Special Characteristics They live in the jungle. Body - The orangutans do not have a tail. Their arms are long. Their hair is orange brown. Their feet are like hands. Communicate - With screaming and talking like burping noises. A throat sack helps them call louder. Food - They eat up to 100 different kinds of fruit and also insects and leaves. They drink rain water that collects in the leaves. (Blinka 2020) Moving - They like to swing on the trees. They move from branch to branch with their arms and hands. They spend 90% of their lives in trees.
Nests - They make nests in trees, out of leaves, sticks and twigs. Every night they make a new nest to sleep and keep safe. Helping the jungle grow - They are like gardeners. They grow jungle plants by eating fruit with seeds and poop the seed out.
Needs Rainforest Trees - Orangutans need trees to sleep, for food (fruit & insects), for protection and shelter (from rain and predators); for their home. Without rainforests orangutans will die out.
Life cycle Infants - Babies grow inside their mother for 8-9 months. They are called infants and have a pink face when born. For the first year they cling to their mother and suckle her milk. They are fully grown at about 10-12 years old and then they begin to live independently. Females - They usually give birth to one infant Males - They grow to be as big as a man and some have flanges (large cheek flaps at the side of their face). Orangutans can live to be as old as 50 years.
Why are they endangered? Deforestation (rainforest trees cut down) - Their habitat (jungle/rainforest trees) is going because people are cutting down their trees. They lose their home, food, and protection. Poaching - People are taking their babies as pets. Zara, Noer, Karen, Blinka, Maxwell, Hardik, David, Aldrich, Hakeem (2020) & Jakob (2017)
How can people help orangutans survive? Stop people from cutting down trees. (Noer, David, Hardik, Hakeem, Blinka, Maxwell 2020) Regrow trees where they have cut them down. (Zara 2020) Keep them safe from hunters & put up signs saying, "Don't kill." (David and Karen 2020) Stop people stealing orangutans just for money. (David 2020)
Who is already helping orangutans in Sumatra? The Orangutan Project - This is a non-profit organisation established in 1998. The Orangutan Project's work has focused strongly on: 1. Saving and replanting the Indonesian rainforest (the orangutan's natural habitat) 2. Rescuing captive and endangered orangutans. 3. Rehabilitating orangutans (getting them healthy and able to live in the jungle again). They do this at the quarantine.