1.Orangutans are the only apes in the world that are from Asia.

2.Orangutans are diurnal which means they are active during the day.

3.Orangutans have opposable thumbs which means they can touch each of their fingers with their thumb.

4.A male orangutan’s cheek pads keep growing for most of their life.

5.Orangutans have 32 permanent teeth (the same amount as humans). They have sharp canine teeth with the male orangutan having longer canine teeth that they use for threat displays and fighting.

6.Mosquitoes bother orangutans just like they do humans and they will use branches like fly swatters to swish them away.

7.When it rains or the sun is hot an orangutan will hold a leafy branch or two over its head to protect itself from getting wet or overheated.

8.Most orangutans build a nest every night high up in a tree and sometimes even add a roof of leaves.

9.Orangutans can make approximately 13 to 15 different vocalizations.

10.The name “orangutan” translates into English as “man of the forest”. It comes from Malay and Bahasa Indonesian orang (man) and hutan (forest).

11.Legend says that orangutans can speak but choose not to because they fear they would be forced to work if were they ever caught talking.
At this time orangutans can still be found in the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra.

12.An orangutan arms can have a reach of more than 8 feet! How tall are you? Probably not 8 feet or higher. So, an orangutan can have a reach of a length longer than you are tall!

13.In their true habitat, male orangutans live alone and females live alone or with their infants.

14.Female orangutans usually have one baby at a time and will only have one every 6 to 7years.

15.Orangutans eat tropical fruits, leaves, sprouts, bark and insects.
Baby orangutans cry when they’re hungry, whimper when they’re hurt and smile at their mothers.

The Sumatran species is critically endangered and the Bornean species of orangutans is endangered according to the IUCN Red List of mammals, and both are listed on Appendix I of CITES. The total number of Bornean orangutans is estimated to be less than 14 percent of what it was in the recent past (from around 10,000 years ago until the middle of the twentieth century) and this sharp decline has occurred mostly over the past few decades due to human activities and development. Species distribution is now highly patchy throughout Borneo: it is apparently absent or uncommon in the south-east of the island, as well as in the forests between the Rejang River in central Sarawak and the Padas River in western Sabah (including the Sultanate of Brunei). The largest remaining population is found in the forest around the Sabangau River, but this environment is at risk. A similar development have been observed for the Sumatran orangutans.

The most recent estimate for the Sumatran Orangutan is around 7,300 individuals in the wild while the Bornean Orangutan population is estimated at between 45,000 and 69,000. These estimates were obtained between 2000 and 2003. Since recent trends are steeply down in most places due to logging and burning, it is forecast that the current numbers are below these figures.

Orangutan habitat destruction due to logging, mining and forest fires, as well as fragmentation by roads, has been increasing rapidly in the last decade. A major factor in that period of time has been the conversion of vast areas of tropical forest to oil palm plantations in response to international demand (the palm oil is used for cooking, cosmetics, mechanics, and more recently as source of biodiesel). Some UN scientists believe that these plantations could lead to the extinction of the species by the year 2012.[30][31] Some of this activity is illegal, occurring in national parks that are officially off limits to loggers, miners and plantation development. There is also a major problem with hunting and illegal pet trade. In early 2004 about 100 individuals of Bornean origin were confiscated in Thailand and 50 of them were returned to Kalimantan in 2006. Several hundred Bornean orangutan orphans who were confiscated by local authorities have been entrusted to different orphanages in both Malaysia and Indonesia. They are in the process of being rehabilitated into the wild.

Major conservation centres in Indonesia include those at Tanjung Puting National Park and Sebangau National Park in Central Kalimantan, Kutai in East Kalimantan, Gunung Palung National Park in West Kalimantan, and Bukit Lawang in the Gunung Leuser National Park on the border of Aceh and North Sumatra. In Malaysia, conservation areas include Semenggoh Wildlife Centre in Sarawak and Matang Wildlife Centre also in Sarawak, and the Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary near Sandakan in Sabah.

The orangutans are two species of great apes. Known for their intelligence, they live in trees and are the largest living arboreal animal. They have longer arms than other great apes, and their hair is typically reddish-brown, instead of the brown or black hair typical of other great apes. Native to Indonesia and Malaysia, they are currently found only in rainforests on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, though fossils have been found in Java, the Thai-Malay Peninsula, Vietnam and China.



Class: Mammalia (Mammals)
Order: Primates
Family: Pongidae
Genus: Pongo
Species:
• abelii (Sumatran)
• pygmaeus (Bornean)
Length: males—about 40 inches (102 centimeters) from top of head to rump; females—about 30 inches (76 centimeters)
Weight: males—110 to 198 pounds (50 to 90 kilograms); females—66 to 110 pounds (30 to 50 kilograms)
Life span: up to 59 years in zoos
Gestation: about 8.5 months
Number of young at birth: usually 1, sometimes 2
Size at birth: 3.3 to 4.5 pounds (1.5 to 2 kilograms)