What is in news : Mysuru Zoo gets orangutans

Details :

• orangutans were brought under an animal exchange scheme. While Merlin, the 17-year-old male and Atina, the 13-year-old female were brought from Singapore, Afa, a five-year-old male and Minnie, a 7-year-old female, were brought from Malaysia.
• Bank Note Paper Mill India, Mysuru (BNPM) funded an enclosure for the animals with Rs 70 lakh funds under its corporate social responsibility initiative.

About ORANGUTANS

• Orangutan means “man of the forest” in the Malay language.
• Live solitary existences in the lowland forests
• Feast on wild fruits like lychees, mangosteens, and figs, and slurp water from holes in trees.
• Make nests in trees of vegetation to sleep at night and rest during the day.
• Adult males can weigh up to 200 pounds.
• Flanged males have prominent cheek pads called flanges and a throat sac used to make loud verbalizations called long calls. An unflanged male looks like an adult female. In a biological phenomenon unique among primates, an unflanged male can change to a flanged male for reasons that are not yet fully understood.
• Native to Indonesia and Malaysia and are currently found only in rain forests of Borneo and Sumatra.
• Considered to be among most intelligent primates.
• Can live up to 45 years in the wild and even more in zoos.
• Extensively studied by researchers for their learning abilities.
• A century ago there were probably more than 230,000 orangutans in total, but the Bornean orangutan is now estimated at about 104,700 based on updated geographic range (Endangered) and the Sumatran about 7,500 (Critically Endangered).
• A third species of orangutan was announced in November, 2017. With no more than 800 individuals in existence, the Tapanuli orangutan is the most endangered of all great apes.