Sumatran Orangutan

Sumatran Orangutan
Description
Orangutans have a coarse, shaggy reddish coat. Males look very different to
females. An adult male is larger and has a throat pouch and flanges (cheek
pads) on either side of its face. Orangutans have very long arms that can
stretch as far as 2.6 m. Their hands and feet are used for grasping.
Fast Facts
Diet
Orangutans are omnivores. Fruits are their favourite food but they also eat other
parts of plants, as well as honey, lizards, termites, birds and eggs.
Scientific Name:
Pongo abelii
Breeding
Conservation Status: Critically Endangered
Extinct
Threatened
Least Concern
Females usually give birth after 12–15 years of age and the interval between
births is an average of nine years.
Body Length: 110–150 cm
The young suckle for five to six years. Females may stay with their mum a
further six years to learn valuable mothering skills. Males leave their mother at
about six years of age and travel large distances to set up their own territory.
Females tend to stay in the same area as their mother when they mature.
Weight: 48–93 kg
Threats
Gestation: 232–267 days
Around 80% of orangutan habitat has been lost to logging and permanent
agricultural conversion, in particular for oil palm plantations. Orangutans are
also shot for taking food from the plantations and poached for the illegal pet
trade. There are believed to be fewer than 6,300 Sumatran Orangutans left in
the wild.
EX
EW CR
EN
VU
NT
LC
Number of young: 1
Habitat:
Rainforests
Distribution: Small parts of Sumatra, Indonesia
At Perth Zoo
Perth Zoo has bred 29 orangutans since 1970 as part of an Australasian
breeding program. Perth Zoo also directly supports the conservation of the
Sumatran Orangutan in the protected Bukit Tigapuluh ecosystem in Sumatra,
Indonesia. Projects we support include the reintroduction of orangutans into
Bukit Tigapuluh, Wildlife Protection Units, habitat and wildlife monitoring, and
community education and development. You can learn more on our website.
The Sumatran Orangutan exhibit is proudly sponsored by Alinta Energy.
Distribution
DID YOU KNOW?
Orangutan is the Indonesian word for
‘Person of the Forest’.