Sumatran Orangutan

March 2, 2025February 26, 2025

Sumatra is finding that building bridges over roads is much cheaper than elsewhere

This seems a very cheap and simple solution to roads, at least for primates. A standard motorway bridge in the UK can cost well over $1million (estimates suggest at least £890,000). This compares to a canopy bridge costing $5000 if even that much.

Each male Sumatran Orangutan needs 15 square miles, while females need at least 3 square miles. Therefore in order to have a significant population in an area of say 1000 individuals, you are talking about needing almost 10,000 square miles of rainforest that is connected. It is highly likely, in a 100 by 100 square mile block that there will be some roads crossing it. Therefore, these simple methods for connecting forest blocks could become more and more important.

It should be noted, that while this works for primates in areas like this, it will not help the Sumatran elephants, or rhino or tigers, which share some of these forests. Still, it might mean that larger bridges for other animals to cross could be less common, while still allowing primates to cross with ease?

November 21, 2024November 21, 2024

Orangutans climb incredibly high – no space for acrophobia

Borneon orangutan mother with her offspring – photo credit stockcake (Photo by <a href=”https://stockcake.com/i/orangutan-treetop-rest_758559_866654″>Stockcake</a>)

Life is hard in the Indonesian rainforest – compared to Africa and South America, there is very little to be found to eat (except in specific areas. As a result, orangutans become solitary, with the only time they are seen together is a mother with young, or a courting couple. Another problem, is demonstrated here – there is so little food to be had, that every food opportunity has to be realized. This has meant that orangutans have become the best climbers (followed by Chimpanzee and then Gorilla), as where ever the food is, it needs to be accessed.

It is true, that with tools, humans can become even better climbers (as can be seen from the image), which is taken from further up the tree than the orangutans have even climbed.

Primate family tree main and great and lesser apes

Primate family tree

The primates are in some ways one of the most successful families. It is true that many are now endangered, however, unfortunately, that is as a result of the run-away success of the most successful member of the primate family us! Having left the rainforests behind, we have been reducing their coverage dramatically over the last few centuries.

The sad thing, is that while we have pushed many of our closest cousins towards extinction, the loss of forests may well cost us dearly in the future as well. As a species, we need to pull together to meet this challenge. in order to jump to the various families, click on the family of interest above – though all can also be reached by scrolling down.

Great Apes

Eastern Lowland gorilla

Mountain Gorilla

Western lowland gorilla

Cross river gorilla

Great ape Family split is thought to have split from its nearest relative – the gibbon family, around 17 million years ago.

4 million years later the Orangutan family split from the gorilla line and the human/chimp line.

3 million years after this (so around 10 million years ago) the gorilla family split from the Homo (humans) and Pan

Finally the human line (homo) split from the Pan line 5-6 million years ago.

It should be noted, that chimpanzees and Bonobos split from a common ancestor just 1.8 million years ago. This occurred as the two populations ceased to be able to have contact with each other – the Congo rive formed between 1.5 and 2 million years ago.

For more information on each species, click on their photo and this will take you to their page

It should be noted that while I have grouped eastern western and skywalker gibbon together, there is some contention that the skywalker gibbon should be in its own genus, having diverged around half a million years aog

Gibbons

siamang gibbon genus Symphalangus

hookock gibbon (Eastern, Western and Skywalker) Genus Hoolock

genus Normascus (crested gibbon)

Agile gibbon

Genus Nomascus

This family is the Genus: Nomascus or crested gibbon.

Black crested gibbon

Eastern black crested gibbon

Hanain black crested gibbon

Northern buffed gibbon

Norhtern white cheeked gibbon

Southern white cheeked gibbon

Yellow cheeked gibbon

The last Genus of gibbons is Hylobates: dwarf gibbons.

Abbots (Western) grey gibbon

Agile gibbon Genus Hylobates (dward gibbons)

bornean white bearded gibbon

Eastern grey gibbon

kloss gibbon

lar gibbons male and female

Mullers grey gibbon

Pileated gibbon

Silvery gibbon

Orangutans are often animals high on the list that people wish to see one day. Orangutans are the only great ape that lives outside Africa.

While fossils show that at one time, it was found on the mainland of Asia, the Orangutan is now restricted to the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. The Orangutan was first scientifically described in 1779 by Dutch anatomist Petrus Camper. This page is devoted to the Orangutans of Sumatra.

As with all great apes, the Orangutan is a keystone species and by saving its habitat, we save many thousands more as a by-product. The greatest threat has been palm oil plantations – while in theory these are created to reduce carbon emissions, it is questionable as to whether these plantations could ever be carbon negative. Building it on land that has to be cleared of rainforest, means that these palm oil plantations will have huge carbon footprints, which are likely to take over a century to pay off. As such it is not useful for climate change mitigation.
The orangutans of Sumatra are classed as critically endangered.

