The Legend of the Red Man

           

Hello boys and girls. Today we shall seek a legend, one that is real and still exists to this day. Today we shall seek the legend of the red haired primate. Now I know what you are thinking: this tall 6th grader must know a lot! and my dear friends, it’s true. There is a red haired primate called the orangutan, living within our midst. Okay, they are not really living amongst us, but they are living on this Earth. Did you know that the orangutan has shown from studies that it is one of the most intelligent non-human primates? There was a study that proved this, scientists putting their memory to the test. This study tested to see if orangutans could track the displacement of objects both physical and hidden. The orangutan remembered what the toy was and where it was placed. Even if it was placed behind something they would still find it. They remembered the toy and where it was placed. It was amazing. Everyone was astonished. Doesn’t that intrigue you?

“Now, little Johnny, I see your hand up. Can it wait, little guy? OK, OK, you can go to the restroom – BUT!  – you must not touch the floor, ‘mkay? You may go as long as you swing your way to the potty, ok, li’l Johnny?”

Now my friends as we move on, let’s learn more about when the orangutan showed up in this world. The orangutan was actually documented to have been around during the Miocene Age (a biological time period). The Miocene age happened 24.1 to 19.7 million years ago. That means even our parents aren’t old enough to remember! But things have to end sometimes. After the age had ended, the Bornean and the Sumatran orangutans diverged. Scientists said that diverging occurred over 400,000 years ago. But even though the orangutan may have been around for a long time, human and chimpanzee DNA is said to have evolved faster than the orangutans.

The name orangutan comes from the Malay word “orang” which means person and “hutan” which means forest. Combined, the word orangutan means the person of the forest. They were known by the natives for over a millennia. The primate is also called “maias” in Sarawak, and also known as “mawas” in parts of Borneo and Sumatra. But as time moved on, so did the names of the orangutans. First, in 1758 the orangutan was described scientifically as Homo sylvestris. The orangutan got this name from Carl Linnaeus as documented in his Systema Naturae. But in 1760, the orangutan was given a new name, Simia Pygmaeus, this time by Christian Emmanuel Hopp, a student of Linnaeus. Finally, in 1799 the orangutan was named Pongo by a man by the name of Lacépède. 

“Johnny, you’re back. Let me see your shoes. I see no dirt. Great job on swinging your way to the bathroom. Wait a minute. Did you wash your hands with soap?”

“No.”

“Oh, does Johnny want his teddy bear? Oh so soft…”

“No Denis, you took that away from me and now I can’t find it.”

“Try looking in your back pack dumbie…”

” – Okay right now we are getting off topic so lets put our attention towards me… mkay?”

Now moving onto the topic of biological health of the orangutan: the orangutan has a system of power. If you were the eldest in the group, then you would have complete control and are named the alpha male. If you were younger, then you had less power. If the male leaves or perishes then the younger male takes his place. Like you and your parents. 

“What the? Denis, I see you: don’t think that you are at the top of this class pushing Timmy around… No! don’t you dare think that. I will make you go in Time Out.”

 Okay now going back into- ! 

“No! Now what did I just say Denis! Go into the corner! Do you want me to call your parents? No!? Okay! Stand in the Time Out square for the rest of class and don’t even think about coming out of there. I will deal with you later. Are you okay Timmy? You are, thank goodness. Now where were we? Oh right, now, back to the power status of the red man.”

Male orangutans at the age of 15 start maturing. If they do not have the attributes that a normal male orangutan does such as pronounced jaw (through pouches) and long fur they are experiencing arrested development; when the alpha male leaves the group, these features appear to the younger orangutans.

This seems to be a psychological effect that is taken to a new level. Male orangutans of the social hierarchy have flanged (pronounce it with me class: Faaalaaanged… faaalaanged… Good!) cheeks in order to make out a long call to a female orangutan. They use their call as well, to communicate with their rivals. Young male orangutans do not have this special ability. By the older male leaving, the younger male takes up the reigns. 

