February 14, 2014

Why did the orang-utan come down from the trees?

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New study reveals hitherto undocumented extent of orang-utan terrestriality

Orang-utans come down from the trees and spend more time on the ground than previously realised – but this behaviour may be partly influenced by man, a new study has found.

Dr Mark Harrison, based in the Department of Geography at the University of Leicester and Managing Director of the Orang-utan Tropical Peatland Project (OuTrop) has, along with international colleagues, published results of a seven year study of orang-utans in Borneo in the journal Scientific Reports.