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News: Wildfires in Kalimantan affected 60.2% of Bornean orangutan habitat, putting its food sources, nesting trees and habitat connectivity at risk.
About Bornean Orangutan
- The Bornean orangutan is a great ape that naturally occurs in Borneo.
- Species Types: There are three recognized orangutan species – Bornean, Sumatran and Tapanuli orangutans.
- Habitat and Distribution: The Bornean orangutan lives exclusively in the tropical lowland and montane rainforests on the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia.
- Characteristics:
- Physical Features: It has darker skin and hair, very long arms, shorter legs and long, hook-like hands and feet.
- Cheek Pads: Mature males develop large, fleshy cheek pads, which become more noticeable with age.
- Arboreal Life: It is adapted to life in trees and uses semibrachiation to move through them.
- Each night, it builds nests from branches and leaves, 40–60 feet above the ground.
- Diet: It mainly eats fruit, and a large part of its day is spent foraging and eating.
- Social Behaviour: It generally does not live in large social groups because its fruit-based diet requires it to search widely for food.
- Territorial Behaviour: Adult males may avoid or show aggression towards other males entering their territory.
- Intelligence: It shows remarkable cognitive skills, including memorisation, object recognition, problem-solving and occasional tool use.
- Threats:
- Wildfires
- Habitat destruction
- Poaching and illegal trafficking
- Conservation Status
- IUCN Status: Critically Endangered
