Test Your Orangutan IQ!
Take our eight-question quiz to see how much you know about orangutans and their treetop homes. Check your score in the ANSWERS tab to the right.
- Orangutans are monkeys—TRUE or FALSE?
- Orangutans and humans share what percentage of the same DNA?
- Which of the following are top orangutan predators?
a) Sumatran tigers
b) Humans
c) Pythons
d) All of the above
- Orangutans are skilled spear fishermen—TRUE or FALSE?
- Orangutans sleep with:
a) A pillow
b) A blanket
c) A mattress
d) All of the above
- Baby orangutans do which of the following?
a) Smile at their mothers
b) Cry when they are hungry or hurt
c) Nurse from their mothers
d) Learn what foods to eat from their mothers
e) Stay with their mothers through infancy, until they are six or seven years old
f) All of the above
- Orangutans spend what percentage of their time in the trees?
a) 50%
b) 60%
c) 90%
d) 93%
- Since orangutans are already critically endangered, they are pretty much a lost cause and nothing can be done to save them—TRUE OR FALSE?
- FALSE. Orangutans are great apes, not monkeys. In evolutionary terms, orangutans (and chimpanzees, gorillas and bonobos) are closer to humans than to monkeys.
- 97%
- d) Pythons and tigers hunt orangutans, but humans and human activity pose the greatest threat to orangutans. An estimated 1,000 or so are captured and sold into the illegal pet trade every year, while thousands more fall victim to habitat loss and poaching.
- FALSE. But they have been seen trying to use spears to catch fish—just one of many examples of orangutans creating and using tools, a sign of highly developed intelligence. They have also been seen covering their heads with leaf “umbrellas” during rainstorms, scratching their backs with single sticks, chewing leaves to make sponges that can absorb water from hard-to-reach-places, and using leafy branches for fly swatters!
- d) Another example of orangutan intelligence is their elaborate nest-building, which includes constructing mattresses, pillows and blankets out of leaves, twigs and branches. They like to get cozy, just like us.
- f) Yes, it’s true! Orangutan babies are a lot like human babies!
- c) Orangutans spend 90% of their time in the trees—which is why deforestation is so devastating to them. They are not built to survive on the ground: the trees are their home.
- FALSE. While orangutans are indeed on the brink of extinction, there is still hope for them! Whooping cranes, one species of grey whales and panda bears have all beat the odds and started to bounce back, thanks to intense commitment and effort from conservationists and caring individuals like you.
