Nesting

An orangutan lying in its nest

Orangutans build nests specialised for either day or night use. These are carefully constructed;
young orangutans learn from observing their mother's nest-building behaviour. In fact, nest-building
ability is a leading cause for young orangutans to regularly leave their mother. From six months of
age onwards, orangutans practice nest-building and gain proficiency by the time they are three years
old.[68]
Construction of a night nest is done by following a sequence of steps. Initially, a suitable tree is
located. Orangutans are selective about sites, though many tree species are used. The nest is then
built by pulling together branches under them and joining them at a point. After the foundation has
been built, the orangutan bends smaller, leafy branches onto the foundation; this serves the purpose
of and is termed the "mattress". After this, orangutans stand and braid the tips of branches into the
mattress. Doing this increases the stability of the nest and is the final act of nest-building.
Orangutans may add features, such as "pillows", "blankets", "roofs" and "bunk-beds" to their nests. [68]

Intelligence and cognition

Further information: Primate cognition
See also: Great ape language

An orangutan imitating human speech[69]

Orangutans are among the most intelligent non-human primates. Experiments suggest they
can track the displacement of objects both visible and hidden.[70][71] Zoo Atlanta has a touch-screen
computer on which their two Sumatran orangutans play games. [72] A 2008 study of two orangutans at
the Leipzig Zoo showed orangutans can use "calculated reciprocity", which involves weighing the
costs and benefits of gift exchanges and keeping track of these over time. Orangutans are the first
nonhuman species documented to do so.[73]
In a 1997 study, two captive adult orangutans were tested with the cooperative pulling paradigm.
Without any training, the orangutans succeeded in pulling off an object to get food in the first
session. Over the course of 30 sessions, the apes succeeded more quickly, having learned to
coordinate.[74] An adult orangutan has been documented to pass the mirror test, indicating self-
awareness.[75] Mirror tests with a 2-year-old orangutan failed to reveal self-recognition. [76]
Studies in the wild indicate that flanged male orangutans plan their movements in advance and
signal them to other individuals.[77] Experiments have also suggested that orangutans
can communicate about things that are not present, mother orangutans remain silent in the presence
of a perceived threat but when it passes, the mother produces an alarm call to their offspring to
teach them about the danger.[78] Orangutans and other great apes show laughter-like vocalisations in
response to physical contact such as wrestling, play chasing or tickling. This suggests that laughter
derived from a common origin among primate species and therefore evolved before the origin of
humans.[79] Orangutans have also been found to have voluntary control over vocal fold oscillation,
which is essential for speech in humans, and can learn and mimic new sounds. [69][80] Bonnie, an
orangutan at the US National Zoo, was recorded spontaneously whistling after hearing a caretaker.
She appears to whistle without expecting a food reward. [81]

Tool use and culture

An orangutan at the San Diego Zoo using a tool to extract orange-juice concentrate

Tool use in orangutans was observed by primatologist Birutė Galdikas in ex-captive populations.

[82]
 Orangutans in Suaq Balimbing were recorded to develop a tool kit for use in foraging which
consisted of both insect-extraction sticks for use in the hollows of trees and seed-extraction sticks for
harvesting seeds from hard-husked fruit. The orangutans adjusted their tools according to the task at
hand, and preference was given to oral tool use.[83][84] This preference was also found in an
experimental study of captive orangutans.[85] Orangutans have been observed to jab at catfish with
sticks, so that the panicked prey would flop out of ponds and into the ape's waiting hands. [86]
[87]
 Orangutan have also been documented to save tools for future use. [88] When building a nest,
orangutans appear to have some technical knowledge of construction and choose branches they
know can support their body weight. [89]
Primatologist Carel P. van Schaik and biological anthropologist Cheryl D. Knott further investigated
tool use in different wild orangutan populations. They compared geographic variations in tool use
related to the processing of Neesia fruit. The orangutans of Suaq Balimbing were found to be avid
users of insect and seed-extraction tools when compared to other wild orangutans. [90][91] The scientists
suggested these differences are cultural as they do not correlate with habitat. The orangutans at
Suaq Balimbing live in dense groups and are socially tolerant; this creates good conditions for social
transmission.[90] Further evidence that highly social orangutans are more likely to exhibit cultural
behaviours came from a study of leaf-carrying behaviours of formerly captive orangutans that were
being rehabilitated on the island of Kaja in Borneo. [92]
Wild orangutans in Tuanan, Borneo, were reported to use tools in acoustic communication. They use
leaves to amplify the kiss squeak sounds they produce. The apes may employ this method of
amplification to deceive the listener into believing they are larger animals.[93] In 2003, researchers
from six different orangutan field sites who used the same behavioural coding scheme compared the
behaviours of the animals from each site. They found each orangutan population used different
tools. The evidence suggested the differences were cultural: first, the extent of the differences
increased with distance, suggesting cultural diffusion was occurring, and second, the size of the
orangutans' cultural repertoire increased according to the amount of social contact present within the
group. Social contact facilitates cultural transmission. [94]

Personhood
Main articles: Great ape personhood, Great Ape Project, and Great ape research ban
In June 2008, Spain became the first country in the world to recognise the rights of some non-human
great apes, when its parliament's cross-party environmental committee urged the country to comply
with the recommendations of the Great Ape Project, which are that chimpanzees, bonobos,
orangutans, and gorillas not to be used for animal experiments. [95][96] In December 2014, a court in
Argentina ruled that an orangutan named Sandra at the Buenos Aires Zoo must be moved to a
sanctuary in Brazil to provide her "partial or controlled freedom". Animal rights groups like Great Ape
Project Argentina interpreted the ruling as applicable to all species in captivity, and legal specialists
from the Argentina's Federal Chamber of Criminal Cassatio considered the ruling applicable only to
non-human hominids.[97]