Virtual Non-Human Primate Zoo

SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION:

  Order: Primates

    Suborder: Haplorrhini

      Infraorder: Simiiformes

        Parvorder: Catarrhini

          Superfamily: Hominoidea

            Family: Hominidae

              Subfamily:  Ponginae

                Genus: Pongo

                  Species: pygmaeus

 

COMMON NAME:  Bornean Orangutan

 

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION:  Island of Borneo

 

HABITAT:  Tropical

• lowland swamp forest

• dipterocarp forests

 

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION:

• orange-red hair

• longs arms that help them travel through trees

 

DIET:  Frugivores/Herbivore

• fruits (61% of diet)

• flowers

• leaves, bark, and sap

• vines and roots

• bird eggs

• spider webs, termites, caterpillars, and ants

• fungi

• honey

 

LOCOMOTION TYPE:  Arboreal Quadruped

• terrestrial fist walking

• occasional bipedalism

• brachiation observed in young

• cannot swim

 

SOCIAL GROUP ORGANIZATION: 

• solitary adult males

• females with offspring

 

PARENTAL CARE:  Mother is primary caregiver

 

COMMUNICATION:

• 'loud calls' that carry through forest for up to 1 kilometer (0.6 mile)

 

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES:  

• life span in the wild is from 30 to 45 years

• orangutans live to about 50 years in captivity

 

ENDANGERMENT STATUS:  Endangered

Major Threats:

• habitat destruction due to:  conversion to palm plantations, fire, legal and illegal logging, forest fragmentation

• hunting for the purpose of: bushmeat trade, collateral damage of poaching for other forest products, use of body parts for traditional medicine, and pet trade

 

To learn more about Pongo pygmaeus, visit the following websites:

1. http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/great_apes/orangutans/borneo_orangutan/

2. http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Pongo_pygmaeus/

3. http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/17975/0

4. http://pin.primate.wisc.edu/factsheets/entry/orangutan/taxon

 

Information and photographs compiled by J. Cornejo and C. Sigala.