Dr Serge Wich - Orangutans Compared - 1 of 6

Recent genetic and morphological work suggests that orangutans do not constitute one species, but actually two species with at least three subspecies: Pongo abelii on Sumatra, and Pongo pygmaeus on Borneo comprising three subspecies - P. p. pygmaeus, P. p. wurmbii, and P. p. morio. The genetic data indicates that the two species have diverged over more than a million years ago and that even the three subspecies on Borneo diverged more than 860,000 years ago. Possibly because of the differences in fruit availability on the two islands, there are several differences in behavior and development between the two species and perhaps also between the subspecies. The differences range from orangutan
density, to diet, interbirth intervals and culture. I will provide an overview of these differences and attempt to provide a framework in which to understand them. I will also discuss the conservation implications of these differences.

Dr. Wich has been studying orangutans in Sumatra since 1995 and in Borneo since 2003. Recently, he has been studying orangutan cultures in two populations, one on Sumatra and one on Borneo, editing an important book on orangutan differences across Borneo and Sumatra, and developing a new site to study the southernmost orangutan population in Sumatra. He is a research scientist at the Great Ape Trust of Iowa.

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