A DROP OF HOPE FOR ORANG-UTAN

WELCOME TO A DROP OF HOPE FOR ORANG-UTAN BLOG.

DISCOVER OUR BLOG AND FIND OUT MORE DETAILS ABOUT ORANG-UTAN NOW!!!!!

"Wow,you're right"

"Told ya they are awesome stalker.."

Researchers propose new grouping for humans, orangutans and common ancestors and lay out a scenario of the migration and evolution of 'dental hominoids' in the Journal of Biogeography.

New evidence underscores the theory of human origin that suggests humans most likely share a common ancestor with orangutans, according to research from the University of Pittsburgh and the Buffalo Museum of Science.

Reporting in the June 18 edition of the Journal of Biogeography, the researchers reject as "problematic" the popular suggestion, based on DNA analysis, that humans are most closely related to chimpanzees, which they maintain is not supported by fossil evidence.

Jeffrey H. Schwartz, professor of anthropology in Pitt's School of Arts and Sciences and president of the World Academy of Art and Science, and John Grehan, director of science at the Buffalo Museum, conducted a detailed analysis of the physical features of living and fossil apes that suggested humans, orangutans, and early apes belong to a group separate from chimpanzees and gorillas. They then constructed a scenario for how the human-orangutan common ancestor migrated between Southeast Asia—where modern orangutans are from—and other parts of the world and evolved into now-extinct apes and early humans.

Destruction of Habitat

The population of Indonesia has grown from roughly 15 million people in 1900 to now over 200 million in 2000. With population expected to exceed 300 million in less than two decades it is no surprise that the habitat of Orangutans has been increasingly destroyed. Human population increase coupled with the increase in profitable palm oil plantations has drastically decreased the Orangutan's natural habitat. The size of Orangutan habitat in Borneo is currently around 155,000 km² compared to just under 27,000 km² in Sumatra (4). However, in Sumatra the survival rate is predicted to be higher for Orangutans because their main habitat is located along the Barisan Mountain Range in northern Sumatra which is inhabitable for humans.

Illegal Trade & Poaching

Orangutans are constantly struggling with humans for rights to territory. This struggle has lead to the illegal poaching and capture of Orangutans. These animals are suffering from a decreased size in habitat that leads Orangutans to travel outside of their normally dense forests and into populated areas where humans will often capture them or shoot them. Also, in some instances, humans have set fire to Orangutan forests to force out the animal populations and log the resulting forest. If caught the animals fleeing from these forest fires will be shot or captured and used to gain large profits in illegal animal trading. This trade began when 1,000 illegally imported infant Orangutans showed up in Taiwan in 1900 and it still continues today, but probably greater numbers.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT ORANGUTAN!

In the earlier times, people thought an orangutan to be a person hiding in the trees, trying to avoid having to go to work or become a slave.
Orangutan is the only ape that is strictly arboreal. At the same time, it is the largest tree-living mammal in the world.
An orangutan baby has the longest childhood dependence on its mother in the world, averaging at six years.
Orangutan females give birth only about once every 8 years, the longest time between births of any mammal on earth.
A male orangutan uses its throat sac to make a very notable call that echoes through the forest. It is used either to locate and advertise their presence to females or to warn away other males.
The hands of an orangutan are very much like that of humans. They have four long fingers and an opposable thumb.
Orangutans are very intelligent. They have been known to use leaves as umbrellas, in rainy season, as well as cups, to help them drink water.
Every evening, orangutans construct a ‘nest’, of leaves and branches, on trees, in which they will curl up and sleep at night.
Orangutans do not swim.
Orangutans have an enormous arm span. A male orangutan can stretch his arms as much as 7 ft (2.1 m) wide, from fingertip to fingertip.
Orangutans are active in the daytime and spend lot of their time looking for food.
The arms of an orangutan are incredibly long and almost reach down to their ankles.
Orangutans are solitary animals, which generally come together only to mate and then part ways again.
As a male orangutan gets older, its face starts developing cheek pads and the throat starts getting a pouch.
Orangutans share almost 97 percent of the human DNA.