Saturday is International Orang Utan Day?

> Orang utan literally means “person of the forest”. These intelligent primates are found wild only in the rainforests of Sumatra and Borneo.

> Their lifespan in the wild is 30 to 40 yyears. They have a low reproductive rate. Females give birth to one infant at a time every three to five years, making it difficult for the species to recover from population decline.

> Their diet is mostly fruit and leaves but they have been known to eat bark, insects and, on rare occasions, meat.

> Adult orang utan arms stretch out over 2m from fingertip to fingertip and help them greatly to move about in the trees. On the ground, they walk on all fours. > When males reach maturity at around 13, they develop large cheek pads, which females apparently find attractive.

> Orang utan are observant and inquisitive. There are stories of them escaping from zoos after observing the keepers lock and unlock doors.

They perform as well as chimpanzees and gorillas in cognitive ability tests. In captivity, they are adept at both using and making tools.

> Hundreds of infant orang utan are snatched from the wild for the pet trade every year. The mother is killed and the baby abducted.

It is estimated that four to five orang utan die for every baby that reaches the market. > Sumatran and Bornean orang utan are both critically endangered species.

Deforestation, drought and forest fires are among the factors leading to their declining populations.

There were more than 230,000 a century ago, but it is estimated there are only 104,700 Bornean and 7,500 Sumatran orang utan left.