I tend to avoid going to zoos. I can't even manage an aquarium visit. Pets stores? (the ones that sell animals), absolument, non! (Except, and I am digressing, but I love this idea too much not to share it. I was at a mall in Buffalo and noticed that the pet store there was set up for pet adoptions from local shelters. What an amazing idea. Bravo, Buffalo!)
I understand that on the basis of research and conservation, keeping wild animals captive in enclosures has become necessary if we have any hope of halting the decline of certain species, rapidly vanishing from their natural habitats.
That said, it is the nature of the animal's captivity that often has me questioning how we can look and marvel and be entertained, but neglect to see the suffering. Beautiful, majestic, cute, ugly, strange, exotic, furry, feathered animals in inadequate habitats, pacing, panting, frustrated, stressed, plucking, hiding, confused, bored, lethargic, and/or enraged.
I fully acknowledge that my resistance to zoos (for any purpose other than the strictly regulated conservation of threatened species) is based as much on purely emotional as it is substantiated grounds. I am often guilty of using my less than scientific emotional barometer - whereby my intuition tells me that something is not right. And perhaps that intuition is ultimately why I tend to avoid going to places where wild animals are kept in enclosures; because I can't look into the eyes of an animal I perceive to be suffering without ... well, call it anthropomorphizing if you want ... without feeling their hurt, their pain and their frustration. I can't stop from asking myself: How would I feel in their position?
LAST MONTH,
Argentina became the first country to recognize a non-human primate as
having basic human rights.[1][2]
The court ordered that
Sandra, an orangutan born in captivity in Germany in 1986, be moved from the
Buenos Aires Zoo where she has spent the last 20 years, to a nature sanctuary
where she will be able to live out her days in comparative freedom.[1][3][4]
“The ruling was historic because before a nonhuman primate like Sandra was considered an object and therefore there was no dispute about its captivity,” says Andrés Gil Dominguez of the Association of Professional Lawyers for Animal Rights in Argentina, which filed a habeas corpus petition for Sandra, asserting that she had been unjustifiably denied her freedom.[3]
Although many animal
rights groups interpreted the ruling as applicable to all species in
captivity, legal specialists considered the ruling only applicable to the great apes due to their genetic similarities to humans.[26]
Aujourd'hui l'accent est mis sur nos cousins éloignés :
l’orangs-outans.
The name "orangutan" is derived from the Malay and Indonesian words orang meaning "person" and hutan meaning "forest",[5] thus "person of the forest".[6]
Of the four kinds of great apes – gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans – only the orangutan comes from Asia; the others all come from Africa.[7]
Unlike gorillas and chimpanzees, orangutans are not true knuckle-walkers, and are instead fist-walkers.[9]
The orangutan’s orange-reddish brown color is unique among the apes.[7]
Humans share 96.4% of our genetic makeup with orangutans.[8]
Humans share 96.4% of our genetic makeup with orangutans.[8]
Like humans, orangutan hands have four long fingers and an opposable thumb.
However, the joint and tendon arrangement in the orangutans' hands are adapted for arboreal locomotion.[1]
There are two separate species of orangutan – the Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii) and the Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus).[7]
During the early 2000's, orangutan habitat decreased rapidly due in large part to the conversion of vast areas of tropical forest to palm oil plantations in response to international demand. Palm oil is used for cooking, cosmetics, mechanics, and bio-diesel.[1][11]
Hunting is also a major problem;[1][10][11] as is the illegal pet trade.[1][10][11]
Typically, orangutans live over 30 years in both the wild and captivity.[7][8]
Hunting is also a major problem;[1][10][11] as is the illegal pet trade.[1][10][11]
Typically, orangutans live over 30 years in both the wild and captivity.[7][8]
 |
| Orangutans build elaborate nests which have "pillows", "blankets", "bunk-beds" and "roofs". From six months of age onwards, orangutans practice nest-building and gain proficiency by the time they are three years old.[25] |
Orangutans are the largest tree living mammal in the world. [7]
Orangutans are very technically adept nest builders, making a new nest each evening in only in 5 to 6 minutes and choosing branches which they know can support their body weight.[1][20]
 |
| Although orangutans are omnivores, fruit is the most important part of their diet.[1] |
Orangutans are opportunistic foragers.[1][12]
Bornean orangutans consume at least 317 different food items that include young leaves, shoots, bark, insects, honey and bird eggs. [1][12][13]
When water is scarce, orangutans will chew leaves to make a sponge to soak up water in tree cavities.[7]
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When an orangutan reaches the age of two, its climbing skills improve and it will travel through the canopy holding hands with other orangutans, a behavior known as "buddy travel".[1][17]
Females tend to settle in home ranges that overlap with their mothers. However, they do not seem to have any special social bonds with them.[1][14]
Males disperse farther and enter into a transient phase until they are able to challenge and
displace a dominant, resident male from his home range.[1][15]
Female orangutans have
a 22 to 30 day menstrual cycle.[1]
Gestation lasts 9
months, with females giving birth to their first offspring between the ages of
14 and 15 years.[1]
Female orangutans have
eight-year intervals between births, the longest interval among the great apes.[1][16]
 |
| Infants cling to their mothers for the first four months.[1] |
The orangutan has the longest childhood dependence on the mother of any animal in the world.[5]
Mothers will carry their
infant during travelling, as well as feed it and sleep with it in the same
night nest.[1][16]
Zoo Atlanta has a
touch-screen computer where their two Sumatran orangutans play games.
