What do orangutans eat? Why do vegetarian orangutans eat slow lorises?

Orangutans are one of the world's most famous and popular species of great apes. Scientists consider them, along with gorillas and chimpanzees, to be among the animals closest to humans. Currently, only two species of these red monkeys are known - the Sumatran orangutan and the Bornean orangutan. In this article we will consider in detail only the first of them.

Orangutan or orangutan?

Some people believe that the pronunciation and spelling of this monkey's name comes down entirely to one thing: the only option- "orangutan". Even Microsoft "skips" this word, while the word "orangutan" is underlined in red. However, this spelling is erroneous.

The fact is that in the language of the population living in Kalimantan, “orangutan” is a debtor, and “orangutan” is a forest person, a forest dweller. That is why preference should be given to the second version of the name of this beast, even despite the fact that some text editors still “consider” its spelling to be incorrect.

Where does this monkey live?

The Sumatran orangutan, a photo of which you can see in our article, lives throughout the territory of Kalimantan. However, the vast majority of these monkeys are found in northern Sumatra. Their favorite places habitats are tropical forests and jungles.

Sumatran orangutan. Description of the species

It is believed that these have their African counterparts - gorillas. This may be true, but the ape-like features of orangutans are much more pronounced than those of gorillas. For example, the forelimbs of the red monkey are long, and the hind limbs are noticeably shorter than those of their African relatives. The hands and feet with long curved fingers in orangutans play the role of peculiar hooks.

With the help of its crooked fingers, the Sumatran orangutan easily clings to branches and picks tasty fruits, but we will talk about this a little later. Unfortunately, his limbs are not adapted for the most complex actions. As for the size of these monkeys, adult male orangutans are inferior in size to gorillas, and they weigh less. The Sumatran orangutan, whose weight does not exceed 135 kilograms, can reach a height of only 130 centimeters.

However, if you do not compare the size of orangutans with the size of gorillas, then these are quite impressive apes: their arms span is 2.5 meters, and their body is massive and dense, completely overgrown with red hair hanging in clumps. Sumatran orangutan, whose head has round face with swollen cheeks, turning into a funny “beard”, it also makes peculiar sounds, which we will learn about later.

Why do Sumatran orangutans grunt?

Researchers observing the behavior and lifestyle of Sumatran orangutans noticed that these monkeys sigh constantly and heavily. Once, the famous zoologist and professor Nikolai Nikolaevich Drozdov, while studying these animals in one of his television programs, remarked: “He groans like an old man in pain. But he is not an old man, and he is not in pain. He is an orangutan."

It is curious that the throat sac of these animals swells like a ball, emitting squelching sounds, gradually turning into deep throaty moaning. These sounds cannot be confused with any others. You can hear them even a whole kilometer away!

Orangutan lifestyle

The average lifespan of these animals is about 30 years, the maximum is 60 years. These red-haired “old men” prefer to live alone. If you ever happen to meet a small group of Sumatran orangutans, then know that this is not a clan of monkeys, but just a female with her offspring. By the way, females, when meeting each other, try to disperse as quickly as possible, pretending that they do not see each other.

As for males, the situation here is, of course, more complicated. Each adult Sumatran orangutan has its own territory, in which several females live at once. The fact is that the males of these monkeys are polygamous creatures and prefer to have a whole harem at their disposal. The owner of the territory warns strangers who wander into his domain with loud shouts. If the alien is not going to leave, then a showdown begins.

This happens quite in an unusual way. Both orangutans, as if on command, rush to the nearest trees and frantically begin to shake them. It resembles a real circus: trees shake, leaves fall from them, heart-rending screams are heard throughout the area. This show goes on for quite some time long time until one of the opponents loses their nerve. Usually the losing male Sumatran orangutan vomits and gets pretty tired.

The main part of the life of red monkeys is spent exclusively in trees. They also sleep high above the ground, having previously arranged a comfortable bed for themselves. It is worth noting that the Sumatran orangutan is a rather peaceful animal. However, as we already know, this principle does not apply to their relatives: fights for territory between them occur on a constant basis.

What do these monkeys eat?

