About Orangutans

About Orangutans

Quick Facts!

· Class: Mammalia

· Order: Primates

· Super family: Hominoidea

· Family: Pongidae

· Genus: Pongo

· Species: abelii (Sumatran) and pygmaeus (Bornean)

· Length: males - about 40 inches from top of head to rump; females - about 30 inches

· Weight: males - 110 to 300 pounds; females - 66 to 110 pounds

· Life Span: 60 years or more

· Gestation: about 8.5 months

· Number of Young at Birth: usually 1, very rarely 2 (in captivity)

· Size at Birth: 3.3 to 4.5 pounds

· Interbirth Interval: 8-9 years (in the wild)

· Age of Maturity: males - about 15 years; females - about 12 (in captivity)

· Conservation Status: Pongo pygmaeus (Bornean) is endangered; Pongo abelii (Sumatran) is critically endangered

Fun Facts!

· In Malay orang means "person" and utan is derived from hutan, which means "forest." Thus, orangutan literally means "person of the forest."

· Orangutans share nearly 97% of their genetic material with humans. Our close genetic relatedness with all the great apes make us sibling species.

· Orangutans’ arms stretch out longer than their bodies - over 7 ft. from fingertip to fingertip - and are used to employ a "hookgrip." When on the ground, they walk on all fours, using their palms or their fists.

· When male orangutans are about 15 years old, they develop large cheek pads, which female orangutans apparently find attractive.

· When males are fighting, they charge at each other and break branches. If that doesn’t scare one of them away, they grapple and bite each other.

· For the first few years of his/her life, a young orangutan holds tight to his/her mother’s body as she moves through the forest in search of fruit. Later, he/she will follow the mother as she moves through the trees.

· Like humans, orangutans have opposable thumbs. Their big toes are also opposable.

· Orangutans have tremendous strength, which enables them to brachiate (swing from branch to branch) and hang upside-down from branches for long periods of time to retrieve fruit and eat young leaves.

Orangutan information extracted from the Orangutan Foundation International website with permission.

SEE/OUR Education Initiative, 2461 Santa Monica Blvd. #828, Santa Monica, CA 90404, USA-info@OrangUtanRepublik.org

OUR Education Initiative is not affiliated with the Orangutan Foundation International nor its co-founder. OUR Education Initiative is a project of Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs (SEE)

a registered 501(c)(3) public charity

OUR Education Initiative is not a political organization and does not endorse or sponsor activities that attack or condemn individuals, organizations or governments. OUR Educational Initiative will work together with individuals, governments and nongovernmental organizations that are committed to saving orangutans and their rain forest habitat.

Orang Utan Republik®