Orangutans Have The Ability To Plan For The Future

Recently it was International Orangutan Day which came shortly after it was revealed there may be a discovery of a new species of the ape.

Dr. Michael Krutzen of Zurich University who has spent a lot of time studying the southern most population known as Batang Toru orangutans which are located in the Tapanuli region of northern Sumatra said:

“From a genetics point of view we were taken by surprise to see these stark differences compared to other Sumatran orangutan populations further north. Our findings highlight the urgent need for special conservation status for the Batang Toru forests.”

There are 59 species of primate present in Indonesia and of those, 35 are exclusive to Indonesia, however nearly 70% of the country’s primate species are threatened by extinction. Most of Indonesia’s orangutans reside in the Leuser Ecosystem which is protected, however the government of Aceh has plans to develop the region which is supposed to be rich in minerals.

Conservation director of the Orangutan Project, Dr Ian Singleton said: “We are extremely concerned about this situation. With these new developments it seems crystal clear the Aceh government deliberately intends to open up and destroy huge tracts of the Leuser Ecosystem. This will be disastrous for Sumatra’s orangutans and also Sumatra’s other iconic mega fauna, the Sumatran rhino, elephant and tiger.”

Orangutans have been closely studied for nearly two centuries with the first species of the great ape displayed in London Zoo in 1837. Charles Darwin who observed Jenny the first captive orangutan at London Zoo was inspired to write The Descent of Man.

Despite populations that are declining, field research on Orangutans in Borneo and Sumatra still produce fascinating results. Recently it was discovered that the orangutan is capable of making plans for the future. Sumatran males for example make a final long call before they go to sleep and amazingly these vocalizations broadcast critical information across many kilometres of rainforest such as intended direction of travel the following day. Females in particular need to be aware of such information as it allows those that are sexually receptive to seek the dominant male out.

Because the dominant male will fight other males, sexually unreceptive females will also seek out the dominant male for protection from un-flanged males who will rape females that are unreceptive. The study basically confirms that the ability to think about the future is adaptive to both genders of orangutans and is not as was previously thought unique to humans.

The orangutan diverged from the line which ultimately leads to humans (gorillas and chimps) roughly 10 million years ago. The species is the only Asian great ape and non human ape with a fossil record. According to fossil remains we know that nearly 5 million years ago, the species spent far more time on the ground and made use of complex tools. It is believed that tree living limits the use of tools by modern orangutans.

“Orangutans are not more intelligent than chimps or bonobos in all domains, but they do have greater technical intelligence,” said Karin Isler of the University of Zurich.