Orangutans or Pongo pygmaeus belong to the Primate order. The orangutan spends most of its time in trees. Each evening it builds a new treetop nest. They are endangered because of habitat lost and poachers keep on killing, owning, and exporting orangutans.
They only live on the island of Borneo and in the northern
corner of the island of Sumatra.
Orangutans are characterized by rough, long, reddish-brown
fur. Male orangutans are about 95 cm (37 in) in length and about 77 kg (170 lb)
in weight. Females are smaller, reaching about 78 cm (31 in) in height and
weighing only about 37 kg (81 lb). The male has puffy cheeks and a hanging
throat-pouch. This pouch contains air sacks that help produce a groaning,
bubbling call, which can be heard at least 1 km (0.6 mi) away.
Half of the orangutan’s diet consists of fruit, but they
also eat young leaves, soft inner bark, termites, eggs, and occasionally
monkeys.
When a female is ready to mate, she will
seek out an adult male. Orangutan are mammals; females give birth to a single
infant about once every four to eight years. The gestational period for
orangutans is just under nine months, nearly the same as in human beings.
Infants stay very close to their mothers for the first three years until they
don’t consume their mother’s milk.
