How Orangutans Are Fighting For Their Lives

Evolution provides a way for a species to survive by adapting to ever-changing environments. Our species has evolved from apes, and recently scientists are beginning to believe that we evolved specifically from orangutans.

We are human, and we have a strong desire to live and thrive. We have survived through evolution. We have an attitude of perseverance, and we never give up. Orangutans share this desire….and orangutans will fight for their lives.

Join me in this visual journey (I gathered this information from MailDaily, a UK online news site).
----------
What was once a lush, thriving home for orangutans, has been destroyed.



Orangutans are scared of water. It is very unusual for them to swim because of predators, such as crocodiles. Orangutans, when forced to cross water, have swung from tree to tree.


To adapt to ever changing environments, orangutans have done something that has stunned experts - they have taken to the water! Forced to cross waters where tree's have been cut down, they are learning to swim through water to survive.


'This is a rarity - to see orangutans coming down for a swim is unheard of in the wild,' says Simon Husson, scientific consultant for the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation.

'However, we know that orangutans are intelligent and innovative.

'They try out different behaviours, or ways of solving problems in their environment, and over time develop cultural innovations.'



The orangutans are learning to use the water as a resource, like these orangutans who have found food.



These particular orangutans have been saved by an orangutan sanctuary after their homes were destroyed. Adapting to water has created a new, fun hobby for these relatives of ours...swimming and wading! Here's a picture of an orangutan enjoying the water after a meal.



The spirit in these orangutans is so human. Primates are the most ancient of the mammal families - and they date back to the age of the dinosaurs! They have lasted so long - much longer than us. They have survived through good conditions and bad, and now we are going to kill them so we can add an unnecessary ingredient to our cookies and soaps and coffee creamers.

Please, consider your stance. These orangutans want to survive. We have evolved in a way that gives us the chance to save their entire species.

All you have to do is stop buying products that contain palm oil. They are fighting for their lives.

10 years. 96.7% genetically related. Your choice.

Orangutans and Human Evoluation

The Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology conducted an investigation pertaining to Orangutan problem solving skills. Orangutans were given a tube with a floating peanut inside, and an incentive (reward) to get the peanut out of the tube. All the orangutans collected water from a well and spat it inside the tube to get the peanut!

This is a very fascinating discovery because it shows the thinking capacity of orangutans. They can problem-solve on their own, as well as use water as a tool.

Orangutans also make musical instruments, by taking leaves off a twig. Scientists say that this is the first time an animal has been “known to use a tool to help it communicate”.

The orangutans will put the leaves in their mouth to lower the frequency of their call. This helps ward off predators, and orangutans will use this when they feel threatened, and to communicate to other orangutans nearby. The leaves make their call sound ‘bigger’ so the predators think they are dealing with a large animal, even if the are not.

Orangutans frequently use and make tools to obtain food, and some are quite innovative.
Tool making is how we trace the evolution of human culture.

Jane Goodall observed chimpanzee’s making tools, and on her website it says: Until then, experts thought humans were the only animals who could make tools. In fact, tool-making was part of scientists' definition of "human.”
If tool-making was something only humans could do, does this make chimps human? Jane’s discovery opened a new debate about what it really means to be a human being.

Sustainable Palm Oil isn't Sustainable

Will Orangutans exist in 2020? It's your choice.

Sustainable palm oil is in its early stages of implementation. As of now it isn't regulated, there are simply guidelines to follow. There is no legal framework surrounding the requirements of sustainable palm oil. Plantations are LYING and saying they are sustainable, but they ARE NOT. NO ONE IS ENFORCING OR REGULATING IT - IT'S AN "honor code". It will take years before sustainable palm oil has legal requirements/penalties.

Unfortunately we don't have years. IN TEN YEARS ORANGUTANS WILL BE EXTINCT. We don't have time to see if we can create and pass laws for sustainable palm oil plantations to follow. 

Also, "sustainable" means that those plantations produce lower emissions. But has nothing to do with saving Orangutans from being extinct.

DON'T BUY PALM OIL. SHOW THE WORLD WE ARE EDUCATED CONSUMERS AND WON'T BE FOOLED BY THESE COMPANIES!

Will Orangutans exist in 2020? It's your choice.