The child who authorities believe is somewhere around the age of four to seven years old, has spent the last few years with a group of orangutans who had taken him in and raised him as one of their own. Authorities say that the boy is, “extremely nervous and aggressive when approached by humans and that made his capture quite complicated, especially since the other orangutans attempted vigorously to defend him.” Yeah having an army of orangutans protecting the kid would probably be a real problem to get around. The child, since his capture, has been examined by local doctors and is in perfect health. However, it seems as though he doesn’t remember any type of human interaction. Hopefully the boy will transition well back into society, but who knows. The very interesting thing that authorities still don’t know is how the boy actually lost his parents.
Diet Orangutans are opportunistic foragers, and their diets vary markedly from month to month.[29] Fruit makes up 65–90% of the orangutan diet, and those with sugary or fatty pulp are favoured. Ficus fruits are commonly eaten and are easy to harvest and digest. Lowland dipterocarp forests are preferred by orangutans because of their plentiful fruit. Bornean orangutans consume at least 317 different food items that include young leaves, shoots, bark, insects, honey and bird eggs.[19][29]
A decade-long study of urine and faecal samples at the Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Project in West Kalimantan has shown that orangutans give birth during and after the high fruit season (though not every year), during which they consume various abundant fruits, totalling up to 11,000 calories per day. In the low-fruit season, they eat whatever fruit is available in addition to tree bark and leaves, with daily intake at only 2,000 calories. Together with a long lactation period, orangutans also have a long birth interval.[30]
Orangutans are thought to be the sole fruit disperser for some plant species including the climber species Strychnos ignatii which contains the toxic alkaloid strychnine.[31] It does not appear to have any effect on orangutans except for excessive saliva production.[32]
Geophagy, the practice of eating soil or rock, has been observed in orangutans. There are three main reasons for this dietary behaviour: for the addition of mineral nutrients to their diet; for the ingestion of clay minerals that can absorb toxic substances; or to treat a disorder such as diarrhoea.[33] Orangutans also use plants of the genus Commelina as an anti-inflammatory balm.[34]
Because over 60% of their diet is fruit (based on averaging thousands of observations), they are considered frugivores; however, orangutans also will eat young leaves (approximately 25% of their diet), flowers and bark (approximately 10%) and insects, mainly ants, termites, pupae, and crickets (approximately 5%). Wild orangutans are selective but opportunistic so if there is an emergency of tasty and nutritious insects, they may feed all day on them. Likewise, if fruit and insects are unavailable, they may eat bark, leaves and foods of lower nutritional value to satisfy their hunger. Wild orangutans learn to eat hundreds of different food types as youngsters by observing their mother and being allowed to take food from their mother's mouth or hands.
Title: Re: Boy Discovered In Malaysia That Was Raised By Orangutans - In Perfect Health
Post by: CatTreats on May 25, 2014, 05:16:45 am
What a cute kid. That's amazing. The real disturbing part to me is that we have this need to capture and remove him from the wild. Seeing as he was completely healthy, I just feel like it would've been better to let him stay with his family (the orangutans).
Title: Re: Boy Discovered In Malaysia That Was Raised By Orangutans - In Perfect Health
Post by: sabertooth on May 25, 2014, 08:44:47 am
They are going to ruin that kid with cooked food.
Too bad he couldnt be adopted by a family of raw paleos, since he is already adapted to the diet.
Title: Re: Boy Discovered In Malaysia That Was Raised By Orangutans - In Perfect Health
Post by: goodsamaritan on May 25, 2014, 10:50:48 am
we need to find a Malaysian raw paleo diet practitioner.
Title: Re: Boy Discovered In Malaysia That Was Raised By Orangutans - In Perfect Health
Post by: Saris on June 29, 2014, 02:05:28 pm
What a cute kid. That's amazing. The real disturbing part to me is that we have this need to capture and remove him from the wild. Seeing as he was completely healthy, I just feel like it would've been better to let him stay with his family (the orangutans).
You understand, he's not an animal, right? Apes/Chimps are known for the care of their young (Homo Sapiens tops all other mammals in infanticide), but ... as he grows he will become competition whether he knows that or not and an ape will destroy a human. Even Chimps are amazingly strong... 10x the strength of a an average human.
Title: Re: Boy Discovered In Malaysia That Was Raised By Orangutans - In Perfect Health
Post by: colorles on June 29, 2014, 11:42:40 pm
you woulnd't favor this human in tribal competition with a bunch of orangutans? as a human he is smarter, and has better hunting instincts. he would likely become a tribal leader, or desert and live on his own
about his diet, it doesn't surprise me that a malay child could do so well on such a high fruit diet, given it is the environment the malay people have adapted too. bugs as well are good filling food when they are plentiful; key word, plentiful. and just like with fruits, in the tropics such foods are plentiful. much snacking, probably almost constantly throughout the day. much different than the eating habits/lifestyle of the humans adapted to more temperate/northern climates...but thats always something we have to keep in mind with diet, ie the adaptability of humanity to various climates, as we can all see in the various human races
these cases are always interesting though, humans being raised by different species. usually either by some sort of tribal primate species, or wolves. there are alot of hoaxes with this stuff as well...