Tag: Tree

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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.

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While rainforests are known as ecosystems with many species, just 2% of tree species account for 50% of the trees

Here is an image of part of the Congo rainforest, almost every tree is different

Whether you are looking at the Amazon, Congo or the rainforests of South-east Asia, a study has shown that just 2% of species account for 50% of trees in all systems.

In numbers, this means, that of the roughly 800 billion trees on earth, roughly half come from around 1000 species, while the other half are made up of a further 46,000 different species.

While this could have many negatives, it suggests that accurately modelling may well be easier, as the forests would likely survive if just these 1000 trees were to live (this is not to say that we do not care, the 46,000 trees that might be lost, would likely cause many other extinctions, and who is to say that these trees, do not hide medication that would one day be useful to humanity?

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