Orangutans: Everyone’s Favorite Redhead

00:00:04
Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Rich Swartz and I'm epany Money. Welcome to Amazing Wildlife, where we explore unique stories of wildlife from around the world and uncover fascinating animal facts. This podcast is a production of High Heart Radio in San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, in international nonprofit conservation organization behind the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park. Today's species is a popular one, and possibly due to its behaviors that remind us so much of ourselves. Today we're talking about the orangutan. Like in past shows, I'll ask Rick about facts I think people might want to know, and we'll also talk to Tania Howard, a senior wildlife care specialist with the San Diego Zoo WILDLFE Alliance. So, Rick, I must admit that I grew up saying this species name wrong as a child, But I now know that the name orangutan is made up of two Malay words, a wrong meaning person in houton meaning forest. Their name is often mispronounced as orangutang. But what are some other developments related to the only great epe found in Southeast Asia. Well, honestly, ebany, this we're gonna get into here is one of the reasons I love studying biology, zoology, and honestly just learning about wild life in general. We are always learning more about wildlife as science advances and our curiosity keeps us looking for more information. In the case of orangutans, back when I first started my career a few decades ago, orangutans were listed as just one species, with two subspecies, the Bornean orangutan and Sumatran orangutan. Now fast forward to April of two thousand, when the two subspecies were recognized as two separate species based on genetic and morphological or physical and structural data. And then in two thousand seventeen, the Tapauli orangutan from North Sumatra was recognized as its own species as well, and again the use of genetic and morpheological studies helped show us they were their own species. If scientists mistakenly thought there were only two species of orangutans, is there any way for a novice to be able to tell the species apart? Yeah, I mean I wouldn't necessarily say they mistakenly thought that there were only two species avenues so much as it takes time to confirm there were indeed two separate species. Versus one species that may look a little different in different regions. But to answer your question of how to tell them apart, the three species do look very very similar. However, the Bornean species usually have a darker red coloration to their coat, where the Sumatran is usually lighter in color, and the shape of their face is different too, with the Bornean orangutans having a round her face. When we look at the tap Anuli orangutan, they are more similar to the Sumatran, but their hair tends to be, for lack of a better term, frizzier, and and they have sort of a smaller head, with some differences in their facial structures too. Yeah, speaking of looks, how does the orangutan differ from other great apes other than obviously looking different? Well, ebony, you know. When we are talking about great apes scientifically, that includes orangutans, guerrillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, and of course humans. Now, out of all of those, orangutans spend the most time up in the trees, and that's probably where their name person of the Forest comes from. Their long arms allow them to easily swing from tree to tree, and their hand like feet are just as good at grabbing and holding onto branches and vines as their hands are allowing them to have better mobility up in the trees. They will even build nests in the trees, sleeping and playing at great heights without a concern. Now, to be fair, other great apes have similar traits and will build nests in trees or on the ground as well, But the orangutan is the one that is always the trees. Oh and I think they're reddish orange coloration is another standout feature. No other great ape species compared to that color. Yes, definitely stands out. So how's the orangutans of boreal lifestyle recreated at the San Diego Zoo. Oh, my gosh, ebony. The San Diego Zoo's orangutan habitat is amazing. It really feels like you are looking out sort of across this small clearing in the jungle with trees and climbing structures. There is even a human made termite mound that is often filled with tasty morsels for the orangutans to retrieve, just like they would with a termite mound in the wild. Oh and there are vertical sway poles that they use while climbing through the habitat, along with ropes and nets that they use for nesting. But honestly, I think guests really enjoy seeing the Siamang family living and interacting with the orangutans. These lesser or smaller apes inhabit the same environments as the orangutans, so having them together at the San Diego Zoo really makes it feel like you have stepped into the forest home of these amazing ape awesome. So, Rick, you mentioned orangutan's hands and feet, I want to bring up a recent studying. Scientists concluded after a series of experiments that orangutans have the building blocks, or as they called it, the prerequisites to possibly making stone tools and can use sharp edged stones as cutting tools. So why is this important, why does it matter? And if so, what would it mean for an orangutan if he was suddenly found to be able to use a rock as a