In principle, the Sumatran orangutan (photos of these monkeys usually evoke a lot of impressions) is a vegetarian. So they happily feast on mangoes, plums, bananas, and figs.

Thanks to their incredible strength and other physical characteristics, these monkeys quite deftly climb the tallest tropical trees of the islands for their favorite delicacy - mangoes. If, for example, the upper branches of the trees are thin, an impressively sized red ape calmly sits in the middle of the crown, bending the branches towards itself. Unfortunately, this is detrimental to the trees themselves: the branches break and dry out.

Orangutans that live on the island gain weight quite quickly. And all because summer here is the most favorable time for red-haired “forest dwellers”. The abundance of variety allows monkeys not only to gain weight quickly, but also to store fat for the rainy season, when they will have to eat exclusively bark and leaves.

Orangutan population

As mentioned above, in nature there are two species of these monkeys: the Bornean and Sumatran orangutan. The number of these animals over the past 75 years, unfortunately, has decreased by 4 times. The main factors negatively affecting their population are:

• constant environmental pollution;
• illegal catching of young animals and their sale.

Moreover, animals are highly dependent on the state of the tropics in which they live. This is why widespread deforestation of the jungle, which is leading to the death of orangutans, should be stopped. Currently, there are only about 5 thousand of these monkeys left. If measures to protect them are not taken in time, they may disappear from the face of the Earth forever.

Orangutan- A great arboreal ape, the largest living arboreal ape. In Malay, "orangutan" means "forest man" or " wild man" There are two known living species of orangutans: the Kalimantan (Pongo pygmaeus) and the Sumatran (Pongo abelii) orangutans. They are also often called "orangutans", but this name is incorrect and is not used in zoology.
Squad: Primates
Family: Hominidae
General information
Males are up to 1.5 meters tall, females are about 1 meter tall. The weight of males ranges from 50 to 100 kilograms. Females - 30 - 50 kilograms. The Kalimantan orangutan is somewhat larger in size.
Females mature at 8-12 years, males at 14-15. Pregnancy lasts approximately 8.5 months, giving birth to 1 - 2 cubs weighing 1.5-2 kilograms. The cubs are fed with mother's milk for three to four years and live with her for about 6-8 years. In the wild they live for about 30 years, and in captivity - up to 65 years, which puts them in second place in terms of life expectancy among primates after humans.
Life of orangutans
Orangutans live in the tropical forests of Borneo and Sumatra, spending almost all their time in the trees. They move by brachiation, assisting themselves with their legs. The adaptation of orangutans to life in trees has reached the point that they even drink from leaves, hollows, etc. They move on the ground on all fours and spend the night in nests they weave in the trees. Not able to swim. The orangutan's arm span is about 2 meters.
Orangutans live alone and only the cubs live with their mothers, and sometimes there are groups of two females. The females, having met, behave calmly and even feed together, while the males stage a show of strength, each remaining within their own territory: they growl, break branches, etc. When none of them retreats, a fight occurs, during which one of the opponents, as a rule, retreats.
Orangutans are predominantly herbivores; however, they do not disdain insects, honey, eggs, chicks, and Sumatran orangutans even hunt slow lorises.
Orangutans have a fairly developed language of communication among themselves: whining and sobbing in it can mean anger, displeasure, discomfort; loud squelching and grunting indicate threat; The fear-inducing piercing roar of the male (the so-called “long cry”) can communicate a territorial claim, or it can serve to attract a female; the unusual sonority and expressiveness of this roar is imparted by the bag that orangutans have - a resonator, with a volume of several liters. At the same time, it was long believed that orangutans hardly make any sounds.

The metabolic rate of orangutans is about a third less than that calculated based on body weight and is comparable to that of sloths. Therefore, orangutans can remain for several days without food at all. It is believed that this feature developed in orangutans due to their predominantly fruit diet.
Like humans, orangutans can be addicted to tobacco and alcohol. And, at least in the 19th century, they tried to use them as servants. These facts were even reflected in the book “The Mysterious Island” by the great science fiction writer of that century, Jules Verne.
Orangutans are considered the most intelligent animals after humans. When kept in captivity, they adopt many of the traits, modes of action and habits of the people around them.