Scientists hope the data they collect will help researchers learn about
socialising patterns, such as whether the apes learn behaviours through trial
and error or by mimicry, and point to new conservation strategies.[1][18]
A 2008 study of two orangutans at the Leipzig Zoo showed orangutans can use 'calculated reciprocity', which involves weighing the costs and benefits of gift exchanges and keeping track of these over time. Orangutans are the first nonhuman species documented to do so.[1][19]
Evidence of sophisticated tool manufacture and use in the wild was reported from a population of orangutans in Suaq Balimbing in 1996.[1][21]
- These orangutans developed a tool kit for use in foraging that consisted of both insect-extraction tools for use in the hollows of trees and seed-extraction tools for harvesting seeds from hard-husked fruit. The orangutans adjusted their tools according to the nature of the task at hand, and preference was given to oral tool use.[1][22]
Wild orangutans in Tuanan, Borneo, were reported to use tools in acoustic communication.[1][23]
- They use leaves to amplify the kiss squeak sounds they produce. The apes may employ this method of amplification to deceive the listener into believing they are larger animals.[1][23]
In the only signing study ever conducted in a great ape's natural environment, Zoologist Gary L. Shapiro trained Rinnie, a free-ranging adult female orangutan to learn nearly 30 signs over a two-year period.[1][24]
UPDATES / RELATED
***
Fin
Updates:
Rescued Baby Orangutan Shines Light on Cruel, Illegal Pet Trade Scientific American Jan 29 ,2015 Crying baby orangutan rescued from Indonesian chicken cage Examiner.com Jan. 23, 2015
An Orangutan Gives Birth on Camera The San Francisco Globe Jan. 23, 2015
Two Endangered Monkeys Die at Zoo After Being Left Out in Cold Scientific American Jan. 14, 2015
RELATED:
Chimpanzees Granted Petition to Hear 'Legal Persons' Status in Court The Guardian April 22, 2015
Judge Rules Research Chimps Are Not Legal Persons news.sciencemag.org July 30, 2015
REFERENCES:
[2] Emiliano Giménez
(December 23, 2014). "Argentine orangutan granted unprecedented legal
rights".
[3]1http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/argentina-grants-an-orangutan-human-like-rights/?WT.mc_id=SA_Facebook
[5] Harper, Douglas. ""Orangutan" entry in Etymology
Online".
[9] Schwartz, Jeffrey (1987). The
Red Ape: Orangutans and Human Origins. Cambridge, MA: Westview Press.
p. 286. ISBN 0-8133-4064-0.
[10] Singleton, I.,
Wich, S.A. & Griffiths, M. (2008). "Pongo
abelii". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version
2010.4. International
Union for Conservation of Nature.
[11] Ancrenaz, M.,
Marshall, A., Goossens, B., van Schaik, C., Sugardjito, J., Gumal, M. &
Wich, S. (2008). "Pongo pygmaeus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.Version
2010.4. International
Union for Conservation of Nature.
[12] Galdikas, Birute
M.F. (1988). "Orangutan Diet, Range, and Activity at Tanjung Puting,
Central Borneo". International Journal of Primatology 9 (1):
1.doi:10.1007/BF02740195.
