Biology

An orangutan's lifespan is about 35-40 years in the wild, and sometimes into the 50's in captivity. They reach puberty at about 8 years of age.

When the males become sexually mature they develop many distinctive physical features. Fleshy cheek pads form on both sides of their face and a high, fatty crown on their head. Their hair grows long and a beard develops on their faces.

They have an impressive call that they produce with the aid of their laryngeal sac (found under their chin). This is called the "Long Call" and is used to locate and advertise their presence to females or warn other males away.

A male orangutan can weigh over 90 kilograms and a female up to 50 kilograms. They are thought to be four to seven times as strong as an adult human male.

Orangutans’ arms are longer than their legs and when stretched out, their arm span is longer than their body. An orangutan’s arm span can be up to 2.3metres!

The orangutan has the longest childhood dependence on a mother of any animal in the world, because there is so much for a young orangutan to learn in order to survive. The babies nurse until they are about six years of age.

The young males may stay close by their mothers for a few more years but as they mature, they will travel long distances, paying little attention to other orangutans that they meet.

The females may stay close to their mothers until they are into their teens, allowing them to observe mothering skills as they watch their younger sibling being raised.

Orangutan females only give birth about once every 8 years - the longest time between births of any mammal on earth. (This results in only 4 to 5 babies in her lifetime.) This is why orangutan populations are very slow to recover from any disturbances.

To read more go to:

Orangutan Facts

Behaviour

Diet

Photo credits: Karen Stenner, Fleur Butcher

27 January 2012
As bounty hunters with bush knives entrapped them in a circle and moved in for the kill, the only thing this mother orang-utan could think to do was to wrap a giant protective arm around her daughter. Read Article »

18 January 2012
When fruit is scarce, try chomping on a slow loris. That seems to be the strategy adopted by the normally vegetarian orang-utans, which have been spotted knocking the small primates out of trees and killing them with a bite to the head. Read Article »

18 January 2012
Indonesia's certified palm oil production is expected to reach about 5.6 million tons by 2015, or one-fifth of its total palm oil output throughout the year, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) auditing body estimates. Read Article »

17 January 2012
An Indonesian rock band, Navicula, is highlighting the plight of orangutans in their native country through a new song entitled, aptly, "Orangutan."

4 January 2012
Maria Agatha van Noordwijk raised her eyebrow as she crossed out several Indonesian names on the list of orangutans she and her fellow experts and students studied in conservation projects in Sumatra and Kalimantan. Read Article »

27 December 2011
Eight-month-old baby orangutan Elaine would have never survived without her carer Rosa.

25 December 2011
Solaris Paper Pty Ltd, which supplies the Australian market with private label tissue products, is an Australian operated and managed affiliate of Asia Pulp & Paper Group (APP), a brand umbrella for paper products manufactured by a number of mills in Indonesia. Things got nasty recently when its tussle with Greenpeace over sourcing of rainforest timber became public. Read Article »

30 November 2011
The ambition of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) was always to bring sustainable practices to the mainstream. Read Article »