WHEN it comes to raising a family, orang-utans go for quality, not quantity.
Females have their first infants about age 15 but then the average time between subsequent births is eight years.
The mothers are patient and take great care of their young, carrying them constantly for the first 12 months, breastfeeding them for three or four years and then keeping them close until they are about seven or eight.
This very slow rate of reproduction makes the tree-dwelling apes - only found in Sumatra and Borneo - particularly vulnerable to hunting, disease and the destruction of their rainforest habitat for palm oil and pulp paper plantations, says the founder of the Australian Orang-utan Project, Leif Cocks. ''It's why they're prone to extinction.''
So the birth of orang-utan twins - a male and a female - in a Sumatran sanctuary funded by the organisation has been a double cause for celebration, Cocks says.
In another unusual twist, both parents are blind. The mother, Gober (thought to be about 40 years old), was brought to the Batu Mbelin orang-utan quarantine centre in 2008 because she was at risk of being killed for raiding villagers' crops.
Forty may sound old but it is thought female orang-utans may be able reproduce into their 50s.
The father, Leuser, was kept illegally as a pet before he was rescued in 2004 and released back into the jungle. Sadly, two years later he was blinded by rifle pellets fired by villagers and was returned to the centre.
Females have their first infants about age 15 but then the average time between subsequent births is eight years.
The mothers are patient and take great care of their young, carrying them constantly for the first 12 months, breastfeeding them for three or four years and then keeping them close until they are about seven or eight.
This very slow rate of reproduction makes the tree-dwelling apes - only found in Sumatra and Borneo - particularly vulnerable to hunting, disease and the destruction of their rainforest habitat for palm oil and pulp paper plantations, says the founder of the Australian Orang-utan Project, Leif Cocks. ''It's why they're prone to extinction.''
So the birth of orang-utan twins - a male and a female - in a Sumatran sanctuary funded by the organisation has been a double cause for celebration, Cocks says.
In another unusual twist, both parents are blind. The mother, Gober (thought to be about 40 years old), was brought to the Batu Mbelin orang-utan quarantine centre in 2008 because she was at risk of being killed for raiding villagers' crops.
Forty may sound old but it is thought female orang-utans may be able reproduce into their 50s.
The father, Leuser, was kept illegally as a pet before he was rescued in 2004 and released back into the jungle. Sadly, two years later he was blinded by rifle pellets fired by villagers and was returned to the centre.
Continue reading (Incl. Pic) at: Twins for blind orang-utans give hope for species
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