Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus)
Great place to see the Bornean Orangutan: Borneo, Malaysia
One of the genetically closest cousins of human beings, the orangutan can never fail to stir your soul when you see it. When your gaze meets that of the Bornean orangutan’s in the rainforests of Borneo, your rekindled love for nature will not only reach a whole new stratosphere but is bound to become boundless.
The Bornean orangutan has long arms and a distinctive body shape. Its grey skin is covered by a hairy reddish coat. It does not have hair on its face unlike most mammals except for the beard and moustache. It is more solitary than its Sumatran counterpart. The males and females come together only to mate. It feeds on more than 400 types of food including figs, leaves, seeds, flowers, honey, bird eggs, durians and insects.
The Bornean orangutan is the third heaviest primate and the largest arboreal animal alive today. It is critically endangered according to the IUCN Red List. A range of serious threats to its existence includes deforestation (habitat destruction), bushmeat trade, hunting and palm oil plantations.
This primate, along with the Sumatran orangutan and Tapanuli orangutan, belongs to the only genus of great apes native to our continent, Asia. The Bornean orangutan, like other great apes, is highly intelligent, and is known to display cultural patterns in the wild along with tool use. It shares approximately 97% of its DNA with humans, and for these wonderful reasons, the Bornean orangutan is our Animal of the Week!
See this astonishing ape on our ‘Rainforest Revelation‘ Wildlife Photography Tour to Borneo!