Well I'll Be A Monkey's Uncle—About the Orangutan             Visit the Gallery

Orangutans are fascinating mammals. They are omnivores, meaning they eat both meat and plants. These monkeys live for thirty or forty years in the wild. The average male adult can weigh from 73 to 180 pounds and, while standing up straight, he is about five feet tall.

The Malay word "orangutan" means "person of the forest". That can definately describe these animals. They have gigantic armspans; some can reach over seven feet from finger to finger. Therefore, they can easily swing through the vines of their jungle home. They live mainly in the rainforests of Borneo, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Sadly, they are being driven to extinction by clear-cutters. The main cause is palm oil plantations (surprise, surprise!). The goal of Kids Against Palm Oil is to stop this from happening and to save these orange monkeys as well as other endangered rainforest inhabitants of Indonesia.


Sources:
       National Geographic