Bornean Orang Utan | The Bornean orang-utan is a species of orang-utan
native to the island of Borneo. The Bornean orang-utan is one of only
two species of ape that are found in Asia, the other being the slightly
smaller and closely related, Sumatran orang-utan. The Bornean
orang-utan is found inhabiting tropical and sub-tropical rainforest in
the lowlands of Borneo and can also be found grazing at elevations of up
to 1500 m. The Bornean orang-utan makes full use of it's surroundings dwelling both on the ground and at different heights in the trees.
There are considered to be three different sub-species of the Bornean orang-utan,
which although similar in appearance, are differentiated by the areas
of the island that they occupy. The three Bornean orang-utan sub-species
are the Northwest Bornean orang-utan, the Central Bornean orang-utan
and the Northeast Bornean orang-utan. The Bornean orang-utan is
generally a more solitary animal that the Sumatran orang-utan
with male and female Bornean orang-utans only really coming together to
mate. As with the other great apes, the Bornean orang-utan has a number
of features which makes living in the jungle a bit easier, including
having opposable thumbs which come in handy when the Bornean orang-utan
is peeling fruit.
The Bornean orang-utan is an omnivorous animal, but the majority of it's diet is made of fruit which the Bornean orang-utan is known to travel vast distances through the forests to find. The Bornean orang-utan also eats leaves, nuts and berries, along with insects and occasionally small animals such as lizards and rodents. Due to it's large size, the Bornean orang-utan
has no real predators on it's native island of Borneo. The biggest
threat to the Bornean orang-utan is habitat loss caused by deforestation
which has completely wiped out the Bornean orang-utan populations in
certain areas.
The
different Bornean orang-utan sexes only really come together to mate,
and once born, the Bornean orang-utan baby is looked after by it's
mother. The Bornean orang-utan baby clings to it's mum for the
first year of it's life and may remain with her until it is nearly 10
years old. Bornean orang-utans have a relatively long childhood when
compared to that of the other great apes. Today, the Bornean orang-utan
is one of the world's endangered species with less than 45,000 Bornean
orang-utan individuals thought to be left in the wild. The main reason
for the demise in the Bornean orang-utan populations is deforestation
across the island for logging and to make way for palm oil plantations.
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