Sumatran Orangut Endangered Primate Research

The Gorilla beringei beringei or mountain gorilla, was first discovered on October 17th 1902, by a German officer named Captain Robert von Beringe (Berggorilla and Direkthilfe, 2002). Mountain gorillas play a large role in it’s particular ecosystem through consumption the gorillas control and maintain vegetation that is vital for a healthy environment not only for the primate but also other species that live in the environment as well. Since the discovery of the mountain gorilla much fascination has been drawn toward the species. However, the gentle creature’s population has had a sharp decline from Rwanda’s belief in sumu, poaching, human disease, and unregulated tourism. In efforts to revive the species population from extinction, persistent activism through worldly foundations are helping protect the mountain gorilla species.

Primates are one of the most interesting mammals on earth, not only because of their complex social structures, but because they hold so many similar characteristics to humans. Primates are often cited as our closest living relatives and on two separate occasions I observed four separate species of primates at the San Diego Zoo that can justify their use of their physical characteristics and behaviors that may be similar as well as different to the other primates and ours.

This book was about the life of apes in their natural habitat that is being destroyed. Stanford highly pushed the idea of extinction and what people are doing to the apes. Stanford explains the threats to the ape's survival and tells us ideas that could help stop or slow down the decline of the ape population. He tells us about the complex cultural, social, economic and

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

Primates are remarkable recent animals that have evolved so much in our world. During the Mesozoic Era it was time of the transitional primate like creatures. The planet was very different from the way we would see it today the continents were in other locations so when primates were evolving they had an easier time going from continent to continent.

My observation of the orangutan habitat was on a sunny and hot day with the average temperature being between 65-70F. The Enclosure for the orangutans was a grassy and dirt area that was approximately 35ft+ in width and about 75ft+ in length with a long glass barrier for observation. The habitat featured three 15ft tall fake trees which were fashioned after a tree but bare of leaves. The trees were

For the Orangutan in the zoo each enclosure they had a total of three orangutan in each pen, most were all adults, except one which was a young juvenile. As well as it is appear to be that none of these orangutan are a part of a subgroup because some, if not all isolated themselves from others. In which is very common according to Lang C. (2005), "Adult males and independent adolescents of both sexes range alone while adult females range with their dependent and weaned offspring" (Primate Factsheet pongo, para. 1). So the zoo's orangutan act very similar to the wild ones. Next the differences is how are they physically built between in each others. For the orangutan, if they are standing they are about 5 feet tall, however including arm and leg span due to how they are built to climb and swing to places their body size will be seven feet tall. Another difference was that they had no tail due to they ancestors evolution to who they are now, which remove the chance of having the ability to have a prehensile tail in the process. The last physically difference is their hands. They have all fingers and thumbs, but they don't use their thumbs to grab; they use mostly their fingers to grasp objects. Which make them who they are

Orangutans are amongst the most iconic species in wildlife conservation (Meijaard, E., Wich, S., Ancrenaz, M., & Marshall, A J., 2012) Their behaviours and facial expressions give them an uncannily human like personality. Their genetic comparisons, cognitive and behavioural similarities indicate a close evolutionary relationship between humans and themselves. [REF] There are two species of the Orangutan, the Sumatran Orangutan (Pongo abelii) and the Bornean Orangautan (Pongo pygmaeus). The Sumatran orangutan belongs exclusively to the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. This species is rarer than its Bornean equivalent. The Sumatran orangutan lives mainly amongst the trees of tropical rainforests, and rely heavily on these forests for survival.

Catherine Smith liked animal, so when an opportunity to volunteer in orangutan conservation came, she didn’t think twice.

Until then, scientists believed there were only two types of orangutan, one that dwells on Sumatra, and one on Borneo Island. They realized that their populations, as with the other primates on Earth — chimpanzees, gorillas, and bonobos — are waning. An estimated 60,000 orangutans in total are left.

The numbers or orangutans have recently dropped tremendously owing to loss of habitat to deforestation and the killing of females for their young, to be sold as pets or zoo animals. Fewer than 30,000 individuals are believed to remain in the wild, and the species is listed as endangered (Galdkias, 1987)

Scientists have recently discovered a new species of the orangutan in northern Sumatra in Indonesia, but these new orangutan species are already considered endangered.

Increasingly there is a need to conserve global tropical habitats as it is currently estimated that 45% of all carbon is stored in the forests in terrestrial habitats (Garcia-Ulloa and Pin Koh, 2016). Therefore, there is a need for international cooperation. Recently at the United Nations Paris Climate Change Convention in 2015, 195 countries agreed to a global climate change pact. In this the countries agreed to reduce their carbon emissions to limit the amount of global warming to 2C above pre-industrial levels (Fawcett et al., 2015). As a result of this agreement the use of Payment for Ecosystem Services are likely to become more widespread by governments of forest-rich countries wishing to lower their carbon emissions. This may encourage local people to benefit from preserving and reforesting habitats in the tropics which would be beneficial for primate conservation.