McKinnon's Research

In terms of evolutionary adaptation, they are fostered by their deformation. As Grzimek's encyclopedia of mammals states, "the florid coat of the orangutan blends completely with the merging green and embrown shades of the forest" (p. 402). McKinnon found that "the coloring of the [orangutan's] sparse hide ranges from brilliant orange in juveniles to dark chestnut or chocolate in adults, the animals of Borneo being consistently darker in color than those on Sumatra" (Grzimek, 1990, p. 402). The difference in coloration can probably be explained by the two different locales found in the forests of Borneo and Sumatra. As for the infants being bright orange, perhaps this is an identifying marking so that parents do non lose sight of their vulnerable offspring. At the same time however, the bright orange coloration would await to make them more susceptible to predators.

McKinnon found that although orangutans live earlier in the trees, they still have ground-dwelling predators. The orangutan's chief enemies include the lurking tiger and the red dogs (to be found on Sumatra but not on Borneo). McKinnon reported that "clouded leopards are agile climbers, and heed youngish orangutans. Large pythons may excessively catch young orangutans if they venture out on the forest floor, where they are also liable to attack by blood-sucking leeches" (Grzimek, 1990, p. 404).

Like all apes, orangutans are adept at using

Orangutans are an endangered species, and poaching continues to be a problem. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and the Primate security system League try to protect orangutans from illegal smuggling, but the institutionalize continues. As Grzimek's (1990) encyclopedia reports, "The lonesome(prenominal) safe orangutans are the close to 20,000 individuals live in national parks and protected areas ... right away we believe that there are still more than 150,000 orangutans living in the wild" (p. 418). The impact of humans on orangutans and their surroundings has been damaging for the most part, but conservation efforts continually contrabandist further damage that might otherwise be done.

Because 85% of the orangutan population is located within Indonesia, the world scientific community is largely at the mercy of this region's own attempts to protect the old man of the forest. Clearly, the orangutan has benefitted humans much more than it has benefitted from contact with those who would interfere with its natural habitat.

What Jane Goodall was to chimpanzees, and what Dian Fossey was to mountain gorillas, Birute Galdikas was to orangutans. Her first-hand observations reveal two striking features about the orangutan: (1.) the orangutan is virtually unseeable in its arboreal habitat unless it moves about; and (2.) the orangutan only rarely betrays its nature as one of the great apes in terms of displaying social interaction--at one point upon witnessing two males' play-fighting and wrestling, the pen reminds herself, "Orangutans are great apes after all!" (Galdikas, 1994, p. 105).

Zimmer, C. (1995, November). Tooling through the trees. Discover, 46-47.

Birute M.F. Galdikas is another(prenominal) important orangutan researcher whose first-hand observations (with her husband Rod), have shown us that orangutans are among our closest living relatives. Her book of field observations, Reflections of promised land: My Years with the Orangutans of Borneo, was published in 1994
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