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Study: Orangutans don't use much energy

Wed, 08/04/2010 - 04:02 by Prince damin

St. Louis -- Orangutans in captivity are supreme "couch potatoes," scientists say, expending less energy in relation to body mass than almost any other large mammal.

Despite activity levels similar to orangutans living in the wild, animals studied at the Great Ape Trust, a 230-acre indoor/outdoor habitat in Des Moines, Iowa, used less energy than even sedentary humans, a release by Washington University in St. Louis said Tuesday.

"It's like finding a sloth in your family tree," study author Herman Pontzer, assistant professor of anthropology, said. "It's remarkably low energy use."

Orangutans leaving Des Moines

Fri, 11/20/2009 - 07:44 by harsheeb

Des Moines -- The Great Ape Trust plans to move its orangutans from its flood-damaged facility in Des Moines, Iowa, to another city, officials said.

The trust campus on the outskirts of Des Moines will continue to be home to six bonobos, The Des Moines Register reported. But last year's flood ended the trust's plan to expand its facility in Des Moines, adding the study of chimpanzees and gorillas.

The orangutans are scheduled to move in 2013. The trust said it has signed an agreement with an unidentified zoo, but officials would not say Wednesday whether it was the Indianapolis Zoo, which has plans to open a great ape exhibit.

Humans related to orangutans, not chimps

Mon, 06/22/2009 - 21:22 by Inderjit Singh

Pittsburg -- A U.S. study suggests humans are more likely related to orangutans and not chimpanzees, as is commonly proposed.

Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh and the Buffalo Museum of Science said they view as "problematic" the popular suggestion, based on DNA analysis, that humans are most closely related to chimpanzees. They said that hypothesis is not supported by fossil evidence.

University of Pittsburgh Professor Jeffrey Schwartz and John Grehan, director of science at the Buffalo museum, conducted a detailed analysis of the physical features of living and fossil apes. They said their findings suggest humans, orangutans and early apes belong to a group separate from chimpanzees and gorillas.