How Orangutans Engineer Their Nest

Alex

An orangutan can grow to be over 260 lb. (118 kg) so how does one construct its nest up high in the trees? With great engineering skills, of course:

The researchers, led by scientists at the University of Manchester, followed and filmed the apes in the forests of Sumatra. The team also took orangutans' nests apart to see how they were constructed. Their study, in the journal PNAS, reveals that the apes select thick branches for a scaffold and thinner branches for a springy mattress.

Roland Ennos from the University of Manchester, a senior member of the research team, told BBC Nature that the behaviour revealed the animals' "sophisticated tool use and construction skills".

"They show a lot of engineering know-how in how they build their nests," he said.

As anyone who has ever tried to snap a live twig from a tree will know, living, green branches do not snap cleanly in half. Dr Ennos explained that the animals "made use" of this, bending and weaving large, flexible branches into a strong nest scaffold. The animals then filled this scaffold with fine, leafy branches - making a comfortable bed.

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I knew a few people who left there homes in the same state. They asked me to clean up after (I felt very awkward going into someone's home like that) and there were all these artifacts of the life they left behind like old band uniforms and unfinished projects. In an innocent viewpoint, it seems similar but not. Then again, you never knew why the children left those tree houses behind. It's all interesting.
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My two boys are 19 and 21 now. Just a few years ago I cleaned up the debris from their clubhouse on the side of our house.
a whistle,
empty can of root beer,
a few Hotwheels,
colored pencils,
miniature skateboards,
a coloring book.
It's kind of sad that this period of their life is complete, but thinking about it makes me realize I should really be appreciating the time we spend together today!
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