Orangutans climbed the mountain, crossed the river because of love

When the instinct to maintain the race rises, Sumatran orangutans are ready to cross many mountains, rivers and forests to find their mates.

About 6,600 orangutans are living on Indonesia's Sumatra island. Once raging across the island, they are now just hovering around a few forests on the northern edge of Sumatra. Because the forests are far apart, the chances of finding heterosexual orangutans in other flocks are more difficult. So many people are concerned about the risk of inbreeding (the phenomenon of blood-related animals intercourse) of the Sumatran orangutans will increase.

A new study shows that, despite narrowing the scope of living, male orangutans on Sumatra island still forest, cross rivers, climb mountains to find partners in areas far from their territory.

Alexander Nater, a Ph.D., is working at the Research Institute and the Zurich Museum of Anthropology in Switzerland, and his colleagues followed the orangutans on Sumatra to explore the impact of deforestation on their lives. The team found that orangutans did not sleep in a fixed place. Every night they make a new nest with branches and leaves to sleep. Experts climbed many trees to get the orangutans' feathers in the nests they abandoned. They analyzed DNA from feathers, blood and orangutans to make their genealogy.

The analytical results show that female orangutans are always close to their mother. In contrast, male orangutans leave the mother when they reach the reproductive age. They cross rivers and mountains to reach other forests and mate with the females there. This behavior helps orangutans reduce the risk of inbreeding.

'That behavior helps orangutans improve the quality of the descendants and increase the level of genetic diversity, but it is a threat to them in the context of the ongoing Sumatra island deforestation , ' the group said. Research comments.

Dr. Nater said that the land on Sumatra island is very fertile and suitable for palm trees. So many companies are trying to destroy the forest to establish palm plantations.

'The life of orangutans depends entirely on the remaining forests on the island , ' Nater said.