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Orangutans
Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genus ''Pongo'', orangutans were originally considered to be one species. From 1996, they were divided into two species: the Bornean orangutan (''P. pygmaeus'', with three subspecies) and the Sumatran orangutan (''P. abelii''). A third species, the Tapanuli orangutan (''P. tapanuliensis''), was identified definitively in 2017. The orangutans are the only surviving species of the subfamily Ponginae, which diverged genetically from the other hominids (gorillas, chimpanzees, and humans) between 19.3 and 15.7 million years ago. The most arboreal of the great apes, orangutans spend most of their time in trees. They have proportionally long arms and short legs, and have reddish-brown hair covering their bodies. Adult males weigh about , while females ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bornean Orangutan
The Bornean orangutan (''Pongo pygmaeus'') is a species of orangutan endemic to the island of Borneo. Together with the Sumatran orangutan (''Pongo abelii'') and Tapanuli orangutan (''Pongo tapanuliensis''), it belongs to the only genus of great apes native to Asia. Like the other great apes, orangutans are highly intelligent, displaying tool use and distinct cultural patterns in the wild. Orangutans share approximately 97% of their DNA with humans. Also called mias by the local population, the Bornean orangutan is a critically endangered species, with deforestation, palm oil plantations, and hunting posing a serious threat to its continued existence. Taxonomy The Bornean orangutan and the Sumatran orangutan diverged about 400,000 years ago, with a continued low level of gene flow between them since then. The two orangutan species were considered merely subspecies until 1996; they were elevated to species following sequencing of their mitochondrial DNA. The Bornean orangutan h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sumatran Orangutan
The Sumatran orangutan (''Pongo abelii'') is one of the three species of orangutans. Critically Endangered, and found only in the north of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, it is rarer than the Bornean orangutan but more common than the recently identified Tapanuli orangutan, also found in Sumatra. Its common name is based on two separate local words, "''orang''" ("people" or "person") and "''hutan''" ("forest"), derived from Malay, and translates as 'person of the forest'. Description Male Sumatran orangutans grow to about tall and , while females are smaller, averaging and . Compared to the Bornean species, Sumatran orangutans are thinner and have longer faces; their hair is longer with a paler red color. Behaviour and ecology Compared with the Bornean orangutan, the Sumatran orangutan tends to be more frugivorous and especially insectivorous. Preferred fruits include figs and jackfruits. It will also eat bird eggs and small vertebrates. Sumatran orangutans spend far ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tapanuli Orangutan
The Tapanuli orangutan (''Pongo tapanuliensis'') is a species of orangutan restricted to South Tapanuli in the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. It is one of three known species of orangutan, alongside the Sumatran orangutan (''P. abelii''), found farther northwest on the island, and the Bornean orangutan (''P. pygmaeus''). It was described as a distinct species in 2017. , there are roughly 800 individuals of this species and it is currently on the critically endangered species list. Taxonomy Discovery and naming An isolated population of orangutans in the Batang Toru area of South Tapanuli was reported in 1939. The population was rediscovered by an expedition to the area in 1997, but it was not recognized as a distinct species then. ''Pongo tapanuliensis'' was identified as a distinct species, following a detailed phylogenetic study in 2017. The study analyzed the genetic samples of 37 wild orangutans from populations across Sumatra and Borneo and conducted a morphologi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tool Use By Animals
Tool use by animals is a phenomenon in which an animal uses any kind of tool in order to achieve a goal such as acquiring food and water, grooming, defence, communication, recreation or construction. Originally thought to be a skill possessed only by humans, some tool use requires a sophisticated level of cognition. There is considerable discussion about the definition of what constitutes a tool and therefore which behaviours can be considered true examples of tool use. A wide range of animals, including mammals, birds, fish, cephalopods, and insects, are considered to use tools. Primates are well known for using tools for hunting or gathering food and water, cover for rain, and self-defence. Chimpanzees have often been the object of study in regard to their usage of tools, most famously by Jane Goodall, since these animals are frequently kept in captivity and are closely related to humans. Wild tool use in other primates, especially among apes and monkeys, is considered rel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hominidae
The Hominidae (), whose members are known as the great apes or hominids (), are a taxonomic family of primates that includes eight extant species in four genera: '' Pongo'' (the Bornean, Sumatran and Tapanuli orangutan); ''Gorilla'' (the eastern and western gorilla); '' Pan'' (the chimpanzee and the bonobo); and ''Homo'', of which only modern humans remain. Several revisions in classifying the great apes have caused the use of the term ''"hominid"'' to vary over time. The original meaning of "hominid" referred only to humans (''Homo'') and their closest extinct relatives. However, by the 1990s humans, apes, and their ancestors were considered to be "hominids". The earlier restrictive meaning has now been largely assumed by the term ''"hominin"'', which comprises all members of the human clade after the split from the chimpanzees (''Pan''). The current meaning of "hominid" includes all the great apes including humans. Usage still varies, however, and some scientists and la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birutė Galdikas
