The Phoenix Zoo is a great place to learn about close to 400 different animal species and their habitats. In the Tropics Trail, you will find the orangutans. Orangutans are a great ape in the genus of pongo . There are three species of an orangutan—Sumatran, Bornean, and Tapanuli—and all come from Indonesia.
At the Phoenix Zoo, there are four Bornean orangutans: Bess, Michael, Raima, and Wgasa. I met with Senior Primate Keeper, Amy Dietz. She was super kind, knowledgeable from working at the Phoenix Zoo for 18 years, and gave me very good answers to my questions. I wanted to know about the challenges of caring for them in a zoo and about their abilities, especially about how orangutans make and use tools for certain purposes.
In the wild, an orangutan might use wood rods for fishing out termites from their mounds or rocks to crack open nuts. She said it’s much the same at the Zoo. Bess often makes umbrellas and hats made from leafy branches and palm fronds. These are just the tip of the iceberg of orangutan tool use.
She said, “They are very intelligent, and they are very strong, and they can be very destructive.” One orangutan tested around 90 IQ! That’s one of the smartest non-human animals. Because of their intelligence, the zoo staff has to constantly keep orangutans busy doing puzzles or enrichment to exercise their brains. Often the enrichment includes a reward, usually food, the thing that all animals love!
All the orangutans use tools to get the treats in their enrichment activities, like using a branch to reach nuts. Orangutans are also incredibly strong! They are seven-times stronger than the average man and can lift three times their own body weight. Such strength means they might have the capability to be dangerous, but most of them are gentle giants. Known as very peaceful animals, they do not like getting in a fight. Still, she does take a lot of precautions to be safe around these large apes.
We share around 97% of our DNA with orangutans. They act, play, think, love, and grieve very similar to modern humans. They are so much like us, that humans and orangutans can have strong relationships and friendships. Some have even learned to communicate with us using sign language or with a large machine that has buttons with symbols that apes could memorize and learn what they mean.
Orangutans truly are incredible animals, but they are critically endangered. Orangutans’ forests and lives are being cut down for lumber and to clear land for palm oil plantations. Part of the mission of the Phoenix Zoo is to let people know how we can save orangutans. I know Indonesia seems far away and the problem seems very big, but even as a kid you can do things to stop what is harming these amazing animals and their habitats.
Amy gave us some ways everyone can help. First, stop buying products with palm oil from unsustainable resources. Second, download an app from Cheyenne Mountain Zoo to check what kind of palm oil is used in the products you buy. Third, learn more about orangutans so you can appreciate how important they are to the world.
Visiting the Phoenix Zoo is a fun and educational experience that everyone will enjoy. I have my favorite part, and I hope you go to find yours, too. There is so much to learn about these extraordinary animals, and I hope that you will try some new ways that will protect them. The Phoenix Zoo is located in Papago Park at 455 N Galvin Pkwy, Phoenix.
ORANGUTAN PHOTO: phoenixzoo.org
