Analysis of the Orangutan Pongo Pygmaeus Essay

After about 10 minutes, he is abruptly bothered by the youngster who is running on his knuckles towards the male and runs back up the hill as if he is taunting him. The youngster does it about 3 mores times within the next 7 minutes and perches upon the hill in the same position as the silverback, except he is bended at the knees in squat position. In my second visit, I return to the gorilla exhibit for about 10 minutes to see a female unknown if related to the previous observation in submission. She is found crouched to the floor with her elbows on the ground and hands extended out and her butt perched up. Her hind legs are also bent and position to help support her butt. Three minutes upon observation, a silverback male comes running on his knuckles from another part of the exhibit and mounts the female. He positions himself on his knuckles to provide him support and continues with the sexual intercourse, in which I conclude my observations.

Orangutans have long lifespans (30-40 years) with long interbirth intervals and low reproductive rates. In fact, females have eight year intervals between births and will only give birth to one or two offspring in her lifetime. The reason why this poses a problem is that when an enormous amount of orangutans are killed, it’s tough to recover because they are not producing large numbers of children nor do they have short interbirth intervals. Consequently, there will be extremely high death rates and very few births (UNEP, 2007). Their population numbers will continue to fall because they won’t be able to compensate for the great loss. A study completed by Michael Bruford and Benoit Goossens at Cardiff University showed that in 1900, there were approximately 315,000 orangutans in Indonesia. Currently, there are about 60,000 orangutans living in the forests of Indonesia, which is a massive population decline (Kaye, 2016).When orangutans are driven out of their habitat due to deforestation and illegal logging it forces them to roam a great distance in search of food. Orangutans are solitary creatures, spending the majority of their time in the trees. Their diet relies mainly on fruit, with a preference for fruit with soft pulp. They also eat buds, flowers, leaves, soil tree bark, and some insects. Due to their largely frugivorous diet, they have to monitor the seasonal availability of resources. When fruit is abundant, they will increase their food intake and store the food as fat for energy. This enables them to eat low quality food items in habitats where fruit may be scarce (Delgado & Van Schaik, 2000). The dipterocarp forests of Borneo and Sumatra have trees that fruit simultaneously, so there is an abundance of fruit once every 2 to 5 years which are known as the “mast years”. During the other years there is not as much fruit, so orangutans have to maintain large home ranges in

I primarily observed three orangutans, one male, one female, and one juvenile, of Sumatran and Bornean descent, scientifically known as Pongo abelli and Pongo pygmaeus, respectively, and to a lesser extent, two gibbons known as siamangs, or Symphalangus syndactylus. These primates share the same enclosure in the San Diego Zoo in California. I observed the orangutans from 12:58 P.M. to 2:00 P.M. CST on September 19th. During this time frame, the three orangutans mainly stayed high up in their man-made structures, consisting of multiple metal bars covered with nets, ropes, and hammocks. The female and juvenile orangutans stayed above ground from 12:58 P.M. to 1:31 P.M., and again from 1:48 P.M. until 2:00 P.M, approximately 45 minutes. During

Primate conservation has long been a topic of debate, reliant most heavily on the struggle to provide the necessary resources to combat the declining rate of population growth among various species. Orangutans in particular, both Sumatran and Bornean, have experienced a rapid drop in their free-living populations. With an estimate of only 27,000 left in the wild, questions have been raised over what selective pressures are impacting the steady decline of these animals existence. While hunting and poaching have been identified as contributing factors, habitat loss primarily takes center stage in their demise. Conservation efforts have been made and continue to be somewhat successful, however, challenges and set backs continue to threaten

The Bornean Orangutan lives on the island of Borneo, a part of Malaysia and an Indonesian province. The Sumatran Orangutan lives on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. They can be found in the heavily canopied rain forests, low elevation forests, and sometimes in grasslands . Due to their surroundings, the diet of the Orangutan consists of over 500 plant species, with fruits being the primary staple food but they also eat leaves, bark, insects and flowers. The results of this diet mean that they are one of the main distributors of seeds throughout the forest, creating the cycle of growth to maintain their food source. In their environments orangutans are not known to form large communities, but small groups with specific

“Pair Living Primates have several unique characteristics that set them apart from other nonhuman primates. Monogamous Primates are two primates of different sexes that mate exclusively with one and other. The unique qualities of these animals are a result of the ecological constraints that these primates face. Because of the exclusive and solitary relationship that is monogamy there is a lack of specialized defensive roles by the adult male, which is also extensively involved in paternal care. Monogamous primates are highly territorial and very closely associated, Morphologically, there is a lack of sexual dimorphism amongst pair living primates, this is due to the exclusively and predictable genetic outcome of these animals mating with only

In my research, I observed two separate species of primates in captivity, Western Lowland Gorilla, and Cotton-Top Tamarin. At the zoo, I formulate an initial question to focus when I observe the primates. How do primates in a group interact? What is their social interactions and behavior towards each other?. I also keep in mind that my research is a bit limited, however; they are in line with the traits expected of them in their natural habitat.