Birutė Marija Filomena Galdikas or Birutė Mary Galdikas, OC (born 10 May 1946), is a Lithuanian-Canadian anthropologist, primatologist, conservationist, ethologist, and author. She is a professor at Simon Fraser University. In the field of primatology, Galdikas is recognized as a leading authority on orangutans. Prior to her field study of orangutans, scientists knew little about the species. Early life Galdikas was born on 10 May 1946 in Wiesbaden, Germany. Her parents, Antanas and Filomena Galdikas, were Lithuanian refugees fleeing the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states following World War II. When Galdikas was two years old, the family moved to Canada in 1948, when her father signed a contract to work in copper mining in Quebec. The following year, they relocated to Toronto, where Galdikas grew up. Her father worked as a miner and a contractor. As a young child, Birutė's head was filled with visions of far-off forests and exotic creatures. The first book she borrowe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pongo Hooijeri
The Vietnamese orangutan (''Pongo hooijeri'') is an extinct species of orangutan from the Pleistocene of Vietnam. It was named in honor of paleontologist Dirk Albert Hooijer. Fossils of the ape were found in the Tham Hai Cave. It is unclear whether ''Pongo hooijeri'' is truly a distinct species or merely a Vietnamese population of one of the extant orangutan species. Paleoecology The Vietnamese orangutan likely resembled modern orangutans found on the island of Sumatra in appearance, habitat preference and behavior with a possible physical resemblance to the Tapanuli orangutans of northern Sumatra. Orangutans favor lowland dipterocarp forests and old secondary forests with population densities at their greatest near sources of fresh water. Despite being adapted to an arboreal existence, modern orangutans show tolerance of grasslands and forest clearings to a small degree. This habitat tolerance likely bore resemblance to mainland orangutans during the Pleistocene. It is im ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Primate
Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians ( monkeys and apes, the latter including humans). Primates arose 85–55 million years ago first from small terrestrial mammals, which adapted to living in the trees of tropical forests: many primate characteristics represent adaptations to life in this challenging environment, including large brains, visual acuity, color vision, a shoulder girdle allowing a large degree of movement in the shoulder joint, and dextrous hands. Primates range in size from Madame Berthe's mouse lemur, which weighs , to the eastern gorilla, weighing over . There are 376–524 species of living primates, depending on which classification is used. New primate species continue to be discovered: over 25 species were described in the 2000s, 36 in the 2010s, and three in the 2020s. Primates have ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ponginae
Ponginae , also known as the Asian hominids, is a subfamily in the family Hominidae. Once a diverse lineage of Eurasian apes, the subfamily has only one extant genus, '' Pongo'' (orangutans), which contains three extant species; the Sumatran orangutan (''Pongo abelii''), the Tapanuli orangutan (''Pongo tapanuliensis'') and the Bornean orangutan (''Pongo pygmaeus''). All three species are listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Evolutionary history The first pongine genera appear in the Miocene, ''Sivapithecus'' and '' Khoratpithecus'', six or seven million years before evidence of orangutans was found from Pleistocene southeast Asia and southern China. Ponginae may also include the genera ''Lufengpithecus'', ''Ankarapithecus'', and ''Gigantopithecus''. However, phylogenetic analysis in 2004, which originally found ''Lufengpithecus'' and ''Ankarapithecus'' to be most closely related to the orangutan, gave different results "un ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gorilla
Gorillas are herbivorous, predominantly ground-dwelling great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or five subspecies. The DNA of gorillas is highly similar to Human evolutionary genetics, that of humans, from 95 to 99% depending on what is included, and they are the next closest living relatives to humans after chimpanzees and bonobos. Gorillas are the largest Neontology#Extant taxa versus extinct taxa, living primates, reaching heights between 1.25 and 1.8 metres, weights between 100 and 270 kg, and arm spans up to 2.6 metres, depending on species and sex. They tend to live in troops, with the leader being called a silverback. The Eastern gorilla is distinguished from the Western by darker fur colour and some other minor morphological differences. Gorillas tend to live 35–40 years in the wild. The Oldest hominids, oldest gorilla kno ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pongo Weidenreichi
The Chinese orangutan (''Pongo weidenreichi'') is an extinct species of orangutan from the Early Pleistocene of South China South China () is a geographical and cultural region that covers the southernmost part of China. Its precise meaning varies with context. A notable feature of South China in comparison to the rest of China is that most of its citizens are not n .... It is known from fossil teeth found in the Sanhe Cave, and Baikong, Juyuan and Queque Caves in Chongzuo, Guangxi. Dental dimensions of that species is 20% bigger than those of living orangutans. References Pleistocene primates Prehistoric apes Pleistocene mammals of Asia Orangutans {{Paleo-primate-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pan (genus)
The genus ''Pan'' consists of two extant species: the chimpanzee and the bonobo. Taxonomically, these two ape species are collectively termed panins; however, both species are more commonly referred to collectively using the generalized term chimpanzees, or chimps. Together with humans, gorillas, and orangutans they are part of the family Hominidae (the great apes, or ''hominids''). Native to sub-Saharan Africa, chimpanzees and bonobos are currently both found in the Congo jungle, while only the chimpanzee is also found further north in West Africa. Both species are listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, and in 2017 the Convention on Migratory Species selected the chimpanzee for special protection. Chimpanzee and bonobo: comparison The chimpanzee (''P. troglodytes'') who lives north of the Congo River, and the bonobo (''P. paniscus'') who lives south of it, were once considered to be the same species, but since 1928 they have been recognized as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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