tool. Well, Ebony, this topic is so interesting when we look in the realm of animal studies. It wasn't that long ago that humans were thought to be the only tool using animals and that distinction set us apart from all the other species. But now, thanks to better observations, we know that humans are not the only apes that use tools. The specific study that you are referring to is important because it focuses on stone tool use and specifically making or using a sharp stone tool for the purpose of piercing or cutting something. Learning more about how great apes like the orangutans may or may not use these kinds of tools can give researchers clues about how human ancestors may have first started using tools as well, and those who study early human tool use agree that early stone tools, especially those fashioned into sharp edges, represent one of the most important technological milestones in human evolution. Now, we do already know that orangutans have a great memory and the ability to problem solve, and we know they use other tools like sticks or twigs to retrieve termite from termite mountains. So these further studies into tool use are important for all of us to better understand orangutans, great apes, and even ourselves enric Another unique fact, this one really warmed my heart, is that orangutans spend an extended period of time with their moms. Can you explain the reason? Oh, it's true. Ebony ring attams will typically have a single baby at a time, and that baby will stay with mom for the next seven to eight years. And for the first few weeks the baby clings to mom's belly and chest, allowing her to use all of her limbs to move around through the trees as she normally would. And within time the baby grows and it tends to then move around and ride on mom's back, sort of a piggyback style, if you will. After twelve months, a baby or ring atin will start to get brave enough to venture away from its mother, and by the second year, well, it's contact with mom has gone down by about however, this only refers to the time when the mother is stationary in a tree, as a younger ring attain will still be carried from tree to tree on its mother's body until it's between two to four years old, and even then, after this age, a female ring ten will still use her body as a makeshift bridge for her offspring to climb across the gap from tree to tree. I mean, the mother's job is never overright right now. Studies of both stren and borneans have shown that infants will spend more than its time within just ten ms of its mother until it's about six years of age, and I keep in mind orangutans continued to nurse up to seven years and stay with mom until seven or eight years of age. In those seven to eight years, they learn everything they need to know for mom, from finding ripe fruit and the best leaves to eat and where and how to build a good nest. Moms are the best, right, yes, So how does this extended rearing period impact the species. Well, the answer to that, ebany, has to do with what is called the rate of reproduction. So think about this. When mom orangutans have a youngster with them, they will not breed again until that little one is ready to head out on its own. And as we discussed before, it can be around seven to eight years before that youngster will be independent of its mother, and even then it might be another year before the mother will breed again. Now, considering that they usually won't have their first babe until they are twelve to fifteen years old, you start to see how the rate of reproduction or how often they have a baby is pretty low when it comes to being able to build a population up or even maintain populations in the face of conservation challenges. Well, you can see how it is a slow and time consuming process for the orangutan. Ric I have so many questions, but it's probably safer for us just to move on. Okay. So what's the status of the orangutans in nature? Yeah, unfortunately eany. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature also known as i us IN, all three species of orangutans are listed as critically endangered on their Red List, with each of their populations showing a declining trend, and those population numbers right now are estimated about a hundred and four thousand for the Bornean and fewer than fourteen thousand for the Sumatran and the Tapanuli species even less than that. So what are some of the threats in nature the orangutans face? Well, ebany, as far as we know from what we have to gust about orang in tents so far, they require trees and a healthy forest to live in. So Sadly, over the last few decades, the forest homes of the orangutans have suffered as humans have increased the demands from natural resources in those areas. This includes land for agriculture, mining, and urban growth. Another big impact continues to be wildlife trafficking, and the illegal pet trade and I hate to say it, but it does need to be addressed. Hunters will kill the moms so they can take the baby orangon tens. For those who do dealings in wildlife trafficking, that's terrible. It is it is really heartbreaking. But I also want our listeners to know that there are people out there doing amazing work to help turn this around. There are international conservation education efforts, research and monitoring programs, population protection programs, and so much more, all led by passionate and dedicated people. And it's not just something that these people that are scientists