Orangutans are highly intelligent with the ability to reason and think. Just one look into those eyes and you are hooked.
This large, gentle red ape is one of our closest relatives. Indigenous peoples of Indonesia and Malaysia call this ape "Orang Hutan" translating as "Person of the Forest". In times past, they would not kill them because they felt the Orangutan was simply a person hiding in the trees, trying to avoid having to go to work or become a slave. The Orangutan has the longest childhood dependence on a mother of any animal in the world, because there is so much for a young Orangutan to learn in order to survive. The babies nurse until they are six years of age. Orangutan females only give birth about once every 8 years (4 to 5 babies in her lifetime) Therefore Orangutan populations are very slow to recover from any disturbances. An Orangutan's lifespan is about 35-40 years in the wild, and sometimes into the 50's in captivity. They reach puberty at about 8 years of age.

The Orangutan comes from Asia; with two separate sub species of Orangutan - the Sumatran Orangutan and the Bornean Orangutan. The Orangutan has the most remarkable ability to travel through the forest treetops. Each night they will build nests out of leaves and branches in the very tops of the trees. Almost all of the food they eat grows in the treetops and the frequent rains fill the leaves, supplying them with drinking water. When water is difficult to find, they chew leaves to make a sponge to soak up the droplets in tree cavities. However when it rains very hard, the Orangutan makes an umbrella for himself out of big leaves. Like all the apes they have four hands that have opposable digits capable of grappling; feet do not. These appendages make them graceful and agile while climbing through the trees but makes walking on the ground somewhat slow and awkward. An Orangutan is at a great disadvantage on the ground, and an Orangutan rarely comes down from the treetops. The Orangutan is regarded as an "umbrella" species. Its arboreal tree-swinging journeys help to spread tree seeds - in fact some trees can only germinate when they have passed through its gut. The Orangutan is pivotal in creating the necessary environment for the thousands of fauna and flora which make up the biodiversity of the south east asian rain forest.

Orangutans are continually under threat from the actions of man. This is primarily from the illegal capture and trade of Orangutan young, but also due to the ever-depleting habitat caused by the extensive logging of their forest homes.

The 'Island Collection' wildlife design painted by Jean Sindelar portrays the magnificent highly colored Orangutan, man of the forest, amidst tropical foliage including the rare rafflesia and pitcher plant, with edible fruits such as star fruit, mangosteen and bunches of decorative banana flowers by Ro London

HELP The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation

Island Collection