Orangutans & Gorillas

Gorillas and Orangutans

At first glance, one might be mistaken for thinking gorillas and orangutans are similar. In a way they are. However, gorillas are different from orangutans. Gorillas have a large torso and limbs. Gorillas’ average height is 1.6 kg for the male and 1.5 kg for the female. Orangutans have a smaller torso and limbs than gorillas. They weight about 50 – 90 kg for both males and females. Orangutan’s height is over 1.25 to 1.5 m.

That’s why they’re so far apart from each other. Gorillas and Orangutans have medium-length fur and they both are herbivores. They occasionally eat small insects; they eat small insects like larva and small ants. But they usually eat bamboo shoots, figs, lychees, mangosteens, and tree bark. According to their taxonomy Gorillas and Orangutans are different species, but they come from the same kingdom, class, order, and same genus. Orangutans’ behaviour is primarily solitary (live alone). Social behaviour varies between Bornean Orangutans and Sumatran Orangutans.

Meanwhile, Gorillas tend to forage for food or feed their babies. They could forage or feed their babies for 14 hours a day, they like to move around in their habitat foraging for food. They walk a lot while foraging, they tend to move around 400 – 1000 meters per day. Feeding/foraging activity peaks around in the first 3 – 4 hours of the day.

History of

gorillas.

Gorillas are native to the equatorial regions of Africa. The mountain gorilla is the largest of the gorilla subspecies. It inhabits several isolated areas on the forested mountain slopes of eastern Zaire and parts of Uganda and Rwanda. Gorillas date back to 1902 when a German Officer named Captain von Beringe, found the mountain gorilla while he was with his troops hiking a mountain. Gorillas populated Eastern Africa around 11 million years ago. Fun fact: Eastern species of gorillas have long and black fur. Gorillas are the strongest primate by any metric, the gorilla is one of the strongest animals on the planet. With such muscular and elongated arms, it is at least six times stronger than the average human. Its bite can also generate approximately 1,300 pounds of pressure per square inch.

History of orangutans

Orangutans are great ape’s native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene, they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genus Pongo, orangutans were originally considered to be one species. Orangutans were considered 1 species in 1996, as 2017 there are 3 types of orangutans’ species, and the newly discovered species Tapanuli. Orangutans are closed to going extinct, within 9 years from now. Indonesian zoos are trying hard to preserve the precious orangutans. According to the Jakarta post, “Indonesia is home to 60,060 orangutans, most of the approximately 71,820 orangutans in the world, and has a unique responsibility to protect and rebuild the orangutan population and the habitats that sustain them.”. This all happened because in Indonesia there are too many illegal animal poachers. Illegal animal poachers are guilty of killing all the extinct animals. Fun fact about orangutans: They’ve got long arms and they learn everything from their mom.

Conclusion

Although Gorillas and Orangutans are similar, they are different species and different beings. They both are close to extinct, and they both need care and love from humans. Their taxonomy explains everything about them, they are the single most intelligent Mammals to ever exist. Although they’re not as smart as we do, they still love each one of their tribes and habitat. Their love is impeccable. So, therefore we must preserve the orangutans and gorillas because they are truly the world's most loving animal and most intelligent.

Bibliography

1. https://seaworld.org/animals/all-about/gorilla/classification/

2. https://nature.ca/notebooks/english/ogutan.htm

3. https://www.nature.ca/notebooks/english/gorilla.htm#:~:text=Gorillas%20are%20native%20to%20the,parts%20of%20Uganda%20and%20Rwanda.

4. https://www.thejakartapost.com/academia/2019/08/22/if-we-lose-orangutans-we-will-lose-forest-too.html