Tag Archive for 'Orangutan'

Rakus feeding on Fibraurea tinctoria leaves. Image credit: Laumer et al., doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-58988-7.

Sumatran Orangutan Spotted Treating Wound with Medicinal Plant

May 3, 2024 by News Staff

Primatologists in Indonesia have observed a wild male Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii) who sustained a facial wound. Three days after the injury he selectively...

An artist’s impression of a group of Gigantopithecus blacki within a forest in southern China. Image credit: Garcia / Joannes-Boyau, Southern Cross University.

Gigantopithecus Went Extinct between 295,000 and 215,000 Years Ago, New Study Says

Jan 10, 2024 by Sergio Prostak

Gigantopithecus blacki, the largest ever primate and one of the largest species of the southeast Asian megafauna, persisted in China from about 2 million...

Loui, the juvenile male orangutan, uses the core as an active element to vertically strike on the concrete floor of the testing room. Image credit: Motes-Rodrigo et al., doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0263343.

Scientists Investigate Stone Tool Making and Using Abilities in Orangutans

Feb 17, 2022 by News Staff

Early stone tools represent one of the most important technological milestones in human evolution. The production and use of sharp stone tools significantly...

Padana, a female orangutan at Leipzig Zoo, continued to use wooden hammers to crack nuts for some time after the end of the study. Image credit: Claudio Tennie.

Orangutans Observed Using Hammer Tools to Crack Nuts

Sep 1, 2021 by Natali Anderson

New research from the University of Tübingen demonstrates that nut-cracking can emerge in Sumatran (Pongo abelii) and Bornean (Pongo pygmaeus) orangutans...

A male Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) eating non-fruit vegetation instead of the fruit orangutans prefer on the island of Borneo. Image credit: Kristana Parinters Makur / Tuanan Orangutan Research Project.

Study: Orangutans Lose Muscle Mass during Episodes of Fruit Scarcity

May 13, 2021 by News Staff

Wild Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) catabolize muscle tissue when the availability of fruit is low, according to new research led by Rutgers University...

Ardipithecus ramidus, a hominid that lived in Africa more then 4 million years ago. Illustration by Arturo Asensio, via Quo.es.

4.4-Million-Year-Old Ardipithecus Hand Reveals ‘Big Evolutionary Jump’

Feb 26, 2021 by News Staff

Paleoanthropologists from the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway, and South Africa have examined the fossilized hand of Ardipithecus ramidus, a...

Pika et al. conducted the first systematic, quantitative large-scale assessment of physical and social cognitive performance of common ravens (Corvus corax) with a special focus on development. Image credit: Ralph Capri23auto.

4-Months-Old Ravens Parallel Great Apes in Cognitive Skills, Study Shows

Dec 15, 2020 by News Staff

By 4 months of age, the cognitive performance of common ravens (Corvus corax) in experimental tasks is similar to those of two great ape species, chimpanzees...

Cechova et al. reconstructed the ancestral sequence of the great ape Y chromosome by comparing three existing (gorilla, human, and chimpanzee) and two newly-generated (orangutan and bonobo) Y chromosome assemblies. Image credit: Dani Zemba and Monika Cechova, Penn State University.

Researchers Sequence Y Chromosomes of Bonobos and Orangutans

Oct 7, 2020 by News Staff

The male-specific Y chromosome plays a critical role in sex determination and male fertility. However, because of its repetitive nature, it is frequently...

Gigantopithecus is Related to Modern-Day Orangutans, New Study Shows

Nov 14, 2019 by News Staff

Orangutans (genus Pongo) are the closest living relatives of Gigantopithecus blacki, the biggest primate that ever walked the Earth, according to new research...

Laumer et al show that orangutans can spontaneously innovate a hook tool out of a straight piece of wire to solve a novel problem. Image credit: Laumer et al, doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-34607-0.

Inventive Orangutans Make Hook Tools to Retrieve Food

Nov 12, 2018 by News Staff

Orangutans spontaneously make hook tools out of a straight piece of wire, using them to ‘fish’ for food. Laumer et al show that orangutans can spontaneously...

The Tapanuli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis). Image credit: Andrew Walmsley.

New Great Ape Species Found on Sumatra: Tapanuli Orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis)

Nov 2, 2017 by Natali Anderson

An international team of researchers has identified a new species of orangutan living on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Named the Tapanuli orangutan...

Humans aren’t the only ones who can tell when someone’s beliefs don’t match reality. Image credit: Jochemy.

Study: Great Apes Understand False Beliefs

Oct 10, 2016 by News Staff

According to a new study published in the journal Science, three different species of great apes — chimpanzee, bonobo, and orangutan — are...

Genomic location, organization and subexonic copy number variation of the MUC7 gene in the human reference genome: the gray bar indicates the chromosomal band where MUC7 resides; the zoomed-in version of the gene shows the two coding exons (thick blue bars), the UTR region at the 3’ and 5’ ends (thin blue bars) and intronic regions (blue line in-between exons). Start and end of the transcript are indicated by the numbers at each end. The different functional domains within the MUC7 protein are designated by different colors at the bottom of the panel. Image credit: D. Xu et al.

Study Provides New Insights into Evolution of Saliva in Primates

Aug 29, 2016 by News Staff

A new study in the journal Scientific Reports shows that adaptation isn’t just about creating new tools for survival, it’s also about tweaking the...

Indianapolis Zoo’s Orangutan Mimics Human Speech

Jul 28, 2016 by News Staff

Rocky, an eleven-year-old male orangutan living at Indianapolis Zoo, offers clues to how human speech evolved, according to new research led by Durham...

Cooper the chimp was raised by humans and had learned to swim (Renato Bender / Nicole Bender).

Chimpanzees, Orangutans Can Swim and Dive, Biologists Prove

Aug 16, 2013 by Natali Anderson

Two biologists reporting in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology say that they have documented for the first time the swimming and diving behavior...

Researchers Study How Orangutans Build Their Nests

Apr 17, 2012 by Natali Anderson

A team of researchers observing and filming orangutans at a research facility in Indonesia has found that they may be smarter than previously thought. Wild...