In a steamy rainforest, an orangutan scales a tree, gripping and grabbing with fingers and toes. Palm fronds rustle. At the top, it uses its teeth and hairy hands to rip away the bark, revealing the ivory-colored center, the “heart of the palm.” High in the sky, the creature crunches on the tender stalk.
In a field nearby, Serge Wich, biologist, ecologist, and professor at Liverpool John Moores University in England, is studying orangutans. Wich and his colleague, Lian Pin Koh, are working in Sumatra, an Indonesian island in Asia. They’re running a series of tests with one of the first drones ever used to study wildlife. It’s 2011, and drones aren’t yet common. They cobbled this one together from spare parts. They need to count orangutan nests to monitor the population, and they’re hoping this drone can help.
Why Study Orangutans?
These shaggy apes face many threats. They live in tropical rainforests on Sumatra and Borneo, but the lush forests are under siege. Agriculture, mining, logging, and palm oil plantations are destroying and dividing the land. Palm oil is found in many foods and products you use, like chocolate, potato chips, and soap. Orangutans eat mainly fruit, but loggers prize the hardwood from these trees.
The apes are also hunted. “They wander into gardens or onto palm oil plantations,” says Wich. “People don’t want them there, so they kill them. On both islands, they still eat them on occasion.” Every year since 1990, the number of orangutans has declined by several thousand.
Denne historien er fra April 2024-utgaven av Muse Science Magazine for Kids.
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Denne historien er fra April 2024-utgaven av Muse Science Magazine for Kids.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Who's Your Cousin?
The great apes are among the most popular animals in most zoos. Their actions, facial expressions, and family life remind us so much of ourselves. Have you ever wondered, though, how we might look to them?
Is it possible to die of boredom?
To figure out if we can die of boredom, we first have to understand what boredom is. For help, we called James Danckert, a psychologist who studies boredom at the University of Waterloo in Canada.
THE PROBLEM WITH PALM OIL
Palm oil is all around you. It’s in sugary snacks like cookies and candy bars. It’s in lipstick and shampoo and pet food.
SERGE WICH
Serge Wich’s favorite days at work are spent out in the forest, studying orangutans in Sumatra and Borneo or chimpanzees in Tanzania.
ELODIE FREYMANN
When you’re feeling sick, it probably doesn’t occur to you to try eating tree bark.
Guardians of the Forest
EARLY, MAKESHIFT WILDLIFE DRONES HELPED TO DETECT AND PROTECT ORANGUTANS.
APE ANTICS
The Whirling World of primate play
Dr. Ape Will See You Now
HUMANS AREN’T THE ONLY PRIMATES THAT USE MEDICATION.
THE LEFT OVERS
A lot has happened for modern humans to get to this point. We lost most of our hair, learned how to make tools, established civilizations, sent a person to the Moon, and invented artificial intelligence. Whew! With all of these changes, our bodies have changed, too. It’s only taken us about six million years.
SO, WHAT IS A PRIMATE?
What do you have in common with the aye-aye, sifaka, siamang, and potto? If you said your collarbone, you re probably a primatologist—a person who studies primates. If you’re not, read on.