Tag Archives: primate

Everything to know about orangutans

Everything you need to know about orangutans. There are a lot of things, but if you want a quick run down of the species, what they’re like and the troubles they are facing in the wild. Orangutans are critically endangered, as over 50% of the orangutan population has been lost over the last 50 years. This is mainly due to hunting and habitat loss. There are quite a few different organizations working to save the orangutan, most notably OFI which was started by Dr. Birute Galdikas who conducted the first ever long term study of orangutans in 1971. Since then we have learned a lot about orangutans, especially in that they are extensive tool users and they are much more social than previously thought.

Click on the photo for the full infograph! (You won’t regret it!)

Click on the photo for the full infograph
Click on the photo for the full infograph

science and social media

Today is the age of social media. News papers and magazines are dying and people are now getting their information from places like Facebook, Twitter or… hey! even blogs like this one! Well, besides from online news sources like National Geographic or Science Daily who should you be following to get your daily dose of science? Well, lets take a look at a few of my favorite places gain some serious knowledge.

Photo from gettalkabout.com
Photo from gettalkabout.com

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tonkolili chimpanzee project

I am so excited to finally announce that I will be spending three magnificent weeks in Sierra Leon observing chimpanzees this summer. It has been a while since I published a personal post, since I have been waiting to hear back from a few different institutions regarding my future in primatology. But now that I am pumped full of excitement and vaccines, I think that it is safe to share a little bit about the Tonkolili Chimpanzee Project in the Tonkolili District of Sierra Leon in Western Africa.

Chimpanzees in Sierra Leon. Photo courtesy of the Arcus Foundation.
Chimpanzees in Sierra Leon. Photo courtesy of the Arcus Foundation.

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Aceh Protected Forest

I have been working on an independent project where I have been evaluating a series of protected areas around the world that are home to a variety of species of primates. I am doing so to evaluate what exactly is going wrong in these parks in comparison to some protected areas that are not overrun with illegal hunting, logging and development. One of the ‘parks in peril’ that I am examining is the Aceh Protected Forest. This forest is in Indonesia on the island of Sumatra which is being degraded at an alarming rate. Take a look at some of the information I’ve found:

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facebook

Hey guys! I am officially on Facebook and I would love it if you would follow my page so you can receive updates right to your wall! I also share more conservation news through links to photos and other stories so it’s a great resource for conservation and science news, and sometimes even some humor! So take some time, and click click click65627_690153007672380_216798954_n

orange october

What a better way to celebrate fall rolling in, pumpkins on front porches, halloween coming to town and, obviously, pumpkin ice-cream, than by celebrating orangutans! The Sumatran Orangutan Society, or SOS, is campaigning to make october all about orangutans and has provided you with 31 things to do to be a great OranguFan.

orangutan-and-pumpkin

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spontaneous classification

A new study suggests that orangutans (and one young gorilla) may be more capable of identifying types of animals than we had previously given them credit for. In the 1700’s Carolus Linneaus gave two names to each species, organizing species for the first time. He classified them in a hierarchical system, starting broad with kingdom, phylum, class, then getting more specific with family, genus, and finally the most specific, species. It took humans an embarrassingly long time to become so organized and look more critically at the animals we share our planet with.
20130912-150947.jpg

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world orangutan day

Happy World Orangutan Day! A day especially for those fuzzy arboreal apes, orangutans! Orangutans are very special apes, they are the only arboreal ape and they are the only ape in found outside of Africa! The name orangutan is derived from the Malay words ‘orang’ and ‘hutan.’ ‘Orang’ means person and ‘hutan’ means forest, giving the orangutan the name person of the forest. These people of the forest are an incredible look into the evolution of humans, with their intelligent eyes and knack for gentle parenting, but unfortunately we are destroying their habitat at an alarming rate. 300 football fields worth of forest are cut down every single day in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Photo by WWF-Population: about 41,000 (Bornean), about 7,500 (Sumatran)
Photo by WWF-Population: about 41,000 (Bornean), about 7,500 (Sumatran)

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tragedy at yasuni

Yasuni National Park in Ecuador has been dubbed the most diverse place in the world. The nearly 4,000 square miles are home to 150 species of amphibians, 121 species of reptiles, 382 species of fish, 596 species of birds, over 100,000 species of insects, and a number of un-contacted indigenous tribes. It comprises a mere 0.15% of the Amazon Basin but holds almost 1/3 of its amphibian and reptile species. This area is teeming with life, and yesterday, the government of Ecuador approved a plan to begin drilling for oil inside the boundaries of Yasuni National Park.

Photo from yourescapetoecuador.com
Photo from yourescapetoecuador.com

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odd animal profile: sunda flying lemur

It’s not a lemur, and it doesn’t fly, so the name is a little misleading. But I bet you’ve never heard of it before! This little gliding animal is pretty rare and in fact, there’s not much known about them. They’re not a new species, people just don’t seem to concerned with learning more about this fuzzy little creature.

Sunda Colugo  or Sunda Flying Lemur feeding

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