Orangutans are great apes that live in the tropical forests of Sumatra and Borneo in Southeast Asia. They grow to be 4 to 4.5 feet tall and weigh between 90 to 180 pounds depending on their gender. Orangutans eat a variety of foods including fruits, leaves, bark, termites, and ants. Females give birth once every 8 years and carry their babies for 9 months. Orangutans are threatened by habitat loss and poaching.

1. ORANGUTANS By: Janna Zilkha

2. Description A male orangutan weighs 180 pounds and is 4 and a half feet tall while the female weighs 90 pounds and is 4 feet tall. When a baby orangutan is born it weighs 3 pounds. An orangutan has grey skin but red fur covers it all.

3. Habitat Orangutans are primates. They are in the great ape family. Orangutans live in the tropical islands of Sumatra and Borneo in southeast Asia. They live where the weather is warm. There is very heavy rain for part of the year.

4. Habits When an orangutan is a baby it drinks milk from its mother and eats chewed up leaves. Fruit is added to its diet when it turns one. All of the mothers know when the fruit is ripe so it wont be hard of bad when she feeds it to her baby. The mothers also take leaves and soak them in water for she and her baby when they are thirsty. Older orangutans eat figs other fruits leaves bark termites and ants.

5. Reproduction Orangutans live for 36 to 40 years in the wild. In captivity they live longer. Males can start to mate at age 11 or 12. The female can start having babies at age 8. After the male and the female mate the female is pregnant for 9 months. Females can have a baby once every eight years.

6. Enemies The enemies the orangutan have are tigers and humans. Tigers hunt them as prey but unfortunately we are a much bigger problem than tigers. Poachers kill mother orangutans and take their babies and sell them on the streets. There are laws in Sumatra and Borneo but the poachers don’t care. A program called the Species Survival Program tries to protect the baby orangutans when their mothers are killed.

7. Razzle Dazzle The word orangutan means people of the forest in the Muyla language. Speaking of languages orangutans in captivity can learn sign language. In many ways they look like humans but they are much shorter and stronger than us