Physical Structure of an orangutan: Shares 97% DNA with humans. They have less hair than
their Sumatran counterparts. Female orangutans have offspring every 8 years, being the
longest interval of any mammal.
Behaviors: Highly intelligent, shown to use tools. Borneans tend not to use tools as much and
tend to isolate themselves more.
Distinct differences between male and female orangutans: The face pads of the males’
curve outward while the female face pads stay flat. The males have massive throat pouches
while females do not.
Prey: they hunt fish with spears, sometimes they may prey on some small species
Habitat of an orangutan and its characteristics: They live in tropical and subtropical forests,
they travel far to find trees with fruit, the males weigh 165 pounds on average.
“Adult females weigh between 30 to 50 kg (66—110 lb.) and stand about one m (3.3 ft.) in
height.”
(https://seaworld.org/en/animal-info/animal-infobooks/orangutan/physical-characteristics)
“Adult males weigh between 50 to 90 kg (110—198 lb.) and can stand between 1.25 to 1.5 m
(4.1—5 ft.) in height.”
(https://seaworld.org/en/animal-info/animal-infobooks/orangutan/physical-characteristics)
“Every hour 300 football fields of precious remaining forest is being ploughed to the ground
across South East Asia to make way for palm oil plantations.”
(https://www.theorangutanproject.org/about-orangutans/palm-oil/)
“In the last 20 years, over 3.5 million hectares of Indonesian and Malaysian forest have been
destroyed to make way for palm oil. Almost 80% of orangutan habitat has disappeared in the
last 20 years. We are losing over 6,000 orangutans a year.”
(https://www.theorangutanproject.org/about-orangutans/palm-oil/)
History of the orangutans: 1.8 million years ago, Orangutans lived in Java, Vietnam, Southern
China, and Borneo. As the climate began to change, the orangutans migrated southward.
Roughly 400,000 years ago, the Sumatran and Bornean orangutans genetically split apart over
the course of 10,000 years from each other due to geographic isolation because both
populations were divided by the Java rivers.
How humans have affected the orangutan’s survival (negatively): Established palm oil
farms and caused deforestation in the orangutan’s habitat. Poaching and illegal wildlife trade.
(More info in the website about illegal trade and more in the website below:
https://www.orangutanrepublik.org/become-aware/issues/orangutans-a-wildlife/the-illegal-trade-i
n-orangutans).
Documentary Structure
Introduction to Orangutans
-Physical features
-Behaviour
-Diet
-How they thrive in their environment
-Population
-How many are in zoos and how many are in the wild
-Transition from part 1 to part 2 by teasing how they’re dying out
Part 3: What is being done to help the Orangutans How we can help prevent their eventual
extinction.
- governments enforcing laws that prohibit the illegal capture and trade of Orangutan, also
the reintroduction of illegal pet Orangutans into the wild.
- Stop plantation owners from destroying habitats for agriculture.
- Provide more zoo environment to sustain the population.
- Keep humans from interacting/interfering with orangutans.
Sources:
https://orangutan.org/orangutan-natural-history-and-socioecology/
https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/bornean-orangutan (I think this would be helpful, but I
don’t know)
Footage Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=426Zg2T4VhE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrH_zkWGIHM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spMkaJp975s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AS84DnL4ARc&ibss=1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtVUEC0SENs&ibss=1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrH_zkWGIHM&ibss=1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u3ceOvpNUk&ibss=1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvtCdTWO9Ik&ibss=1