Great Apes - Utah's Hogle Zoo

Great Apes are from the taxonomic group of hominids. This group includes gorillas, orangutans, bonobos, chimpanzees, and humans.

The Great Apes are from the taxonomic group of hominids. This group includes gorillas, orangutans, bonobos, chimpanzees, and humans!

The great apes are large, tailless primates whose physical and mental qualities closely resemble many human traits. Most species are omnivorous, but fruit is the preferred food among many groups. Their young are born helpless, and they must be taken care of for long periods of time. Male apes are usually larger and stronger than female apes of the same species. Females typically give birth once every few years and have no distinct breeding season.

Our Great Apes Building and outdoor yards house two species of great ape:

Bornean Orangutan

Range:

Most of lowland Borneo.

Habitat:

All levels of lowland primary rain forest. Almost totally arboreal. Rivers and streams make natural boundaries.

Characteristics:

Coloration of the orangutan varies from orange to brown to maroon. Orangutans have an almost hairless dished face except that adults have whiskers on the cheek and chin. Adult males have fatty flanges around the deep-set eyes and a throat pouch of large laryngeal air-sacs which extends under the arms and over the shoulders. This enables the male’s voice to carry half a mile. Lifespan is 30 years in the wild, 50 years in captivity.

Behavior:

Movement is cautious in adults with no leaping or jumping. On the ground, orangutans walk quadrupedally with feet clenched and ‘knuckle-walking.’ Groups consist of an adult female with one or two young. Males are generally solitary, avoiding other males of their species by bellowing, branch-shaking, branch-throwing. Nests are in closed canopy, 20 to 80 feet above the ground, made with large branches and leaves and sometimes a ‘roof.’

Reproduction:

The males find females by calling for them. Gestation lasts about 244 days and one baby is born any time of the year. Babies are born approximately every five years, and the mother does not conceive while she is nursing. After approximately one year, the baby begins to eat solid food. Cheek flanges in males occur at about 12 to 14 years, at which time male orangutans become more solitary.

Interesting Facts:

There are two subspecies of orangutans: the Bornean and the Sumatran. Orangutans developed earlier than gorillas and chimpanzees.

All training at Utah’s Hogle Zoo is done through positive reinforcement. Our apes are trained everyday through protected contact, which means that there is always a barrier between the keepers and the apes for safety. The apes have learned behaviors such as open mouth, teeth brushing, body part presentation and injection. These behaviors all help with the daily and medical care for the animals.

Conservation:

The major threat to Orangutans of Sumatra and Borneo is the development of palm oil plantations. Palm oil for our consumption is harvested in the last remaining home of wild orangutans. The severe decline of orangutan populations is a direct result of the palm oil industry. Destruction of habitat, leading to their starvation, and the deliberate killing of orangutans who venture onto palm oil plantations are the main reasons for the decline of 50% of Sumatran orangutans in the last eight years. Some experts predict that the palm oil industry will drive orangutans to extinction within ten years.

The Bornean Orangutan is one of Utah’s Hogle Zoo’s Big 6 species. To learn more about Bornean Orangutan conservation, CLICK HERE

Western Lowland Gorilla

Range:

Southeast Nigeria, Cameroon, Rio Muni, Gabon, Congo in Angola

Habitat:

Floor of mountains and secondary forests with damp, hot climate.

Characteristics:

While the gorilla is the largest of the apes, the western lowland gorilla is the smallest of the three gorilla subspecies. Females are only half the weight of the males. Coat is black, brown or gray, with the adult male having a “silver back” saddle reaching to the thighs. This saddle is less defined than in the eastern lowland gorilla. Gorillas have powerful canines, especially in the males and the bulk of their body weight is carried on the legs.

Behavior:

Gorillas moving every one to three days, depending upon food supply. Males nest on the ground, females and young nest on a platform built less than ten feet from the ground. Gorilla troops consist of 5 to 30, with a single dominant male (silver-back), one or two black-backed subadult males, about six adult females, and up to ten babies and juveniles. The troops are well integrated and peaceful and only the silverback mates with the females. Well-known is the silverbacks display. He will beat his chest, making hoots and growls, put a leaf between his lips (symbolic feeding), stand, hunch shoulders, beat his chest and charge bipedally, finally dropping to all fours.

Reproduction:

Gorilla gestation is 258 days with a single infant being born. There is no fixed birth season, and infants have a small white tuft on the rump until they are four years old. Backs begin to silver in males at about 11 to 13 years. Females breed about every 3 to 5 years.

Interesting Facts:

They may look fierce, but Gorillas are “gentle giants,” eating only vegetation and only becoming aggressive when threatened.

Conservation:

The biggest threat to the survival of African wildlife like the gorilla is no longer habitat loss, it’s bush-meat. Bushmeat is the illegal, commercial and unsustainable trade in wildlife meat. Bushmeat is a primary source of protein for village families. Urban consumers have increased their demand for bushmeat to connect with their traditional ways. With global demand increasing for bushmeat, hunting can also be a significant source of income for village families. Conservation International and the World Conservation Union report that one-third of the world’s great apes, monkeys, lemurs and other primate species are now threatened with extinction, many by the bushmeat crisis.