Orangutans are in trouble. They are facing extinction and are in great danger. On this site, OrangAid+, you can learn more about these fascinating and unique relatives of human beings, and below you can find more information about how to help.
Did you know orangutans are endangered and could go extinct?
Wild orangutans live only in Borneo and the Sumatra islands in Indonesia and Malaysia. (Fossils have also been found in mainland Asia throughout all of Southeast Asia, including Beijing, Taiwan, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, the Malaysia Peninsula, and in Java.)
Orangutans share 98% of the genetic material with humans. They branched off from the hominoid line (the common ancestor of humans and apes) about 8-12 million years ago. Gibbons, gorillas, and chimpanzees (and bonobos) split from the hominid line about 17 million years ago, 8 million years ago, and 5-6 million years ago, respectively.
What can you do to help?
Videos
Orangutans are very smart! They perform well in various kinds of cognitive tests such as quantitative judgment, spatial memory, and problem solving. For instance, when presented with two different amounts of food (5 vs. 3 pieces of monkey chow), they can reliably choose the larger reward. When a food is hidden in one of several identical opaque cups, they can successfully choose the correct cup even after a long delay. They are also creative and good at coming up with innovative solutions to novel problems. In a recent study, orangutans were given a clear tube that was vertically attached onto the cage mesh. Inside the tube was a peanut shell which was floating on water and out of their reach. How did the orangutans solve this problem? They got mouthfuls of water from a nearby dispenser and spat it into the tube until they could get the peanut!
Here, you can see a juvenile female orangutan and an adult male orangutan taking part in a cognitive test. The orangutans are presented with a pair of identical clear cups which are filled with different amounts of grape juice. They almost always choose the larger quantity because they love juice and they want more. After their first choice, the experimenter transfers the contents into a new pair of containers, which results in various kinds of transformations. Can they track the larger quantity after this modification? In other words, do orangutans understand that a liquid quantity remains the same even after it changes its appearance? This ability is called Piagetian liquid conservation, and human children understand this sometime around 7-8 years of age.
Here are some videos showing original research into orangutan's cognitive abilities:
Orangutan juice test # 1
An orangutan successfully tracks the larger of two quantities of grape juice after the liquid changes its appearance.
Orangutan juice test # 2
A male orangutan changes his mind during the test in which he is supposed to track the larger of two quantities of grape juice.
Photos
Some photos from the Leipzig Zoo in Germany of Walter, Pini and Dunja.
