5 Orangutan Facts For Kids
An orangutan is a type of ape that lives in the rainforests and which has sometimes been seen in movies and television, because of how easy it is to train an orangutan and because of how funny it looks and walks. An orangutan has a short, squat body and sits low to the ground but also has long thin arms that give it a very unique appearance. Their faces are also very distinctive and sometimes even downright silly! Check out some fun facts about orangutans and what makes them different from other apes.
What They Look Like
1. An orangutan typically has reddish brown or orange-like fur, which is unlike other apes, monkeys, and chimpanzees, most of whom have very dark brown or black fur. This is one way you can easily tell an orangutan from any other type of ape. These also have pads on their faces so their cheeks look very full and even a little droopy, and they often curl out their lips when eating or communicating.
2. Typically an orangutan will sit very low to the ground and reach out with its long, thin arms to get fruit or other food, and you can see its thin fur on the arms when it does this. Their arms can sometimes be over six feet long, longer than the size of an average man! Because the fur of an orangutan is very long, they sometimes look as if they actually have hair on their heads or on their chests.
3. An orangutan is like a human in that it actually has a thumb rather than simple fingers. They use the thumb to help gather fruit and to help them grip branches when climbing trees.
How They Behave
4. When you want to see an orangutan, you need to look up since they spend most of their time in trees, even eating and sleeping on their branches. They start eating in the morning and may spend two or three hours having breakfast! During midday they will relax and then travel to other areas during the evening, looking for more food and a soft place to sleep. They build simple nests for themselves for the night, gathering large leaves and soft moss together.
5. To communicate, orangutans will make low noises that sound like grunts or high noises that sound like kisses! Even the infants will make the sound when they need attention from their parents.