In addition, orangutans are the closest living primates to humans, after chimpanzees and gorillas.
Preservation
Outside of zoos may become extinct due to the destruction of their places of residence, since even despite the organization of national parks, illegal logging forests The removal of cubs from their mother by poachers for subsequent sale also makes a contribution, during which the mother is usually killed, since she actively protects them.

The risk of extinction of the Sumatran orangutan is critical, the Kalimantan orangutan is in danger of extinction.

Interesting video about orangutan

These monkeys are among the three most famous great apes, along with chimpanzees and gorillas, and are the closest, in blood composition and DNA structure, to humans. It is no coincidence that local tribes dubbed this shaggy jungle inhabitant, moving on the ground on two legs, “man of the forest” - “orang” (man) “utan” (forest). Having studied the DNA of this primate in detail and convinced of its similarity with his own (97% match), the person retained a rather superficial knowledge of this very interesting “relative”.

And even its name is still spelled incorrectly, adding the letter “g” at the end, turning the “man of the forest” into a “debtor,” since “utang” means “debt” in Malay.

Description of orangutans

Orangutans belong to the genus of arboreal apes, standing out among other primates for their higher level of development. Orangutans are often confused with its African counterpart - another highly developed ape -. Meanwhile, between them there are fundamental differences, both external and behavioral properties.

Appearance

In terms of size, orangutans are inferior to gorillas. But this is not their most important difference. There is no other animal on Earth that is so unlike an animal and so reminiscent of a human being. He has nails, not claws, amazingly intelligent eyes, excellent facial expressions, small “human” ears and a large, developed brain.

In the upright pose of homo sapiens, the orangutan barely reaches 150 cm, but at the same time it is a heavyweight - it can weigh 150 kg or more. It's all about body proportions. The orangutan has short legs and a massive, square body with a thick belly. The arms are very long - both in comparison with the body and legs. Strong, muscular, they help the orangutan to easily, and even gracefully, “fly” through the trees.

This is interesting! The length of the orangutan's arms in span significantly exceeds its height and reaches 2.5 m. When the monkey is in vertical position, her arms hang below her knees and reach her feet, providing additional support when moving on the ground.

The special structure of the thumb, protruding and curved with a hook, helps the orangutan to deftly cling to tree branches. On foot thumbs also opposed to the rest and curved, but poorly developed and of little use. The crooked toes of the front paws also help the monkey to easily pick fruits from trees, but this is where their functions are limited. Such limbs are not capable of more complex manipulations.

Orangutans are covered with coarse red fur. It is long, but at the same time rare, which is not surprising, considering hot climate tropical jungle. The color of the coat changes with the age of the primate - from bright red in youth to brown in old age.

The fur is distributed unevenly over the orangutan's body - it is thicker on the sides and less frequent on the chest. The lower body and palms are almost bare. Orangutans have pronounced sexual dimorphism. Their males are endowed with a number of outstanding features: frightening fangs, a funny “beard” and “pouting” cheeks. Moreover, the cheeks of males grow as they grow older, forming a ridge around the face. Female orangutans have no beard, no mustache, no facial ridges and are much smaller in size and have thinner bones. Their usual weight does not exceed 50 kg.

Lifestyle, behavior

The orangutan spends most of its life in trees. The exception is large male primates, whose weight becomes threatening to the branches.

These monkeys move from tree to tree, actively using their long and tenacious forelimbs. The purpose of such migration is to find a source of food. If there is enough food at the top, then the orangutan will not even think about going down to the ground. He will build himself a kind of nest-bed from bent branches and will lie down, leading a leisurely and measured lifestyle. This monkey will prefer to quench even the thirst that arises with the help of the water that it finds above, in the leaves or hollows of tropical trees.

This is interesting! Unlike other monkeys, orangutans do not jump from branch to branch, but move from tree to tree, clinging to flexible trunks and vines with their hands and feet.