“Hm? What’s that Denis? Are you ready to take my place? Hey do you think you are the alpha here, Denis? Not so fast kid! WHO TOLD YOU THAT YOU COULD SIT DOWN!?”

“Mister? Are you ok? Your cheeks are getting really red!”

“Amelia, I’m fine.”

“OK, if you say so…”.

“Denis! Stand up and face the corner! Now I will not ask again!”

Now I am sure that we all get the question in our minds, when can we eat, and, what is there to eat? Well believe it or not an orangutan also needs to eat as well. An orangutan’s diet consists partly of leaves, fruits and other sorts of food items on the menu. Collecting and ingesting the leaves though is time consuming, becoming roughly a quarter of this ape’s daily schedule. Also, when an orangutan is foraging for some fruit it takes them even longer to do so. But it is worth it to take more time to get to eat such great fruit rather than just always eating those pathetic leaves. Would you want to eat leaves? I think not. Still even if there are fruits an orangutan’s diet will still be composed out of 10-20% leaves. If there is not enough food including fruit the demand for leaves increases. 

“Is it lunch time yet?” 

“Timmy! Did I see your hand go up?  I would have never expected this from you. I would have expected this out of Denis but never out of my star student. Next time please raise your hand. Now going back into-” 

“Wait a minute, you told me I was your star student. Are you lying to me now?” 

“Gia, please be quiet and raise your hand next time.”

“I don’t care: can’t I get my sandwich out and my juice box and we all can be happy?”

“Timmy, do you want to spend the rest of class in the timeout corner with Denis?” 

“Yeah, Timmy ‘ow about you share the fun with me? Just Denis and Timmy in the Time Out corner! Come on over Timmy! Come on, Timbones!”

“Denis be quiet and stop aggravating Timmy. As for you Timmy, you will stay inside for lunch time and eat inside the classroom! No more interruptions in class anymore. If we don’t finish this story before lunch time, all of you are staying in! Now let me continue.”

Orangutans practice geophagy which means consuming earth substances such as soil for example. Also, apes may eat tubes of soil made by termites that are found on the tree trunks. Orangutans also go to the ground to get soil to eat. So, in a way you can say you and the orangutan have a very different diet… unless that is, you like to eat dirt.

“Now I before I go on I must ask, does anyone have a phone? And please before you say something raise your-” 

“I do!” 

“Amelia, what did I just say.” 

“Dat I waise my hand befow I speak?”

“Yes, and what did you do?”

“I am sawey. I was going to but you didn’t caw on me for so long dat… so… I said it.” 

“Okay then. I will ask another question. Please raise your hand this time if you would like to say something.  To anyone who has used a phone… have you texted anyone or called anyone on the phone like you grandparents? Thank you Amelia, for raising your hand. Now what would you like to say?” 

“Yes, I have, and in fact I have even talked with da pwesident on da phone: he is really nice by da way. Actually we first met when – .”

“Okay Amelia that is a good story for another time, but thank you for answering my question. Let’s get back to the story. So now you know that people can communicate by the phone- .” 

“Duh!” 

“Denis, another word and you will stay inside the classroom during lunch every single day of the year until school ends. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yeah sure. Whatever.”

“Let’s try to move along and get back to the story.”

Now, orangutans can also communicate. Not in the way you think though – well, orangutans communicate as… well. Who would have thought?! Orangutans communicate through multiple sounds in their voice. In order to attract female orangutans, the males make long calls. This also can be heard by other male orangutans acting as a territorial boundary cry. In order to communicate with her offspring a mother orangutan uses signs from her body. Some of these signs could include stomping, shaking a body part, or even beckoning. Orangutans show laughter-like vocalizations while doing a physical activity such as wrestling or playing games. So I guess orangutans are like us in the way that we like to play.

“Yeah. So when is this stupid lecture going to be over so I can play?”

