Exhibition "In the Forests of Borneo"
Bornean orangutan
Research in the forest | Bornean orangutan (you're here) | Birds | Mammals | Plants | Men
video transcription
As I did so the huge beast turned, and it fell dead to a bullet in the chest (...) It was quite dark when we reached the lanko, loaded with orang-utansAs I did so the huge beast turned, and it fell dead to a bullet in the chest (...) It was quite dark when we reached the lanko, loaded with orang-utans.
Odoardo Beccari, 1902
The large male Bornean orangutan on display comes from the Giacomo Doria Natural History Museum in Genoa and was killedby Odoardo Beccari in the spring of 1867. It belongs to a mature form, with prominent fat pads that make its face broad and flat, which Beccari referred to, following the local Daiacchi usage, as “Mayas tciapping.”
The pages recounting Beccari’s ‘casual’ hunting of orangutans are both impressive and horrifying to us modern readers. Yet today, the dramatic decline of the species is driven more by our everyday choices than by hunting. Letus remember him whenever we consider buying products containing palm oil or parquet made from tropical woods!
Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus). Original drawing by Odoardo Beccari. Library of Sciences, University of Florence (University Library System).
Orangutans are among the primates most similar to humans, after gorillas and chimpanzees. Endemic to the Indo-Malayan archipelago, researchers today recognize three distinct species, geographically and genetically separated: the Bornean, Sumatran, and Tapanuli orangutans.
They are peaceful, strictly vegetarian animals that spend their days in small family groups, moving among the high treetops in search of leaves and fruits. Although officially protected by the governments of the three countries where they live (Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei), they remain severely threatened by the destruction of the forest habitats essential to their survival. The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) classifies all three species as “Critically Endangered” (CR).
Portraits of male orangutans. From left to right: Bornean, Sumatran, and Tapanuli species. Photos by Eric Kilby, Aiwok, and Tim Laman, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.