What is the difference between Sumatran and Bornean orangutan?
Sumatran orangutan is covered with long, orange, woolly fur. Bornean orangutan is darker, usually brown, maroon or orange-colored, and it has fur of coarser texture. Males of both species occupy territory of 500 to 4000 hectares, while females live on a territory of 64 to 900 hectares.
How many orangutans do Chester Zoo have?
eight Sumatran Orangutans
Chester Zoo currently houses eight Sumatran Orangutans, one adult male, two adult females and their offspring.
What are the orangutans called at Chester Zoo?
Sumatran orangutans
At Chester Zoo we have both Bornean and Sumatran orangutans. Originally the islands were connected to each other until around 40,000 years ago, allowing each species to evolve independently.
What is the biggest Bornean orangutan?
The heaviest known male orangutan in captivity was an obese male named “Andy”, who weighed 204 kg (450 lb) in 1959 when he was 13 years old. The Bornean orangutan has a distinctive body shape with very long arms that may reach up to 1.5 metres in length.
Can Borneo and Sumatran orangutans breed?
They are called hybrids, or “cocktail orangutans,” or simply mutts, and they are history. Many scientists lately have decided that Sumatran and Bornean orangutans are so genetically distinct they may even qualify as separate species.
What is the oldest animal in Chester Zoo?
“Martha is the oldest primate at the zoo, born in 1965, and has been at Chester Zoo since 1966.
Is a gorilla bigger than an orangutan?
Gorilla vs Orangutan: Size The orangutan is not a very large animal, standing about 5 feet tall and weighing up to a little over 200lbs at its largest. A gorilla achieves the same standing height, a little over 5 feet, but it’s much heavier, weighing upwards of 400lbs.
Can great apes hybridize?
Sister great ape species within the same genus can interbreed and produce fertile offspring in zoos, but not in the wild where their ranges generally do not overlap.
Has Chester Zoo ever had polar bears?
The Mottershead family move to Oakfield Estate Once they moved into the house they began their exciting plans to build their new zoo. The first enclosures were built in the stable yard. And a polar bear moved in!
Are orangutans happy in zoos?
Scientists reckon that happy orangutans live longer than sad ones in zoos. The team from Britain and America have come up with a way to measure how happy orangutans are in captivity. They studied nearly 200 animals and returned seven years later to see how they were getting on.
What is the oldest animal at Chester Zoo?
Why are there no chimpanzees in zoos?
Chimpanzees in zoos aren’t always given the opportunity to experience the situations that their free-living relatives experience. They aren’t given facilities that enable them to travel distances, problem solve, or forage for their own food.
Do orangutans do well in captivity?
In captivity, orangutans experience a safe and stable environment, without the constant distractions of hunger and predators. That gives them the time and opportunity to explore, and such explorations, far from leading to a sticky end, are actively rewarded with food and other treats.
Is this the first Sumatran orangutan to be born at Chester?
It was exciting to have imminent births, not only from a critically endangered species but the first Sumatran orangutan births at Chester since Subis and Emma themselves more than ten years previous.
What is the difference between Bornean and Sumatran orangutan?
Bornean orangutan is native to Borneo, while Sumatran orangutan originates from Sumatra. They inhabit rainforests, swampy forests and mountain forests and spend most of their lives on the trees.
How many Bornean orangutans are left in the world?
Recent estimates suggest as few as 55,000 Bornean orangutans may remain on the island of Borneo in Indonesia – the only place they can be found in the wild. With this huge decline in the population, our family of orangutans are part of a vital international breeding programme which is working to conserve the species.
Which zoos care for orangutans?
Chester is one of the few zoos in Europe that cares for both Bornean and Sumatran orangutans. These are critically endangered animals and, importantly, we’ve seen babies from both sub-species born in recent times.