Chimps are meant to be our nearest relative, yet from whistling for fun to coming top in the IQ stakes, orang-utans seem even more like humans (Image: F1 Online / Rex)
Read our related editorial: We stand to lose that most human of apes
OF THE three great apes – orang-utans, gorillas and chimpanzees – orang-utans have always proved the most difficult to study in the wild. Reaching their habitat is arduous and dangerous because of the humidity and the heat, and the terrain they favour is often infested with leeches, mosquitoes, snakes, crocodiles, and in Sumatra, tigers.
When researchers finally arrived,…
