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Apes are part of the monkey family.
An orang-utan is a very big ape with long red hair.
They live on only two islands - Borneo and Sumatra.
They live in the treetops in thick forests.
They do not come down to the ground very often.
Grown up orang-utans live by themselves.
Young orang-utans stay with their mothers until they are about 10 years old.
Orang-utans have very long arms to help them swing from one branch to another high up in the trees.
Young orang-utans hang onto their mother's fur.
Orang-utans eat mostly fruit, but also leaves, buds and tree bark.
Sometimes they eat small insects or eggs.
There are not many orang-utans left in the wild because the forests where they live are being cut down.
Zoos are helping save orangutans.
We can sometimes see orangutans in a zoo.
Words
orang-utan
Large apes. They are the only apes that live in Asia. The other apes live in Africa.
Say - uh-RANG-oo-tan
Sumatra
An island in Indonesia (say - in-doe-nees-ee-uh), a country that has many islands.
Say - soo-mar-truh
Borneo
An island near Indonesia
Say - born-ee-oh
If you use any part of this in your own work, acknowledge this source in your bibliography like this:
Sydenham, S. & Thomas, R. O is for orangutan (2000). [Online], Available: www.kidcyber.com.au
updated April 2009 ©kidcyber