“Denis, I don’t think you understand. While everyone goes out to play you get to stay inside with me all lunch. In fact, you will write me an apology letter and I will talk to your parents while you do so. And don’t think that I want to do this.” 

“Yay! Denis bullies me so much I hate him.” 

“Is that true Timmy?” 

“Yes.” 

“You all are traitors, leaving me in the dust like that? I’ll get revenge. We both will, me and Tom. Right Tom?

“No Denis. I’m with Timmy on this one – you always push me around.”

“But, but, but you were always my friend since childhood.” 

“Yeah, well forget it. We are honestly better off alone.” 

“Fine who needs a friend like you anyway. And you know what. I AM better off alone. I don’t need you to drag me down. And-”

“Enough! Both of you. Tom and Denis we can settle this later, right now it is class time. So lets try to finish the lecture that took me three weeks to prepare. Now where were we? Oh yes.”

Now maybe you might want to move away from your parents when you grow up. You might even want to live alone. Orangutans are actually the most solitary of the great apes. But even though they lead a solitary lifestyle they are social as well. Yet the different species of orangutans differ in their social structure. For example, Bornean orangutans are more social than Sumatran orangutans. By age 11 orangutans have eventually gone away and made their own homes. But the two genders of orangutans have a different perspective of where to establish their homes. For example, female orangutans stay closest to their mothers while establishing a home while the males go farther away. 

“Dat’s wong I tink. I would just stay by myself foweva and eva and move away from my pawents da first chance I can get.” 

“Uh, teacher. Amelia is making rude comments. One of those comments was she wanted to move away from her parents. Like really, REALLY far away.” 

“Hey stop being such a brown nose – suck-up to the teacher Gia!” 

“Yeah, what Denis said.”

“Gia why did you lie to me. That is disappointing. Yes, Timmy what do you want?”

“Gia is telling the truth I swear.”

“NO because-”

“No your telling th-”

“Shut up you big-”

“Blah blah blah…”

“Chit Chat”

“STOP!! You know what I want? A vacation far away from you because I am tired of listening to you bickering! I am sure every single teacher in the hall wants to move away you know why! Because all their classes are just like this! Try to survive every day with torment from children. We all want to go to lunchtime with mocktails and sunbathing but we don’t get that pleasure. You guys are in third grade. You should know this by now! So now that I told the truth does anyone want to say anything right now? Good. We are almost done with the lecture. Let us try to get through this as soon as possible.”

Sadly, the orangutans’ time in the wild was gone too soon. In the 19th century orangutans were being held in captivity. In 1817 when an orangutan joined London’s Exeter Exchange the ape was shown in a recording (in a book). The recording seemed to have been documented by showing the ape shunning the preferred accompaniment of other animals. Rather, it preferred the accompaniment of humans. This is an interesting revelation considering the fact that we were the ones imprisoning them. I mean if someone like your friend for example locked you in a closet for the night on purpose and not with your permission would you still want to hang out with him or her? My answer is I think you would not.

            Now this lecture comes to a close, yet there is still so much more we can do for this animal and so much more that we can learn about it. We can learn more about its behaviors and its diet for example. Because maybe unlocking the secrets of the red haired primate can help us unlock the secrets of the forest and maybe even the world itself. So that you are sitting on this journey with me. I hope that you now know more than you did about the legend of the red haired primate.

            BRINNG!!

            “Yaaay!’

            “I am so done with this class.”

            “Denis, Gia, Tom, Amelia, and Timmy wait. “Now class before you go remember this that you all are the primates of the forest and your forest is school. Remember that the teachers are your alphas. Remember that even when you go off and leave me a part of me that this story will always be connected to you. You guys are like family to me but family has to listen to each other right?”

“Yeah I guess.”

“Thank you Gia. Now I will make you five a deal. I will not keep you inside that classroom during lunch. But you must not fight in class or anywhere anymore. Am I heard clear?”

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you teacher!”

“Okay, now go have fun.”