Izak Endicott

Mrs. Givens
COMM 1020
Speech 2: Informative
10-24-14
Are Orangutans Conscious?
Have you ever wondered if other animals could think the same way you do? I mean do you think
that they can think about thinking and are aware of their place on this planet? My speech is about
Orangutans and if they can think like us. Or in other words are they conscious? Here is some
quick info about orangutans from an article titled Orangutan Facts from Orangutan.com
October 2014. The word Orangutan translates fomr the Indonesian words orang and hutan
which means person of the forest Orangutans are considered the smartest of all primates. They
share 97% of their DNA with us. Orangutans live up to 35-40 years in the wild and sometimes up
to 50 in captivity. Most are very solitary, living by themselves. Something interesting to note is
that the male orangutans have the large throat sac while the females do not. The males also have
thicker and longer fur. Im going to cover some interesting findings about orangutans such as;
what they are like in the wild, secondly, what happens if they are taught in captivity, and lastly if
they are even able to be conscious based on their brain.

Sadly, Orangutans are vastly endangered and this is due to poaching and their slow ability to
reproduce. They are very versatile creatures and are good at adapting to their environment. Some
more information from the article Orangutan Facts shows just how good they are at adapting
to the environment. When water is scarce orangutans will chew up leaves and create a sponge to
soak up water in tree cavities. They can make makeshift umbrellas out of large leaves. They use

tools such as termite fishing sticks and recent studies have shown that they use other tools in
helping forage for food. Interestingly Orangutans have the longest childhood dependence on the
mother of any animal in the world. The child will stay and nurse with their mother for 6 years.
The females will stay for a few years longer until they progress into teenage years and are ready
to have their own children. The females will actually learn parenting skills from their mother by
watching her take care of a newborn sibling. After this is learned the females are ready to depart
from their mother. They have babies every eight years, which is the longest of any mammal
reproductive time in the world. This is part of the reason why they are endangered. This long
lasting relationship with their mother could be why Orangutans are the smartest primate in the
world.

Now that you know how Orangutans act in the wild Im going to talk about how they do
when they are taught in captivity. In an article titled Language Garden by Susanne Anthony
in 2005 published by The Onion Magazine she had the privilege to meet with an orangutan
named Chantek who has lived in captivity and has been taught sign language with an active
vocabulary of 300 words and a passive vocabulary of more than 1000 which he can understand
with sign language or normal speaking. Ive noted some interesting things from the article.
Chantek notices a cut on the hand of his caretaker and questions what happened. He is shown to
express sympathy and actually asks to kiss it better. Chantek is toilet trained and can do chores
such as cleaning his room to earn an allowance. He spends his money on Mcdonalds and he
has become overweight. Chantek had surgery on his laryngeal flap and he carefully pays close
attention to it while eating not to get it dirty. He has also showed signs of disgust towards his
other companions poop. He says that the poop is filthy and he wants it cleaned. He is constantly
signing for cheeseburgers and ice cream which I find to be funny.

Now that ive talked about how they are in the wild and how they are when it comes to
learning language and interacting with people im going to talk about their brain size compared
to ours and if its even possible for them to have a consciousness. An article titled Gorilla and
Orangutan brains conform to the cellular scaling rules: Implications of human evolution
by Steve Kaahs, on PubMed.org Jan 2011. shows that Orangutans have over 80 billion
neurons in their brain, compared to us humans that have 100 billion. Now the strange thing about
humans is that we have 3 times the amount of neurons we should have in our brain proportioned
to our body size. The relationship between neurons in the brain and body size is called linear
scaling and orangutans linear scaling suggest that they will evolve to have brains like us
humans. Here is some more information from an article Speaking of Orangutans by Anne
Russon September 2011, National Wildlife.com. Orangutans are shown to have the intelligence
of a 3.5 year old but rarely more. Compared with other primates in taking intelligence test
Orangutans are slow and deliberate, thinking out their moves, which gives them an advantage
compared with Chimps how are fast and impulsive and gorillas who are slow and timid.
Now weve seen what they are capable of. Sign language, complaining about stinky
poop, getting fat off of Mcdonalds, doing chores, showing sympathy, learning from their
mothers, and using tools. Is it so far fetched to think that maybe they can think like us?

Works Cited

Anthony, Susanne. "Language Garden." Language, an Orangutan, and Shakespeare. N.p., n.d.
Web. 25 Oct. 2014.
"Orangutan Conservancy." Orangutan Conservancy. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2014.
"Result Filters." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of
Medicine, n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2014.
Russon, Anne. "Speaking of Orangutans - National Wildlife Federation." Speaking of
Orangutans - National Wildlife Federation. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2014.