can do, but our listeners can be a partner as well. You can always join the Wildlife Alliance that we have here at San Diego Zoo, or you can look into other ways that you can raise awareness and do your own thing for conservation. Yeah, that's a great idea to get involved in help anyway you can. Now it's time for the San Diego Zoom Minute, an opportunity for you to learn what's happening at the zoo. You can watch our orangutans and simmons daily thanks to Ape Camp from seven thirty in the morning seven at night. Specific time, you can watch the live feed. It rebroadcasts overnight. Now here's a bit of equips for you. Did you know that orangutans and their native habitat are known to be skilled tool users. They can strip leaves from twigs and use them to reach into holes for termines. Let's welcome now, Tanya Howard, a senior wildlife care specialist with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. Hi Tania, hi Abony, thank you for having me. So is a senior wildlife care specialist working with primates. One way I like to think of it is I am the person that takes care of their daily needs. So anything that they need on a daily basis, like whether it be nutrition, medical, their physical and mental health, we take care of those daily basic needs. So the San Diego Zoo is home to a troop of Sumatran orangutans, and recently that troop just got a bit bigger with the birth of an infant this year. Um any updates on the youngest member of the troop. Yes, uh yeah, January of this year two, we had a young male born Kaja, and he is doing really well, continues to be a young healthy boy and he is slowly integrating into our troop. And unfortunately, UM, the Sumatran orangutan is critically endangered. So how significant is a birth like kasas? Each birth is very significant. The numbers are low, and so we celebrate every earth that comes into the population. UM. And as he grows up, he will be paired up with other females to help create a stable population. And that was one of the things that I thought was fascinating when UM researching about orangutans was just the relationship between the infant and the mother. I understand that the orangutans UM infants are dependent on their mothers for a long time. Can you describe how that relationship works. Yeah, Orangutans are semi solitary, so the males have no part in the raising of the young. The mothers do all the care. The babies are really tiny and they're born they're only three to four pounds, and they stay with their mothers for like eight to ten years, So there's like seven to ten years between offspring. And how does this differ from other primates? Most primates are social and they live in family groups or extended family groups, and then as a result, then their sisters and teas will help raise them, and they'll carry them around. They'll take the responsibility of sharing for the care where that does not happen in orangutans. And so that brings me to my next question, how do orangutans communicate? What's some examples of how they might express themselves. Orangutans can express themselves in many ways. The males have a long call that they do that can be heard two to three kilometers in the rainforests, so other individuals will know that that's a male's territory. But going back to their solitary status, they don't do a lot of over communication. Um, there is communication between mothers and the offspring that you'll see. They do uh some groomy with each other, but a lot of it is very very subtle because they're not social animals. I understand that orangutans eat up to one hundred kinds of fruits along with leaves, flowers, bar honey, and termites. So how does the standing gos to accommodate their diverse palates. It is very much a constant challenge of how to you know, really address the diverse needs that they would be dealing with when they're the rainforest in the wild, you know, like a rain tan. When they go and get a fruit, it's not like a banana that's on the tree that it's just like, oh, you pluck it and you eat it. Like that's one of the things they learned from their mother's is like not only like you can eat this fruit, but like how to get into a Durian. So what we do is we might have this enrichment device that they have to actually figure out like Okay, I can't break it open, but I have to use sticks and I have to use tools to get the food reward that's maybe like hidden beneath like multiple layers. And why is it important to do it in that way to provide those enrichment exercises versus I would guess you could just go to a rain and tan in hand him or her banana. Yeah, yes, absolutely. Um, we could just put their food in one central location and say here you go, here's all the calories you need for the day to survive. But that doesn't address their natural history, and that doesn't address what makes them uniquely ranged hands. So we look at ways that we can encourage that mental stimulation, and then that might include physical stimulation, also making them go all the way up to the top of the trees in their exhibit, because that's what they would naturally be doing. We don't want to have bored rangued hands. So speaking of boredom, how would in a ring of han like let you know that he or she was bored or express any emotions? Do they express emotions like you and I would, or they do express emotions? It is subtle. It goes back to having a relationship with an individual animal and knowing what is normal for them and