Every Day Is Special: orangutan

Showing posts with label orangutan. Show all posts

August 19 - International Orangutan Day

Posted on August 19, 2020

Endangered Bornean orangutans.

And critically endangered Sumatran orangutans.

Victims of people cutting down forests. Victims of people using palm oil.

Today is their day - and we can spread awareness of the problem, donate to the Orangutan Project (which gets high marks - 98.58 out of 100! - for transparency and responsible spending), and learn about - and then learn more about these great apes.

Did you know...?

Orangutans spend most of their time in trees - and they are the largest mammal to do that!

And when I say "largest" - some are about 200 pounds!

Orangs share about 96.4% of our (humans') genes. Needless to say, they are highly intelligent. They use sticks as tools to get termites, ants, or bees out of tree holes, and at least one tried spearfishing using a stick! Orangs sometimes use large leaves as a protective "glove" when dealing with a thorny plant!

They make a sleeping platform (basically, a nest) every night by pulling large branches together and then weaving thin, supple branches to hold them that way. They add smaller, leafy branches to fluff up the "mattress" - and they sometimes even add a roof!

Also on this date:

World Photo Day

Wooden-clock-maker Seth Thomas's birthday

National Aviation Day

Root beer entrepreneur Charles Hires's birthday

Apple Spas in Russia

Birthday of U.S. President Bill Clinton

International Bow Day

Independence Day in Afghanistan

Islamic New Year

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

May 10 - Happy Birthday, Biruté Galdikas

Posted on May 10, 2020

Lithuania, USSR, Germany, Canada, US, Indonesia...

Who could ever expect her life to be so global?

Born on this day in 1946, Biruté Galdikas had Lithuanian parents who fled from the USSR's occupation of their homeland, after World War II, to Germany. That's where little Biruté was born. But when she was just two, the family moved to Canada, and that's where Galdikas was brought up.

As a teenager, Galdikas was fascinated by Jane Goodall's work with chimpanzees and Dian Fossey's work with gorillas - as reported by National Geographic Magazine.

Galdikas's family moved again, this time to the U.S., and Galdikas attended the University of California Los Angeles. She got her Bachelor's degree in psychology and zoology and her Master's in anthropology.

...And during those studies she was able to meet Louis Leakey, the guy who fostered Goodall's and Fossey's work on primates. Galdikas was able to convince him and the staff at National Geographic to send her to Borneo, which is part of Malaysia and Indonesia, in Southeast Asia.

Why Borneo? Galdikas wanted to study the great ape that had not yet been studied with the kind of long-term observation that Goodall and Fossey had given to chimps and gorillas. That last-but-not-least great ape was the orangutan.

Galdikas arrived in Borneo at age 25, and she has led what is described as the lengthiest continuous study of a mammal ever conducted.

By the way, Galdikas got her own National Geographic cover:

Galdikas is still living a global life. Her work continues in Borneo, she is a university professor in Canada and Indonesia, and she is president of the Orangutan Foundation International, headquartered in Los Angeles.