These are very strong animals. Essential own weight does not prevent them from conquering 50-meter peaks. Moreover, they have enough intelligence to make their task as easy as possible. For example, for the thorny trunk of the Kapoko tree, orangutans make themselves special “gloves” from large leaves, which allow them to easily reach the target - the sweet tree sap.

Orangutans can communicate using a set of sounds. This monkey expresses pain and anger by whining and crying. To demonstrate a threat to the enemy, it makes loud puffing and smacking noises. The deafening, prolonged roar of the male means a claim for territory and is demonstrated to attract the attention of the female. This roar is powered by the orangutan's special throat sac, which inflates like a ball, emitting a squelching sound that turns into a guttural cry. Such “vocals” can be heard a kilometer away.

Orangutans are polygamous loners. Which, in general, is not characteristic of primates. It happens that they live as a couple. But large communities in one place are impossible due to the lack of food for everyone, so orangutans scatter at a distance from each other. At the same time, males carefully protect the boundaries of the territory in which their harem is located.

If a stranger wanders into the protected area, the owner organizes a war show. As a rule, things don’t come to the point of “assault,” but there is a lot of noise. The rivals begin to shake the trees and break their branches, accompanying these crushing actions with an equally crushing scream. This continues until one of the “artists” loses his voice and becomes exhausted.

Orangutans cannot swim. And they are afraid of water, do not like it, avoiding rivers and shielding themselves from the rain with large leaves like an umbrella.

Orangutans have a slow metabolism. This means that he can go without food for several days. There is a version that this level of metabolism (30% below normal for such a body weight) is caused by the lifestyle of primates and their vegetarian type of diet.

Orangutans are peace-loving creatures. They are not prone to aggression and have a calm, friendly and even intelligent disposition. When meeting a stranger, they prefer to step aside and never attack first.

Even when caught, they do not offer strong resistance, which is abused by humans when they catch these animals for profit.

Species of orangutans

A very long time species diversity orangutans were limited to two subspecies: Sumatran and Bornean/Kalimantan - named after the Indonesian islands on which they live. Both types are very similar to each other. At one time there was even a version that the Sumatran and Kalimantan orangutans were representatives of the same species. But over time, this opinion was recognized as erroneous, and differences were found.

This is interesting! The Kalimantan orangutan is believed to be larger than the Sumatran orangutan, and the Sumatran orangutan is rarer. There are tigers on his island and he prefers to stay away from them, rarely going down to the ground. The Kalimantan, without similar predators nearby, leaves the tree more often.

At the end of the last century, there was a replenishment of the orangutan species. Was opened the new kind- in Sumatra, in the Tapanuli region. Tapanuil became the third species of orangutan and the seventh of the great apes.

Scientists have found that the primates of the Tapanuli population, despite the fact that they live on the same island as the Sumatran primates, are closer in DNA structure to the Kalimantan primates. They differ from their Sumatran relatives in their diet, curly hair, and higher voice. The structure of the skull and jaws of the Tapanuil orangutan is also different from its cousins ​​- the skull is smaller and the fangs are wider.

Lifespan

Average life expectancy of orangutans in natural conditions– 35-40 years, in captivity – 50 and above. They are considered champions in longevity among primates (not counting humans). There are cases where an orangutan lived to be 65 years old.

Apes are very similar to humans. They can reach the intelligence level of a 12-year-old human teenager. We know little about them, we can’t even say for sure whether orangutan or orangutan is spelled correctly. But these animals are fraught with a lot of interesting things.

The natural world is full of amazing creatures. Today we will get acquainted with one of them - organutan.

The first traces of this primate were found in South-East Asia. Today, their habitat is limited only to Borneo and Sumatra. These Paradise islands, covered tropical forests and mountains, became home to these huge animals.

Despite their heavy weight, orangutans easily climb trees, the height of which is sometimes over 50 meters. Strong and tenacious arms and legs help them in this. Females of this species are somewhat smaller than males. The weight of the latter sometimes reaches 140-150 kilograms. The growth of oragnutans relative to such a significant mass is small - up to 1.5 meters.

