Orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus and Pongo abelii) understand connectivity in the skewered grape tool task.

2013 ◽  
Vol 127 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas J. Mulcahy ◽  
Michèle N. Schubiger ◽  
T. Suddendorf
Keyword(s):  
Pongo Pygmaeus ◽  
Pongo Abelii

Back to the wild: will reintroduction and rehabilitation help the long-term conservation of orang-utans in Indonesia?

2006 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanuelle Grundmann
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Tropical Rainforest ◽  
Pongo Pygmaeus ◽  
Rehabilitation Process ◽  
Pongo Abelii ◽  
Maternal Bond ◽  
Original Habitat ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Learning From Others

English The orang-utans (Pongo pygmaeus and Pongo abelii) living on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra are among the first victims of the large-scale deforestation and exploitation of the south-east tropical rainforest. Rehabilitation and reintroduction of confiscated orang-utans back into their original habitat were initiated in the 1960s. The orang-utan community that has been reintroduced in the Meratus forest since 1997 presents an ideal opportunity to study the successes and failures of the re-adaptation of individuals whose maternal bond has been broken at various ages, interrupting their learning phase. This study enables us to evaluate to what extent learning from others, including humans, is crucial to this process and in what ways ethology and ethnology might merge to achieve a better understanding of the rehabilitation process. French Les orangs-outans (Pongo pygmaeus et Pongo abelii) vivant sur les îles de Bornéo et Sumatra comptent parmi les premières victimes de la déforestation galopante pour l'exploitation du bois et les monocultures qui, aujourd'hui, mettent à mal les forêts tropicales du sud-est asiatique. La réhabilitation et la réintroduction dans leur habitat d'orangs-outans orphelins ayant été confisqués aux braconniers a débuté dans les années 1960. La communauté d'orangs-outans ayant été réintroduite dans la forêt de Meratus depuis 1997 offre une opportunité de choix pour étudier les succès et échecs du processus de réadaptation d'individus dont le lien maternel a été brisé à des âges variés, cassant, de fait, le processus d'apprentissage. Enfin, à travers cette étude, nous souhaitions évaluer dans quelle mesure l'apprentissage auprès d'autres individus, orangs-outans mais aussi humains, peut s'avérer crucial lors du processus d'apprentissage, mais aussi de quelle manière l'éthologie et l'ethnologie peuvent, de concert, permettre une meilleure compréhension du processus de réhabilitation.

scholarly journals Naïve orangutans (Pongo abelii & Pongo pygmaeus) individually acquire nut-cracking using hammer tools

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa Bandini ◽  
Johannes Grossmann ◽  
Martina Funk ◽  
Anna Albiach Serrano ◽  
Claudio Tennie
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Tool Use ◽  
Pongo Pygmaeus ◽  
Primate Species ◽  
Learning Mechanisms ◽  
Pongo Abelii ◽  
Unique Nature ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Nut Cracking ◽  
Age Range

AbstractNut-cracking using hammer tools has been argued to be one of the most complex tool-use behaviours observed in non-human animals (henceforth: animals). Recently, even the United Nations Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) recognised the unique nature of chimpanzee nut-cracking by making it the first animal behaviour to be awarded UN-protected status (Picheta, 2020). So far, only chimpanzees, capuchins and macaques have been observed using tools to crack nuts in the wild (Boesch & Boesch, 1990; Gumert, Kluck, & Malaivijitnond, 2009; Ottoni & Mannu, 2001). However, the learning mechanisms behind this behaviour, and the extent of nut-cracking in other primate species are still unknown. The aim of this study was two-fold. First, we aimed to examine whether other great ape species would develop nut-cracking when provided with all the tools and motivation to do so. Second, we wanted to examine the mechanisms behind the emergence of nut-cracking in a naïve sample. Orangutans (Pongo abelii; pygmaeus) have not been observed cracking nuts in the wild, despite having the second most extensive tool-use repertoire of the great apes (after chimpanzees), having the materials for the behaviour in the wild (albeit rarely) and possessing flexible problem-solving capacities. Therefore, orangutans are a valid candidate species for the investigation of the development of nut-cracking. Four nut-cracking-naïve orangutans at Leipzig zoo (Pongo abelii; Mage=16; age range=10-19; 4F; at time of testing) were provided with nuts and hammers but were not demonstrated the nut-cracking behavioural form, in order to control for the role of copying social learning in the acquisition of this behaviour. Additionally, we report data from a previously unpublished study by one of the authors (MF) with eight orangutans housed at Zürich zoo (10 Pongo abelii and two Pongo pygmaeus; Mage=14; age range =2-30; 5F; at time of testing) that followed a similar testing paradigm. Out of the twelve orangutans across both testing institutions, at least four individuals, one from Leipzig (Pongo abelii) and three from Zürich (Pongo abelii; pygmaeus), spontaneously expressed nut-cracking with a wooden hammer. These results suggest that the behavioural form of nut-cracking using hammer tools can emerge in orangutans when required through individual learning combined, in some cases, with non-copying social learning mechanisms.

scholarly journals Population Genomic Analysis Reveals a Rich Speciation and Demographic History of Orang-utans (Pongo pygmaeus and Pongo abelii)

PLoS ONE ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. e77175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Ma ◽  
Joanna L. Kelley ◽  
Kirsten Eilertson ◽  
Shaila Musharoff ◽  
Jeremiah D. Degenhardt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Demographic History ◽  
Genomic Analysis ◽  
Pongo Pygmaeus ◽  
Pongo Abelii ◽  
Population Genomic ◽  
History Of
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