Sumatran Orangutan

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Sumatran Orangutan

Conservation status

Critically endangered (IUCN) ^[1]

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Primates
Family:	Hominidae
Subfamily:	Ponginae
Genus:	Pongo
Species:	P. abelii

Binomial name

Pongo abelii
Lesson, 1827

The Sumatran Orangutan (Pongo abelii) is the rarer of the two species of orangutans. Living and endemic to Sumatra island of Indonesia, they are smaller than the Bornean Orangutan. Baby Sumatran Orangutans are often poached as highly prized Zoo Inhabitants, and the poachers often kill the baby's mother as they try to protect their young.^{[citation needed]} The Sumatran Orangutan is only found north of Lake Toba, in Bukit Lawang, Gunung Leuser National Park.^{[citation needed]}

The Sumatran Orangutan grows to about 4.6 feet tall and 150 pounds in males. Females are much smaller than males. It is predominantly solitary, and males are territorial towards other males. This species is more dependent on fruit than the Bornean type. It is truly arboreal and moves through the trees by brachiation. In the wild it may live 35 to more than 40 years an captives may live to be 60.

NHNZ filmed the Sumatran Orangutan for its show Wild Asia:In the Realm of the Red Ape, it showed one of them using a simple tool, a twig, to pry food from difficult places. There is also a sequence of an animal using a large leaf as an umbrella in a tropical rainstorm. Such tool-using behaviour (see animal cognition) is well documented in other animals, but this film remains unique.

[edit] References

^ Eudey, A. & Members of the Primate Specialist Group (2000). Pongo abelii. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 2006-05-11. Database entry includes justification for why this species is critically endangered