Some males are distinguished by large cheeks, which begin to grow when the individual reaches 15 years of age. It is believed that this feature of appearance attracts females, but scientific proof no to this. These animals prefer to live alone, only occasionally meeting with their relatives.

Orangutans are great apes, or, in other words, great apes. This group also includes chimpanzees and gorillas. Animals of this group are an order of magnitude higher in level of development than other primates.

So Orangutan or Orangutan?

The word orangutan is derived from the Malay "orang" - man and "utan" - forest. For the inhabitants of Southeast Asia, these creatures with intelligent eyes and long hair, possessing incredible strength, were a separate tribe, « forest people" But the word “utang” in the same language means “debt”. That is, when we say orangutan, we distort the meaning of the word and pronounce “debtor” instead of “forest man.”

These smartest animals love to relax on the tops of trees. For convenience, they bend the branches into a circle shape, constructing beds for themselves that are somewhat similar to nests. From huge leaves tropical plants they make themselves “gloves”, without which it is impossible to climb the Kapoko tree. Its trunk and branches are covered with thorns, and protective pads allow it to hang on the tree for hours and enjoy the sweet juice.

Nature tropical forests rich in delicacies for orangutans. Their menu includes roots, shoots, leaves, bark, juice, flowers and even insects. The favorite delicacy of these primates is the durian fruit - tropical tree. The orangutan will not refuse other fruits that ripen in the spring.

Listen to the voice of an orangutan

The excellent appetite of an adult animal forces it to constantly wander through the trees in search of food. The arm span of an adult male can be about two and a half meters. This fact, coupled with remarkable strength, helps orangutans practically fly between trees in search of food. Equally good with both arms and legs, the primate can move even upside down without any problems.

In the jungles of Sumatra there is a Sumatran tiger, which, despite its small size, is no less dangerous than its Indian relative. He imagines great danger for the orangutans living there. There are no such things in the forests of Borneo large predators, and the primates live there in relative safety.

Every living creature has its own genetic code. We begin our life with him and we end with him. Using this code, you can determine and predict a lot because genetics is indeed a very powerful science.

The closest genetic code to humans is monkey orangutan– an interesting, unusual and intelligent animal. Why orangutan, but not orangutan, How are we all used to pronouncing this word?

In fact, both names can be used, but it would be more correct to call this animal an orangutan. The thing is that orangutans are called “debtors” when translated into our language.

Orangutan in translation means “forest man”, which fully characterizes this amazing creature. And although it is customary to call it differently, it is still better to pronounce their name correctly. There are two types of orangutans - Bornean and Sumatran.

Habitat

More recently, these apes could be found in Southeast Asia. But these days there are none left there. Orangutan habitat limited only to Borneo and Sumatra.

Animals feel comfortable in the dense and humid tropical forests of Malaysia and Indonesia. Orangutans prefer to live alone. They are smart and attentive. All yours free time The animals spend their time in the trees, which is why they are commonly considered arboreal monkeys.

This lifestyle requires strong forelimbs, which in fact it is. Indeed, the forelimbs of orangutans are much larger and stronger, which cannot be said about the hind limbs.

To move between distant trees, orangutans do not need to descend to the ground. To do this, they use vines with great skill and enthusiasm, swinging on them like on ropes and thus moving from tree to tree.

They feel completely safe in the trees. They even try to look for water somewhere, so as not to go down to the ground - they collect it from leaves and even from their fur. If for some reason they have to walk on the ground, they do it with the help of all four limbs.

This is how they move in at a young age. Older orangutans use only their lower limbs for walking, which is why at dusk they can sometimes be confused with the local population. These animals choose tree branches to sleep at night. Sometimes they have a desire to build something like a nest.

Appearance and behavior of an orangutan

to his appearance orangutans, although they are not the standard of beauty, evoke sympathy. There is something about this goon that makes you smile. They are difficult to confuse with any other animals.

If he stands vertically, his height reaches 130-140 cm. Average weight there can be about 100 kg. Sometimes the mark on the scale reaches 180 kg. At the torso of orangutans square shape. Their main feature is strong and muscular limbs.

You can tell that this is an orangutan and not something else by the animal’s overly elongated forelimbs, which usually hang below their knees. The hind limbs, on the contrary, are too short.