what falls outside that normal behavioral patterns. They can be very destructive if they're bored, because then they're like looking for things to do. They're so smart. They can see that you put together something with the nuts and bolts, and they will work at undoing that, just because they're so smart and so strong. So that's what I mean when I say they're destructive, it's not, but they're necessarily like have a bad intent to be a destructive that they're just so smart that if we don't give them something to think about and to do, that they will come up on their own with something to do, and that might be dismantling a metal structure. So before you know it gets to the point where they're playfully being destructive. Are there any sort of cues or facial expressions or is it different than what you might expect. You have to be careful when you're looking at an orangutant to not put human emotions and human interpretation on their behavior. They don't have a lot of facial cues, so you can easily go up and look at an individual that is calmly sitting and resting and put a human emotion that that animal is sad or depressed because they're just calmly sitting there. But just because they have very little emotion in their face doesn't mean that that automatically defaults is them being sad or depressed. Being a social animals look at one another, We move our face, we smile, we frown, and that lets people who are in our social group know how we feel. Orangutan social group is a dependent offspring, that's it, so they don't develop those needs to show facial emotions, so it's very very subtle steins. It could be that their hair is standing on end like your dog's hair, like pilo erection when your dog's upset, their neck hair stands up so you can look at subtle cues like Okay, she's looking big and fluffy, she's feeling threatened, or look at those kind of cues. But you really have to know a specific individual to be able to recognize facial expressions a lot of times. And speaking of getting to know a rangutan, how does one get to know in a raingutan? As a wild life care specialist, do you feel like you have like personal relationships with the members of the troop. You definitely develop personal relationships with individuals in the troop, but guests coming to the zoo can also develop those relationships on a different level. Just spending time. That's a key. It's just being a person in front of them that they learn who that person is and it's persons that can be trusted or not. But we have guests that come all the time to the zoo and the orangutan's recognize them. We have guests that the orangutans like that as soon as they see them, they'll approach the glass. So it's very unique and it makes a very personal bowl. I just got excited. I want to go and it is very cool and you need you see this intelligent animal. You can tell that they recognize you and that they get something out of the relationship. Obviously we get something out of it, right, they're amazing animals. But when you can see that back from them that they are enjoying life too, like, it's rewarding. And what do you consider the most fulfilling part of your job? I think it's that is the relationship that you have with each individual and that you know that you are having a positive effect on their life, that yes, if you weren't there, that they would still have a good life, but you can contribute to their life and make it better. How does one become a wildlife care specialists working with primates? It's definitely a passion driven job and field. I tell a lot of young people that ask me that exact question is how do you get to work with orangutans or with primates? Is you know you want to go to school, you want to volunteer when you're young at your local zo. But a lot of what we do is like understanding behavior and what shapes behavior, how to modified behavior. So I tell people a lot of like sociology, Understanding those kind of things is beneficial, But just persevere and if you have a passion like go for it. Great advice. So how does your position in the work of your team connect to the overall species survival plan for this critically endangered species. We work in conjunction with zoos across the country and the world actually that also house orangutans, whether they're Sumatra and rawbornean, and we share all of our collective information with one another, so if somebody is going through a health crisis with an animal or going through a specific case, we can collaborate with one another to help understand the SPECIs better. But we also take the information that we have at zoos and share it with researchers in the wild. Well, thank you for all of the work that you do and that your team does. We've been talking to Tania Howard as senior wildlife care Specialists with San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. Be sure to subscribe and tune into next week's episode in which we bring you the story of giant tortoises that are living large on some equatorial islands. I'm Ebony Money and I'm Rich Schwartz. Thanks for listening. If you would like to find out more about San Diego Zoo WILDLFE Alliance. Please visit sdz w a dot org Amazing Wildlife as a production of I Heart Radio. Our producer is Nikia Swinton and our executive producer is Marcia to Peanut. Our audio engineer and editor is Sierra Spreen. For more shows from my Heart Radio, check out the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. H