[13] Cawthon Lang KA
(13 June 2005). "Primate Factsheets: Orangutan (Pongo) Taxonomy,
Morphology, & Ecology"
[14] Singleton, I; van
Schaik, CP (2002). "The Social Organisation of a population of Sumatran
orang-utans". Folia Primatol 73 (1): 1–20. doi:10.1159/000060415.PMID 12065937.
[15] Delgado, RA Jr.;
van Schaik, CP (2000). "The behavioral ecology and conservation of the
orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus): a tale of two islands". Evol Anthro 9 (1):
201–18.doi:10.1002/1520-6505(2000)9:5<201::AID-EVAN2>3.0.CO;2-Y.
[16] Cawthon Lang KA
(13 June 2005). "Primate Factsheets: Orangutan (Pongo) Taxonomy,
Morphology, & Ecology".
[17] Munn C;
Fernandez M (1997). "Infant development". In Carol Sodaro. Orangutan
species survival plan husbandry manual. Chicago: Chicago Zoological Park.
pp. 59–66.OCLC 40349739.
[18] Turner, Dorie (12
April 2007). "Orangutans play video games (for research) at
Georgia zoo".
[19] Dufour, V. Pelé,
M.; Neumann, M.; Thierry, B.;Call, J. (2008). "Calculated reciprocity
after all: computation behind token transfers in orang-utans". Biol.
Lett 5 (2): 172–75.doi:10.1098/rsbl.2008.0644.
[21] van Schaik, CP;
Fox, EA; Sitompul, AF. (1996). "Manufacture and use of tools in wild
Sumatran orangutans – implications or human evolution". Naturwissenschaften 83 (4):
186–188. doi:10.1007/BF01143062. PMID 8643126.
[22] Fox EA,
Sitompul AF, van Schaik CP. (1999). "Intelligent tool use in wild Sumatran
orangutans". In: Parker S, Mitchell RW and Miles HL (eds.) The
Mentality of Gorillas and Orangutans. Cambridge, UK : Cambridge University
Press. pp. 99–116, ISBN 9780521031936.
[23] Hardus, ME;
Lameira, AR; van Schaik, CP; Wich, SA. (2009). "Tool use in wild
orang-utans modifies sound production: a functionally deceptive
innovation?". Proceedings of the Royal Society B 276 (1673):
3689–3694. doi:10.1098/rspb.2009.1027.
[24] Shapiro, G. L.
(1982). "Sign acquisition in a home-reared/free-ranging orangutan:
Comparisons with other signing apes". American Journal of Primatology 3 (1–4):
121–29.doi:10.1002/ajp.1350030111.
[25] Didik, Prasetyo; Ancrenaz, Marc; Morrogh-Bernard, Helen C.; Atmoko, S. Suci Utami; Wich, Serge A. & van Schaik, Carel P. (2009). "Nest building in orangutans". In Wich, Serge A.; Atmoko, S. Suci Utami; Setia, Tatang Mitra. Orangutans: geographic variation in behavioral ecology and conservation. Oxford University Press. pp. 270–275. ISBN 978-0-19-921327-6.
IMAGE CREDITS:
"Orang Utan, Semenggok Forest Reserve, Sarawak, Borneo, Malaysia" by Eleifert - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Orang_Utan,_Semenggok_Forest_Reserve,_Sarawak,_Borneo,_Malaysia.JPG#mediaviewer/File:Orang_Utan,_Semenggok_Forest_Reserve,_Sarawak,_Borneo,_Malaysia.JPG
"Orang2" by Oliver Spalt - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Orang2.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Orang2.jpg
"Leuser-orangs 09N8683" by Nomo michael hoefner / http://www.zwo5.de - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Leuser-orangs_09N8683.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Leuser-orangs_09N8683.jpg
"Orangutan -Zoologischer Garten Berlin-8a" by David Arvidsson - originally posted to Flickr as DSC_1055_ApesEat. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Orangutan_-Zoologischer_Garten_Berlin-8a.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Orangutan_-Zoologischer_Garten_Berlin-8a.jpg
"Everywhichwaybutloosemovieposter" by http://www.impawards.com/1978/every_which_way_but_loose.html. Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Everywhichwaybutloosemovieposter.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Everywhichwaybutloosemovieposter.jpg
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