Are you curious to learn some weird and wonderful facts about orangutans?
If so, excellent! You are in exactly the right place my friend…
It’s time to chat about orangutan facts.
Let’s dive right in…
Facts About Orangutans
1 – Orangutans are found only on two islands – Sumatra and Borneo.
2 – They have a long arm that is longer than their body height, which helps them move through the trees quickly.
3 – Orangutans can live up to 60 years in the wild.
4 – The Bornean orangutan is on the endangered list, which means that it’s at risk for extinction. There are approximately 14,600-15,000 Bornean orangutans left in the world.
5 – Female orangutans give birth every six years on average, and will typically nurse their young for five months before weaning them.
More Facts About Orangutans
6 – Male orangutans spend about three hours per day grooming themselves with leaves from trees – this helps keep bugs away from them as well as maintain their fur’s water content.
7 – The word “orangutan” means “person of the forest” in Malay. In Indonesia, they are also called “people of the forest” because they live in rainforests and eat fruit from trees.
8 – Adult males can grow up to 6 feet tall and weigh up to 300 pounds.
9 – The orangutan has a very slow metabolism because it spends so much time resting and digesting its food.
10 – Bornean orangutans have longer hair on their heads, while Sumatrans have short hair.
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11 – Orangutans live in rainforests where they eat fruit, leaves, bark, insects and bird eggs.
12 – Male orangs have been observed using tools to get food – like sticks for fishing termites out from their nests.
13 – It’s illegal to kill an orangutan under Indonesian law, but that doesn’t stop poachers from hunting them for their meat and skin which can be sold on the black market for $300 per kilo.
14 – The Bornean orangutan is endangered because its habitat has been destroyed by logging and mining. The Sumatran orangutan population is also declining due to deforestation.
15 – They also have large hands with opposable thumbs so they can grab tree branches easily.
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16 – The orangutan’s main predators out in the wild are tigers and leopards.
17 – Fruit is an orangutan’s favorite food and it makes up 60% of their diet. But when fruit is find to find, they will also eat leaves, flowers, small insects, soil and tree bark.
18 – When male oranguts reach puberty, they start producing a pungent odor from glands near the genitals in order to attract females for mating sessions.
19 – Orangutans can’t walk backwards like humans, so when they want to go somewhere new they must find a way around it instead.
20 – The orangutan is also called the “man of the forest”.
More Facts About Orangutans
21 – In some areas, they are hunted for their meat and for use in traditional medicine.
22 – Orangutans are the only great ape species that is fully arboreal (tree-dwelling). Their hair is actually reddish-brown, not orange.
23 – An adult male has a distinctive cheek pad that gives it a more human-like appearance than females, who have smooth cheeks.
24 – Male orangutans sometimes make nests out of leaves and sleep there during the day.
25 – Baby orangutans cling to their mother’s chest for up to six years before they can start moving on their own.
BONUS FACTS
“I have never seen a more intelligent creature than an orangutan.” – Charles Darwin
“The orangutan is the only great ape to live exclusively in Asia” – National Geographic
“Orangutans are among the most intelligent primates on Earth” – Smithsonian Magazine
“It’s not hard to see why people sometimes call them ‘man of the forest’ and ‘man of the trees'” – National Geographic
“‘If you want to know what it’s like being human, ask an orangutan,’ says one primatologist” – Scientific American
“We may be smarter than they are, but they’re far wiser,” says another scientist.”- National Geographic