ORANG UTAN, THE EVIDENCE OF ANIMAL DIVERSITY IN INDONESIA

Orang Utan, picture by: http://www.goolooloo.com/

Orang Utan, or often also called Mawas is similar to apes whose habitat in the forest of Borneo and Sumatra. The term Urang Utan is taken from Indonesian Language, which means forest man (Orang = man and Utan = forest). Unlike most monkeys, Orang Utan has a relatively large weight and fat, big-necked, long arms and strong, short legs and bowed, and does not have a tail. Orang Utan generally has brownish-red hair.

Orang Utan, picture taken from: http://www.tripinbrooklyn.wordpress.com/

Orang Utan mostly lives in dense trees and makes a nest of leaves. These animals can live in various forest types, ranging from forest hills and plains, watersheds, freshwater swamp forests, peat swamp, dry land in the mangrove swamps and palm, to the mountain forests. Most of Orang Utan eats plants, although this animals is categorized as omnivores.

At present, Orang Utan is almost extinct. In addition to increasing their habitats threatened by the existence of humans, Orang Utan, especially the Orang Utan babies are often sold by the hunters to be as pets. However, the more parties have attention to save these cute animals from extinction. Various efforts and protection have been carried both by the Government of the Republic of Indonesia itself and the animal lovers around the world.

For Indonesia itself, the uniqueness of Orang Utan is also one of the means to attract researchers as well as to introduce an Indonesian name to the international world.