19 August: World Orangutan Day

Today is World Orangutan Day. Here are ten facts about these amazing creatures.

1. The word Orangutan comes from the Malay language and means “person of the forest.”
2. They are among our closest relatives. A human and an Orangutan share almost 97% of the same DNA.
3. Orangutans are the largest tree-dwelling animals on Earth. They spend most of their time in trees - about 90% of their lives.
4. They're not particularly sociable. Males in particular spend most of their lives alone. Females form close bonds with their offspring which are often not weaned until they are well over five years old. A female only breeds about once every eight to ten years - the longest interval of any mammal. A juvenile may stick around for a while to help with subsequent offspring.
5. Males are much bigger than females - as much as three times as big. Somewhere between the ages of 13 and 30, the males develop cheekpads. Although they may be capable of breeding before that, it is usually when the cheekpads develop that the male starts competing for females. It's thought these pads, as well as making the male's head look bigger, helps him project the calls he makes to attract receptive females.
6. Orangutans eat during the day and their diet consists mostly of fruit and leaves, but they will eat bark, insects and bird's eggs. They can eat while swinging from branch to branch which helps spread seeds and regenerate forests. They have even been observed eating soil or rock, which helps them gain mineral nutrients. It's possible they eat soil to help treat tummy upsets. They may spend up to six hours a day eating or looking for food.
7. Orangutans are highly intelligent and can learn to use tools. They have opposable thumbs like we do, and also opposable big toes. They are about seven times stronger than an adult human.
8. Their arms are longer than their bodies - the arms of an adult male can be up to 8ft or 2m from fingertip to fingertip. They are about 1.2m to 1.5m tall and can weigh up to 100kg.
9. Scientists don't know why orangutans are Orange. Their orange colour only really shows up in sunlight. In the shade, they are darker in colour because their skin absorbs all the light, so they look Black.
10. Orangutans only live on two islands, Borneo and northern Sumatra. There are only around 60,000 of them left in the world.

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