Orangutans (Figure 3) are our first cousins since they share 97 percent of our genetic material. Contrary to other apes, orangutans are semi solitary which is unique in its social organization (3). Adult males which are the most solitary, and they associate with only their current, former, and potential consorts. For the semi-solitary orangutans, the only playmate is its mother. Even female adults are more social than male ones, rarely they groom, touch, hold hands, chase, or fight. On rare occasions, female adults may groom; however, it lasts only few seconds. Sometimes, female adults meet and travel with one another to express the close relationship. The long call by a male orangutan expresses an alert to others about his presence. Usually, other orangutans only react if the call is close by or aggressive towards them. Male orangutan can use vocalization to express that he is angry and frustrated, and that call signals a threat to another male (3). Female orangutans also produce vocalization when they get upset by the presence of another male.

Through this assignment, we will see how primates express their behaviors and understand the meaning behind them. For my observation, it will be based on the orangutans, which is classified in the genus Pongo. The San Diego zoo itself is set up with a lot of ropes, balls, hammocks, rocks and more for the animal to interact with in the grassy area. There are many levels of ground elevations that allowed the primate to have maximum space to explore around and live in. After seeing how the specie interacts and behaves, I can relate it to human behaviors and how we gain our roots from them. One of the small orangutans I observed was very active and kept climbing on different levels of the ropes and interacted with many other of the inhabitants.

The other adult female that would be my focal point did emerge but remained less social and more timid than the other orangutans but was also younger. The orangutans as supported by San Diego Zoo Orangutan website would use all four limbs to move about the trees and would occasionally walk on the ground bipedally and using its long arms for support. One of the more curious observations was the interaction between the non-human primates and the humans which seemed to stem of curiosity on both sides. For instance at one point before the focal observation an adult human female with her infant were tapping on the glass of the enclosure and the adult human female began to pull things from her purse and show it to the orangutan who was leaning on the glass barrier; among many of the items was a bag of chocolate candies which the orangutan did not particularly respond to. The eldest adult female orangutan however seemed to respond very curiously and attentively to any infant or child that approached the enclosure.

Orangutan is a great ape of Southeast Asia. Its name means “man of the jungle” in Malay, an Indonesian language. Orangutans live only on the island of Borneo and in the northern corner of the island of Sumatra.

Dr. Marina Davila-Ross from the University of Portsmouth in England said she was “surprised about the extent to which the Tapanuli orangutans differed genetically, morphologically, as well as behaviorally from the Sumatran and Bornean orangutans.”

In this regions also face the threat of the locals thanks to the increased fragmentation of their diminishing ecosystem, the tropical forest. As the ecosystem is progressively decreasing, the human population in the region is inversely increasing. This changes are setting the stage for potential conflicts between orangutans and the locals of Kalimantan. A survey was taken by asking a large number of the locals about their interactions with the orangutans. Amongst the participants, 4967of them were deemed to be “reliable respondents”. Out of the 4967, 42% of them, or 2086, reported orangutan sightings within the village, and 56% of those 2086 reported the sightings taking place over a year ago. The locals stated that they were usually seen in the forest, in gardens or farms, on roads, or in miscellaneous locations. Reliable respondents also reported that upon discovering the presence of an orangutan in their garden, the subsequent confrontation consisted of using “other” means of getting rid of it (49%), chasing or scaring it away (46%), and the rest of them attempting to kill or successfully killing it (5%). Upon taking the survey again the following year, the results resembled each other. After some research, it was discovered that there were three potential ways to improve the conditions of the orangutan populations in Borneo and Sumatra and if enacted in time, can be quite cost-effective relative to the

The Mbuti Pygmies in the Ituri forest in central Africa are foragers who use a combination of foraging, net hunters, and archers. Their kinship, social organization, and gender relations make them a unique band. Even though they live in the rainforest of equatorial Africa with hardly any possessions, they are happy, peaceful people. The pygmies are small people who are typically less than five feet tall.

The behavior of different species of wildlife which are brought into the circus industry also varies, and they therefore require different living conditions. Observing the natural behavior of tigers versus lions illustrates this fact. Unlike tigers, which have a mainly solitary existence, lions are very social, and are really the only big cats which display this characteristic (Whitney). Furthermore, elephants have yet another type of lifestyle, and “form deep family bonds and live in tight matriarchal family groups” (Whitney). By looking at just these few select animals, one can see that they all require different treatment based on their natural predilections. Tigers may be comfortable to exist in solitude with the circus, but a lion would be more accustomed to travelling with his pride, not alone, a sentiment which would be shared my an elephant used to being with a family. Moreover, separate from their preferences for company, both tigers and lions are extremely territorial and are usually in charge