The Environment

Orangutan asks for help in sign language

What do you know about orangutans? 

Decide if the following statements are True or False.

 Discuss your ideas with a partner

1.  Orangutan means ‘person of the forest’ in Malay.

2.  We share 99.4 percent of our genetic makeup with orangutans.

3.  Orangutans are vegetarians.

4.  Orangutans are very caring mothers to their babies. 

5.  100 years ago there were 315,000 orangutans left in the wild. 

      Now there are around 60,000.

6. Orangutans are likely to go extinct unless we help them.

 VIDEO 1:  Watch the video (up to 1.31) of an orang-utan talking to an American girl

 online, using sign language, and answer the following questions

1 What is the girl’s name and what is the orangutan called?
2 What do they both like to play?
3 What does the orangutan like to eat? And the girl?


VIDEO 2



What help do you think the orangutan needs?

Key Answers for the True False Exercise:

1. True
2. False- but it’s 96.4, which still makes them pretty close to us.
3. False – they do eat insects, though nothing larger.
4.True- they look after them until they are six or seven, which is very unusual in the animal kingdom.
5.True
6.True

The voiceover at the end says:
Orangutans can't speak for themselves but if they could they would tell us that much of the
palm oil used in America's snack food is being grown by cutting down rainforest that are
orangutans only home. But we can stop it by telling brands that use palm oil there's a
better way. We'll use our customer power to demand change, before it's too late.
The power is in your palm.

Are you sensitive with this issue? You can watch the film Gorillas in the Mist, with the actress Sigourne Weaver playing the role of  the famous activist Dian Fossey who died in her fight against
gorillas hunting.

Here´s the trailer of the film: