New species of Orangutan

[dopelyrics 46]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-41852851/new-orangutan-species-discovered-in-indonesia

 

Very interesting

[norseman 2,396]

Cool!

[1980squatch 233]

Very cool.  Fewer of those than BFs IMHO.

[bipedalist 759]

Let's see 1997 was 20 years ago.  What a gap in documentation?  Not quite following that but I know that Sumatra/Indonesia has the Orang Pendek which is prolly

another distinct hominin species like our own BF, I am never ceasing to be amazed by anything anthropological and paleoanthropological or physical anthropological that comes down the pike.

 

It is now expected that the unexpected will soon be certainty in the descent of man  or some might say in the convergent descent of hominins

 

And, thanks for the post BTW

Edited November 4, 2017 by bipedalist

[BobbyO 1,039]

The area/range for these Guys is real small too, something like a 1/3 of the size of the Olympic Peninsula alone, 330k acres to be precise.

Those Orang Pendek reports aren't restricted to anywhere near that, and a far and wide in general.

Edited November 5, 2017 by BobbyO

[PhloydPhan 7]

On 11/3/2017 at 8:20 PM, bipedalist said:

Let's see 1997 was 20 years ago.  What a gap in documentation?  Not quite following that but I know that Sumatra/Indonesia has the Orang Pendek which is prolly

another distinct hominin species like our own BF, I am never ceasing to be amazed by anything anthropological and paleoanthropological or physical anthropological that comes down the pike.

 

It is now expected that the unexpected will soon be certainty in the descent of man  or some might say in the convergent descent of hominins

 

And, thanks for the post BTW

 

There's a short article from The Washington Post here https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/11/03/new-species-of-orangutan-is-the-rarest-great-ape-on-the-planet/?utm_term=.f150535ca3c3 which states that the blood for DNA samples and the skeleton studied for this paper came from an orangutan killed by Sumatran villages in 2013. Since the study is basing the argument that these orangutans are a distinct species in large part on DNA and skeletal evidence, such evidence would have been unavailable prior to 2013.

 

I'm speaking out of turn here, but I would assume one reason a "type specimen" wasn't taken by scientists prior to obtaining a specimen killed by villages might be that all orangutans are critically endangered. While I think we can all agree that discovering that a certain group of animals belonging to a previously known species are themselves genetically distinct is different from discovering an entirely new type of animal, this should add plenty of fuel to the "yes, we do" / "no, we don't" argument about taking a bigfoot type specimen. 

[hiflier 836]

Hi PhloydPhan, welcome to the Forum. You do bring up a good point. It's why for several years now I have said to go out with the idea of finding a carcass or skeleton of a Sasquatch that for some reason didn't survive the winter. So now is the time to begin planning a series of excursions to hunt for an old,, injured, or starved, Sasquatch that was too weak to out live it's condition. Late Winter or early Spring would seem like the best time of year to do that before Nature takes it's course and the body gets scavenged, decomposes and sinks into the Earth. Of course if the creatures that survive do something with their dead then it's another matter.

[wiiawiwb 193]

....or to become a target for its last meal!

[norseman 2,396]

10 hours ago, BobbyO said:

The area/range for these Guys is real small too, something like a 1/3 of the size of the Olympic Peninsula alone, 330k acres to be precise.

Those Orang Pendek reports aren't restricted to anywhere near that, and a far and wide in general.

 

I would suspect a bipedal primate would be much more of a generalist. And not stuck to living in the canopy of a specific type of trees. Which would give them more range?

[bipedalist 759]

4 hours ago, PhloydPhan said:

 

There's a short article from The Washington Post here https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/11/03/new-species-of-orangutan-is-the-rarest-great-ape-on-the-planet/?utm_term=.f150535ca3c3 which states that the blood for DNA samples and the skeleton studied for this paper came from an orangutan killed by Sumatran villages in 2013. Since the study is basing the argument that these orangutans are a distinct species in large part on DNA and skeletal evidence, such evidence would have been unavailable prior to 2013.

 

I'm speaking out of turn here, but I would assume one reason a "type specimen" wasn't taken by scientists prior to obtaining a specimen killed by villages might be that all orangutans are critically endangered. While I think we can all agree that discovering that a certain group of animals belonging to a previously known species are themselves genetically distinct is different from discovering an entirely new type of animal, this should add plenty of fuel to the "yes, we do" / "no, we don't" argument about taking a bigfoot type specimen. 

 

Well said, the comparison videos showed some minor noticeable morphological differences.  

 

I do think the find is relevant to the BF search and your point. 

 

A new species and critically endangered species designation could help with survival but it is a tough sell in Indonesia's current political climate without strong intervention from environmental groups

most likely.  

[BobbyO 1,039]

Yeah for sure Norse, especially when you also consider that these one's diet which is generally made up of fruit, would also be generally pretty much abundant where they are, although of course the world is diminishing that by the second.

They're on approx 12kg of food daily too, which like i say is mainly fruit but can be all sorts too including birds eggs and insects.