They are currently thought to number around 14,000. As always, we hope to add many destinations for Orangutans in the near future, do get in touch if you wish to list somewhere in their range. Below, any listings that might get added in the future, you will find all the articles we have written on Orangutans.

The Borneo and Sumatran Orangutans were only recognized as separate species in 1996

Species watch

Tim
May 11, 2022

I am intending to make this into a new set of articles that will appear on this website. Obviously, these species will not be the only ones that are covered ...

Tim
January 11, 2022

This proposal would mean that Indonesia could cut down all its rainforest and replace them with Palm Oil, and would have engaged in zero deforestation. This has ...

Tim
August 15, 2020

It is unfortunately true that at the moment there is a great deal of effort by unscrupulous scientists that undermine well known facts.

Tim
March 8, 2020

Indonesia is pressing ahead with its desire to build a dam in the Sumatran rainforest. Now when the Dam is filled and floods this vast area of ...

Tim
March 4, 2022

There is a great deal of corruption in many parts of the world. In many places politicians are almost expected to give themselves extra benefits – indeed those who do ...

Tim
March 2, 2025

This seems a very cheap and simple solution to roads, at least for primates. A standard motorway bridge in the UK can cost well over $1million (estimates ...

Tim
November 21, 2024

Life is hard in the Indonesian rainforest – compared to Africa and South America, there is very little to be found to eat (except in specific areas. As a result, ...

Tim
May 2, 2023

It is just 5 years since the Tapanuli orangutan was described. Despite this Orangutan being restricted to an area of Northern Sumatra, it ...

Tim
November 25, 2020

The leuser ecosystem on the island of Sumatra, is home to a fascinating range of animals, not found together anywhere else. In particular, this ecosystem supports tigers ...

Tim
August 21, 2020

I personally couldn’t see how an environmental check could make it through if the building of the dam, would completely eradicate one of the eight great apes on earth. However ...

Tim
November 12, 2024

It would appear that chimpanzee medicine is quite a complicated field. This is a significant range of conditions that can be treated, though it should also be ...

Tim
July 20, 2023

One of the problems with cutting down rainforest, it often what is left is so fragmented that it is useless for conservation. Remaining blocks of forest must allow a viable ...

Tim
April 30, 2023

The wildlife of Indonesia now often looks like relatively unique to those islands. This is not the natural state of affairs. 60,000 years ago, a cousin of ...

Tim
May 11, 2022

I am intending to make this into a new set of articles that will appear on this website. Obviously, these species will not be the only ones that are covered ...

Tim
January 11, 2022

This proposal would mean that Indonesia could cut down all its rainforest and replace them with Palm Oil, and would have engaged in zero deforestation. This has ...

Tim
August 15, 2020

It is unfortunately true that at the moment there is a great deal of effort by unscrupulous scientists that undermine well known facts.

Tim
March 8, 2020

Indonesia is pressing ahead with its desire to build a dam in the Sumatran rainforest. Now when the Dam is filled and floods this vast area of ...

Tim
March 4, 2022

There is a great deal of corruption in many parts of the world. In many places politicians are almost expected to give themselves extra benefits – indeed those who do ...

Tim
March 2, 2025

This seems a very cheap and simple solution to roads, at least for primates. A standard motorway bridge in the UK can cost well over $1million (estimates ...

Tim
November 21, 2024

Life is hard in the Indonesian rainforest – compared to Africa and South America, there is very little to be found to eat (except in specific areas. As a result, ...

Tim
May 2, 2023

It is just 5 years since the Tapanuli orangutan was described. Despite this Orangutan being restricted to an area of Northern Sumatra, it ...

July 18, 2023January 28, 2025

World maps: explore

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This website aims to make it easy for those living with wildlife, and those who would like to see it, to find each other. Where-ever the wildlife, if the local people do not benefit it will not survive. Please note, on some computers these maps can take 10 seconds to load.

Explore the worlds wilds, through the map above (each country contains a list of any wild areas within it – world maps for each fo these can be found at the top of the page -“wild places, “shadow of mankind”, “Hides”, “Future places” & “sightings board”), or the species in the expandable section below. Add your destinations, by clicking on “list your wild”. Scroll down to read our latest wild news.

Species databases: click to explore

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Species watch

All species are important, often reintroductions have failed because a small unnoticed animal was missed. Over time, we will amass pages for as many species as possible. However, just as important is seeing how species are closely related. As such as well as looking at species from a specific ecosystem or family, we will also include family trees of many of the families on earth. It should be noted, that this is to help you find wildlife you wish to see, so will never link to every species. In either way, these links to these will be placed at the top.

Bovini or cattle family tree

Equidae: Genus for horses (horses, donkeys and zebra)

Cervidae family (deer) here red deer

Camelid family (camels and Llamas)

Aardvark