In addition, they are crooked. The animal's feet and palms are quite large. Another distinctive feature of them is that they are opposed to all others. thumb.

This structure helps the monkey well when moving through the trees. At the ends of the fingers there are nails that are very similar to human ones. The front part of the animal's head is very prominent with a convex skull.

The eyes sit close to each other. The nostrils don't stand out much. The facial expressions of orangutans are well developed, so they are big fans of making faces. The female orangutan is significantly different from her male. Its weight is usually no more than 50 kg.

A male can be identified not only by his large sizes, and also along a special cushion around their muzzle. It becomes even more expressive in adults. A beard and mustache are also added to it.

Male orangutan

The fur of young orangutans is a deep red color. The older they get, the more their fur takes on dark brown tones. It's long enough. Its length at the shoulders sometimes reaches 40 cm.

As for the behavior of orangutans, it differs significantly from all other primates. They behave quietly and silently, it is almost impossible to hear their voices in the forest.

These are calm and peace-loving creatures who have never been the instigators of fights, prefer to behave with imposingness and even choose a slow pace when moving. If I may say so, orangutans behave much more intelligently among all their other brothers.

They divide the territory into military areas, for which they do not have to wage aggressive wars with each other - somehow all this is resolved peacefully among orangutans. But this can only be said about females. Males zealously defend their territory, emitting loud cries and sometimes even getting into fights.

Due to their calm and peaceful nature, orangutans do not put up much resistance when captured. They are comfortable living in captivity, which is why this animal can most often be found in zoos. These monkeys are terribly afraid of water, even though they live in the jungle. They have absolutely no swimming ability; there have been cases when they drowned.

This is the smartest thing Living being after people. While long time near humans, orangutans can easily find them mutual language, adopt their habits.

In history there were even such anthropoid apes that comprehended sign language and communicated with people in this way. True, due to their modesty, they communicated in this way only with people they knew closely. For everyone else, they pretended that this was unfamiliar to them.

Orangutans can whine and cry, loudly smack and puff, males, when they need to attract a female, roar deafeningly and loudly. These animals are on the verge of extinction.

This is facilitated by the constant destruction of their habitat and poaching. baby orangutan. Moreover female orangutan at the same time she has to kill because she will never give her baby to anyone.

Orangutan nutrition

These animals cannot be called pure vegetarians. Yes, their main food is leaves, bark and fruits of trees. But it happens that orangutans allow themselves to feast on bird eggs and sometimes even chicks.

Some of them can hunt lorises, which are distinguished by their slowness. Monkeys love it very much sweet Honey and nuts. They are delighted with bananas, mangoes, plums, and figs.

They mainly get food from trees. The fact that orangutans are impressive in size does not mean at all that they are gluttonous. Orangutans eat little and can sometimes go without food for a long time.

Reproduction and lifespan

At 10-12 years old, orangutans are ready to continue their kind. It is at this time that they choose a mate for themselves with special care. IN natural conditions sometimes for one strongest male there are several females with cubs.

The pregnant female enjoys special favor in this small group. In captivity, it was noticed that it is the very first one that is usually allowed to go to the feeder. The duration of pregnancy lasts half a month less than in humans - 8.5 months.

Childbirth proceeds quickly. After them, the female takes the baby in her arms, eats the spot, licks it, gnaws the umbilical cord and places it on her breast. The baby's weight is no more than 1.5 kg.

From birth until the age of 4, small orangutans feed on their mother's milk. Until about 2 years of age, they are almost completely inseparable from the female. Wherever she goes, she will take and carry her baby in her arms.

In general, there is always a very close connection between the mother and the little orangutan. The mother takes care of her baby's cleanliness by licking it frequently. The father does not take part at all in the process of the birth of an heir and his further upbringing. Everything that happens during the birth of the baby frightens the head of the family.

With an already grown-up baby, males to a greater extent play only solely on the initiative of the baby. If you observe families of orangutans, you can conclude that their lives are spent in a calm and measured environment, without screams or aggression. They live for about 50 years.