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orangutan
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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
The senior male orangutan eating sugarcane. It was good the wardens were feeding the family only a few metres from the path. So human like.
In the Malay language orang-utan means "person of the forest". Along with the gorilla and chimpanzee, it is often described as "man's closest relative". However, the solitary life of the largest tree-living mammal has not saved it from destruction by humans. This great ape is in grave danger.
The orang-utan knows how to put on a show when necessary and defends its territory with dramatic displays, loudly announcing its presence with a booming voice that can be heard several kilometers away. Young orang-utans travel on the mother's back or belly for over two years. The animal lives mostly on fruit, young leaves, bark, small vertebrates, bird eggs and insects. Daytime is spent looking for food and every night the animal builds a new nest about 12 to 18 meters above the ground. Their life expectancy in the wild is approximately 35 years.
Orang-utans are long-haired and shaggy, except for the face which is hairless, and their colour varies from bright orange in young animals to dark reddish-brown in adults. The Sumatran subspecies is paler in colour than the one found on the island of Borneo. Orang-utans have long arms (with a spread of up to 2.25 meters) and long narrow hands, and both their hands and feet have opposable thumbs. Orang-utans may be up to 1.5 meters tall, and males may weigh as much as 144 kilos, while females may weigh up to 65 kilos.
Orang-utans live in the tropical montane forests, lowland dipterocarp forests, tropical peat swamp forests, and tropical health forests of Borneo and northern Sumatra (see map). The highest densities of orang-utans are found in swamp forest habitats. An estimated 9,000 orang-utans survive in northern Sumatra, mainly around one national park, while some 10,000 to 15,000 orang-utans remain on the island of Borneo, in eight major isolated areas.
Despite laws in Indonesia and Malaysia to protect the Orang-utan, it is facing extinction because its habitats are being destroyed by agriculture and logging. Forests around protected areas are also increasingly degraded and the orang-utan is being forced into areas too small to support viable populations. Poachers also hunt the infants, for the live-animal trade with the mother usually killed to at her young.
About 80 percent of the orang-utan's habitat has been deforested in the past 20 years. Researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society predict that the world's largest natural orang-utan population will be extinct in a decade unless poaching and habitat destruction can be stopped. With losses running at a thousand a year, numbers have plummeted from 12,000 in 1993 to just 6,000 today.
www.un.org/works/environment/animalplanet/orangatang.html |
scottevers7, Alex99, pierrefonds has marked this note useful
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Hi Murray,
A nice shot on this Orangutan. The colors and detail look good. They have some of the most amazing facial expressions!
Scott
- Alex99
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3029 W: 148 N: 4520]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-g-g.gif)
(14595) - [2007-05-22 14:36]
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Hi Murray.
A bit soft but very nice picture of this cute animal. You managed to reflect its mood and "business" very well. I also like excellent colours and light of the picture. Cropping is strong a bit too. Beautiful work and my best regards.
Alexei.
very good photo
tfs, mario
Hello Murray,
A bit soft, but I'm pretty sure that's only on the outside!
Well, he looks quite friendly here so I guess he likes to have his photograph taken...
Well composed image and rich vivid colours!
Greetings,
Pablo -
:-) OK-
Hello
Usually I'm looking on butterfly related pictures but this one is also very nice ;-)
Thanks for sharing
Chris
Hi Murray,
A good POV of the Orangutang, the photo has a good composition, sharpness and nice colors. Thanks for sharing.
Pierre
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 2634 W: 3 N: 3942]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-n-g.gif)
(12257)![Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1167 W: 18 N: 755]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-s-g.gif)
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