A captive Bornean orangutan has been seen acting as a peacemaker, breaking up fights between other warring apes.

It is the first time that an orangutan has been seen behaving in this way, say scientists who published details in the journal Primates.

Peacemakers likely intervene in squabbles to ensure they do not spiral out of control.

By Matt Walker

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8466000/8466488.stm

Gursky, S. and Supriatna, J. 2010. The History of Sumatran Orangutan (Pongo abelii). Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects. 41-55.

The orangutan is the only great ape of Asia. Its present range is confined to dwindling areas on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo (Rijksen and Meijaard 1999). In contrast to its African relatives, the chimpanzee, bonobo (genus Pan), and gorilla (genus Gorilla), it is extremely arboreal (the Sumatra species more so than the Borneo as Sumatra still harbors tigers). In fact, it is the largest and heaviest of all predominantly arboreal mammals. Among the diurnal primates, it is, moreover, exceptional in that it is comparatively solitary.

http://www.springerlink.com/content/w8m86tkr8n7164jj/

Gursky, S. and Supriatna, J. 2010. Measuring performance of orangutan protection and monitoring unit: implications for species conservation. Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects. 9-22.

The orangutan is the only great ape species that inhabits Asia. During the Pleistocene, they occurred throughout Southeast Asia, from Southern China in the North to Java in the South (Hooijer 1948; von Koeningswald 1981). Current distribution of this species is limited to the northern part of Sumatra and fragmented forest areas in Borneo (Reijksen and Meijaard 1999). Recently, experts have suggested that the orangutan populations on each island represent unique species (Pongo abelii on Sumatra and P. pygmaeus on Borneo; Groves 2001; Warren et al. 2001). The Bornean species is generally divided into three subspecies: P. p. pygmaeus, Pongo p. wurmbii, and P. p. morio (Groves 2001).

http://www.springerlink.com/content/w124h8673wx85j2m/

Gursky, S. and Supriatna, J. 2010. Communication, culture and conservation in orangutans. Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects. 23-40.

Several fragmented tropical forests within Southeast Asia, namely on northern Sumatra and across Borneo, are home to remnant and declining populations of wild orangutans (Pongo spp), the only extant nonhuman great ape found in Asia. These populations and other sympatric fauna are increasingly threatened by the alteration and destruction of their habitats. The latest available assessments from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) recognize Bornean orangutans as an endangered species, whereas their Sumatran counterparts, found at precipitously falling population numbers (Wich et al. 2003; Singleton et al. 2004; Wich et al., 2008b), are identified as critically endangered (IUCN 2008). While the value of preserving species such as orangutans has previously been touted as serving important biological functions, particularly from a community ecology perspective, a more recent emphasis has been on strengthening ties between the goals of biological conservation and socioeconomic development among the impoverished communities that are most likely to face direct human-wildlife conflicts related to local land use practices.

http://www.springerlink.com/content/qk8854826661734u/

Knott, C. D, Thompson, M. E., Stumpf, R. M. and McIntyre. M. H. 2010. Female reproductive strategies in orangutans, evidence for female choice and counterstragies to infanticide in a species with frequent sexual coercion. Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences. 277, 105-113.

Intersexual conflicts over mating can engender antagonistic coevolution of strategies, such as coercion by males and selective resistance by females. Orangutans are exceptional among mammals for their high levels of forced copulation. This has typically been viewed as an alternative mating tactic used by the competitively disadvantaged unflanged male morph, with little understanding of how female strategies may have shaped and responded to this behaviour. Here, we show that male morph is not by itself a good predictor of mating dynamics in wild Bornean orangutans but that female conception risk mediated the occurrence and quality of male-female interactions. Near ovulation, females mated cooperatively only with prime flanged males who they encountered at higher rates. When conception risk was low, willingness to associate and mate with non-prime males increased. Our results support the hypothesis that, together with concealed ovulation, facultative association is a mechanism of female choice in a species in which females can rarely avoid coercive mating attempts. Female resistance, which reduced copulation time, may provide an additional mechanism for mate selection. However, coercive factors were also important as prime males were frequently aggressive to females and females used mating strategies consistent with infanticide avoidance.

http://apps.isiknowledge.com/full_record.do?product=UA&search_mode=GeneralSearch&qid=1&SID=T1Oia1GngBlgGiidD1m&page=1&doc=1&colname=WOS

Tajima, T. and Kurotori, H. 2010. Nonaggressive interventions by third parties in conflicts among captive Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus). (Journal unknown)

Whereas orangutans are regarded as semisolitary animals in the wild, several studies have reported frequent social interactions, including aggression, among orangutans in captivity. As yet, there is a lack of knowledge about how they cope with aggression. In this report, we provide a number of new observations of interventions by third parties in aggressive interactions within a captive group of Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) in the Tama Zoological Park, Japan. We observed that an adult female and a juvenile male orangutan intervened in aggressive interactions. The victim was a newly introduced juvenile female who was unrelated to anyone in the zoo. The ways in which the orangutans intervened were not aggressive, as the interveners simply aimed to separate the opponents, and these interventions did not lead to further aggression in almost every case. Our observations suggest that third parties can play an important role in managing aggressive conflicts among captive orangutans and, under conditions in which orangutans share limited space, nonaggressive interventions by third parties for settling conflicts appear. It is possible that orangutans may actively promote the peaceful coexistence of other individuals.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20052605