I made this papier-mâché a male Bornean Orangutan for my grade 3 class. You can tell females and males apart because the males have flanges and females don’t. Flanges are like big cheek pads. Male orangutans are between 4-5 feet tall and weight 200 pounds. This cheerio box is to help you understand their size.
We need to protect Orangutans!
Orangutans are the largest tree living mammal. They live in the tropical rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra. We must save them!
There are three types of Orangutans, the Bornean, Sumatran, and Tapanuli. The Tapanuli is the most endangered. Sometimes Orangutans will eat birds eggs but only if they can’t find what they usually eat. They usually eat bugs, bark, and fruits. They chew up leaves to make a sponge to suck up water in small holes in trees.
Orangutans share 97% of our DNA. They’re kind of like our cousins.
Orangutans are endangered because people are cutting down their jungle habitat to clear space for palm trees to make palm oil. Here are some of the things that have palm oil in them: Ritz Crackers, Oreos, Nutella, chocolate bars, some creams, even some hand soap.
Having the tropical rain forest cut down doesn’t just affect the Orangutans it affects many other animals that live in the rainforests, like elephants, tigers, birds and reptiles. Orangutans are important to the rainforests because as they swing from branch to branch they are spreading seeds throughout the forest. They also break branches that lets in sun so that the plants at the bottom of the rainforest floor can get sunlight.
Without Orangutans the forests will be less healthy.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
There’s lots you can do to save the Orangutan! Start with what you eat or buy. If the food you buy contains palm oil then it is bad for the rainforests, the animals, and the Oragnutans.
These are some of the ways you can prevent Orangutan extinction:
Don’t buy unsustainable palm oil products
Educate your family and friends about palm oil farming and how it affects orangutans habitat
Choose products that don’t harm the rainforests
HOW TO SUPPORT THESE ANIMALS?
You can read about other organizations that are trying to save Orangutans, and even make a donation: