Orangutans
Orangutan means person of the forest. Orangutans live in Asia. They are the only great ape who comes from Asia. |
Orangutans live in trees. They use their long arms to swing from tree to tree.
They get food from the trees, such as fruit. They build nests in the branches to sleep in.
The big toe of an orangutan’s foot is opposable, like our thumb, to help it grab food or climb trees.
By Michaël Catanzariti via Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Orangutans are clever. They can make and use tools. They use twigs to find termites to eat. |
Termites are insects that eat wood. |
First they strip leaves from a twig. Then they fit the twig into holes to scrape out termites.
When it's raining they may put a very big leaf on their head. It's like a hat!
Adult orangutans like to live alone. But when an orangutan has a baby it stays with its young for up to 8 years.
Orangutans live on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. They are part of Indonesia. Indonesia is a country made up of many small islands.
Borneo
|
Sumatra
|
Photo from Pixabay is in the public domain.