ORANG- UTAN
Orang-utan is a great ape of Southeast Asia. Its name means “man of the jungle”. Orang-utan only live on the island of Borneo and in the northem corner of the island of Sumatra.
The orang-utan spens most of its time in trees, using its long arms and hook-shaped hands and feet for grasping branches and vines. It seldom ventures to the ground, but when it does, it walks on all fours.
Orang-utans are characterized by coarse, long, reddish-brown fur. Male orang-utans average about 95 cm in length and about 77 kg in weight. Females are smaller, reaching about 78 cm in height and weighing only about 37 kg. 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 away.
Half of the orang-utan’s diet consist of fruit, but these animals also eat young leaves, soft inner bark, termites, eggs, and occasionally monkeys . Orang-utans accumulate fat in winter to prepare for the monsoon season at April throuh October, when food is scarce.
Orang-utans are solitary creatures. Except when mating, a dult usually travel and forage for food independently. When a female is ready to mate, she will sees, out an adult male. The pair will stay together for several days until the female is pregnant, then they will solitary again. The gestational period for orang-utans is just under nine months, nearly the same as in human beings. Females give birth to a single infant about once every four to eight year. Infant stay very close to their mothers for the first three years until they are weaned. They spend the next three to five year becoming increasingly independent of their mother, gaining complete independent at about eight years of age.
How do male orang – utans produce a groaning and bubbling call ?