MOMS SUPER SURPRISE THURSDAY
We’re going to Southeast Asia today to meet a primate mother who spends years teaching their young! Get your climbing gear on, because these moms spend most of their lives in the canopy of rainforests. Be on the lookout for their orange-red hair!
MEET THE ORANGUTAN!
Diet: Fruigivore: fruit
Length/Weight: 3 ½-4 ½ ft/ 80-175 lbs
Conservation Status: Endangered
- Orangutans are members of the great ape family.
- They are highly intelligent and mostly solitary.
- Orangutans are arboreal (spend most of their lives in trees).
- Mother orangutans give birth in the trees.
- The babies hang on to their mom’s bellies when they are first born.
- Orangutan babies stay with their moms for about 8 years.
- Orangutan moms must teach their young how to find fruit, build nests and how to survive a life in the trees.
- Young orangutans must learn a mental map of the forest. They have to know where the fruit is and when it is ripe!
- Even after orangutans leave their moms; it is not uncommon for them to meet up in the rainforest to secure a meal.
Orangutans are very patient mothers. They have much to teach their babies. We bet you thought it was just human children that take a long time to learn! Orangutans must to attend school and learn, their school is just in the rainforest! These special apes are critically endangered and there are some amazing groups working to save them and their habitat! Check out Save the Orangutan!