A study has shown that male orangutans make travel plans in advance and let their family know about it. Male orangutans seem to have their own way of Facebooking and using Google maps.
A new study of 15 wild male orangutans in Sumatra show that they plan out their trips for the next day and let the others know about it by sending out long whooping calls. They let females know where they are going so that they can follow them or know where they are while males take it as a warning sign to stay away, the Associated Press reports.
Scientists followed the males during the 1990's for 320 days that they traveled. The findings from the study were published Wednesday in the journal PLoS One.
When an orangutan wanted to let others know of his plan, he would turn and face in the direction of his route and would let out a loud whooping call for as long as four minutes. Then the male would go to sleep before heading out on his trip 12 hours later, study author Carel van Schaik, director of the Anthropological Institute at the University of Zurich found.
"This guy basically thinks ahead," van Schaik told the Associated Press. "They're continuously updating their Google Maps so to speak. Based on that, they're planning what to do next."
The study showed that the apes didn't make just one call. The kept it up and made more than 1,100 calls over the 320 days.
"This shows they are very much like us in this respect," van Schaik said. "Our earliest hominid ancestor must have done the same thing."
Van Schaik said he and colleagues made the discovery of trip calls almost 20 years ago by observing a dominant male named Arno. They continued to follow him and 14 other mals. Van Schaik said he waited so long to publish the findings because he didn't think many would believe that orangutans carry out such planning methods. However this study and other in labs and captivity show that it is a common trait.
Van Schaik believes the calls allow females to decide if they want to stay close to the male in case they are harassed by other males and want to be protected. Some may also take it as an invitation to mate.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
