Mammal

Orangutan

Area: 
Sumatra and Borneo
Habitat: 
Forests
Food: 
Fruit, shoots, bark, leaves, seeds, and insects
Size: 
Males: 4 1/2 feet tall; females are a little smaller
Babies: 
Infants spend the first six to eight months clinging to their mother. Then they stay close to their moms until they are about eight years old.
When an orangutan holds both arms out to either side, they measure 7 feet from fingertip to fingertip—that's longer than the ape's body!
Life in the Trees

 

Orangutans spend most of their lives in trees. They get their food from the trees and they build nests in the branches to sleep in. Their long arms help them swing from tree to tree. They use their hands and feet to grab and hold tree branches and food. Orangutans are very smart. They sit under leafy branches for protection from rain and sun, and sometimes even put a very large leaf on their head like a rainhat!

 

Orangutans don’t live in big family groups like other great apes. An adult female will live with her children, but that is the largest grouping. Adult males usually live alone. Orangutans have a very loud call they use to find one another during the mating season.

 

Because they need trees to survive, orangutans are endangeredAnimals or plants that survive in such low numbers that they could become extinct in a few years unless something is done to help the populations increase. because forests are quickly being cut down in their habitatWhere an animal or plant normally lives and grows.. They are also threatened by the pet trade because hunters will often kill the mothers to capture baby orangutans.