The orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) has the least humanoid general appearance of all the great apes yet the face of a mature male, with his bushy moustache, long beard and general demeanour of calmness and grandeur, is suggestive of a wise old man. Orangutan means 'wild person' or 'man of the woods' in Malay and Indonesian and early explorers thought the animal was indeed a strange human.
The orangutan moves through the forest following the ripening of different species of date, its favourite food. It also eats leaves, bark, buds and flowers, the occasional insect, egg or small vertebrate, and mineral-rich soil. It is protected but poaching goes on, mainly to supply the pet and zoo trade, and both numbers and range are declining. Deforestation for the planting of palm-oil trees is a major threat.
A captive animal has been known to live to the age of 59, the oldest non-human primate recorded.
