Trivia question for May-02-2011

Carter loves these guys and hopes to someday work with someone on creating a better and safer place for them to live besides our zoos.  Here is his trivia:  Orangutans are the only exclusively Asian genus of extant great ape. The largest living arboreal animals, they have longer arms than the other, more terrestrial, great apes.

They are among the most intelligent primates and use a variety of sophisticated tools, also making sleeping nests each night from branches and foliage. Their hair is typically reddish-brown, instead of the brown or black hair typical of other great apes.  The word “orangutan” comes from the Malay words “orang” (man) and “(h)utan” (forest); hence, “man of the forest”.

So here are his questions:  How many different types of food do these guys eat and what do the natives of Borneo believe is the connection between Orangutans and their descendants?  Also, how far can their load groaning calls be heard by humans?

Good Luck 😉

Answer:

Congratulations to Angela for being the first with the correct answer.   Orangutans are known to eat up to 300 different types of food.  Natives of Borneo regard the Orangutan as spiritually related to themselves, a descendant of a disgraced man who went to live in the forest in ancient times.

The Orangutan utters a loud, groaning call that can be heard by humans more than 0.5 miles away.

Besides humans, which are causing the loss of their habitat, tigers are the major predatory threat to orangutans in Sumatra.  Orangutans may also be preyed on by clouded leopards and crocodiles.  The former can kill adolescents and small adult females but have not been recorded killing adult males.  In Borneo, orangutans are not threatened by tigers and seem to descend to the ground more often than their Sumatran relatives.  Here is more on these guys: Orangutan

Thanks for playing along 😉