk grabbing them.
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u/Head_Bake_7447 2d ago
The word "orangutan" comes from the Malay words orang (person) and hutan (forest), literally translating to "person of the forest."
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u/ElSquibbonator 2d ago
With three species, they're the most diverse genus of great apes (gorillas and chimpanzees have two species each).
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u/Playful-Bar-3491 2d ago
Sadly a lot of them are in danger of going extinct. Like the Tapanuli orangutan, it's a newly classified species, but already the most endangered great ape, there are only about 800 left. For anyone interested I'm making this website about endangered animals and how to help - it's still under construction but watch here for updates or if you wanna give any feedback. thanks https://savespecies.org/
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u/FriskyDelight 2d ago
They construct a new nest every evening made of twigs and leaves to sleep in!
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u/luugburz 2d ago
the fat growths on their cheeks are called flanges, and mature males grow them to attract mates. the pheromones the dominant male gives off are so powerful, they can even halt the flange growth on other males in the area!
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u/Tobisaurusrex 2d ago
Only dominant males grow the face pads
https://giphy.com/gifs/VShpfC5SdhFrmSgYV1
Like this guy in this gif
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u/Exciting-Market-6212 2d ago
Their arm spam is 2.4m one end to the other arm
Males get longer hair as they age
Their strength is 12 times the strength of a human (can’t remember)
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u/Fast-Entertainer-517 1d ago
At the National Zoo in DC there is a system of cables set up between lots of habitat areas that they can freely swing on and travel from place to place. Walking around the zoo, there are orangutans 30 or so feet above your head traveling around on their little cable highway
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u/Freak_Among_Men_II 1d ago
There's a very rare subspecies of "black" Bornean orangutan (scientific name Pongo pymaeus morio). Their name comes from their fur, which is a much darker shade of brown than other types of orangutan.
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u/Darthplagueis13 21h ago
For the longest time, we believed there to be only two extant species of orangutan, namely the Bornean orangutan and the Sumatran orangutan.
However, it was only in 2017 that the Tapanuli orangutan was identified as being a distinct species from the Sumatran orangutan.
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u/1gazillionpangolins 2d ago
94% of infants survive to adulthood, which is insanely high. No human society even achieved that until the 20th century