Orangutans: Geographic Variation in Behavioral Ecology and Conservation
Serge A. Wich, S Suci Utami Atmoko, Tatang Mitra Setia, and Carel P. van Schaik
Abstract
This book describes one of our closest relatives, the orangutan, and the only extant great ape in Asia. It is increasingly clear that orangutan populations show extensive variation in behavioral ecology, morphology, life history, and genes. Indeed, on the strength of the latest genetic and morphological evidence, it has been proposed that orangutans actually constitute two species which diverged more than a million years ago — one on the island of Sumatra the other on Borneo, with the latter comprising three subspecies. This book has two main aims. The first is to carefully compare data from e ... More
This book describes one of our closest relatives, the orangutan, and the only extant great ape in Asia. It is increasingly clear that orangutan populations show extensive variation in behavioral ecology, morphology, life history, and genes. Indeed, on the strength of the latest genetic and morphological evidence, it has been proposed that orangutans actually constitute two species which diverged more than a million years ago — one on the island of Sumatra the other on Borneo, with the latter comprising three subspecies. This book has two main aims. The first is to carefully compare data from every orangutan research site, examining the differences and similarities between orangutan species, subspecies and populations. The second is to develop a theoretical framework in which these differences and similarities can be explained. To achieve these goals the book synthesizes and compares the data, quantify the similarities or differences, and seeks to explain them.
Keywords:
orangutan populations,
behavioral ecology,
morphology,
life history,
genes,
Sumatra,
Borneo
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2008 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780199213276 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: May 2009 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199213276.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Serge A. Wich, editor
Great Ape Trust of Iowa, USA, and University of Utrecht, The Netherlands
S Suci Utami Atmoko, editor
Universitas Nasional, Jakarta, Indonesia
Tatang Mitra Setia, editor
Universitas Nasional, Jakarta, Indonesia
Carel P. van Schaik, editor
Anthropological Institute & Museum, University of Zurich, Switzerland
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