The most difficult apes riddles

Orangutans live on only two islands, Borneo and northern Sumatra. They are a relic species. At the end of the Pleistocene period some 12,000 years ago, their range was much wider, encompassing southern China, Indochina, Java and southern Sumatra. The species is now extinct in all these regions.

Adult male orangutans, reaching a weight of 140 kg or more, spend nearly all their time in the forest canopy where they feed, sleep, breed and raise their young. The females even give birth in a treetop nest.

The red-handed tamarin, also known as the golden-handed tamarin or Midas tamarin, is a New World monkey named for the contrasting reddish-orange hair on its feet and hands. It is native to wooded areas north of the Amazon River. It is an exceptional climber, and a superb jumper known to jump distances of over 18 m from a tree to the ground with no sign of injury.

The golden lion tamarin, also known as the golden marmoset, is a small New World monkey native to the Atlantic coastal forests of Brazil. It gets its name from its bright reddish orange pelage, and the extra long hairs around the face and ears, which give it a distinctive mane.

Chimpanzees and humans share a common ancestor about four to six million years ago. The genetic similarity is so high, that the two species of chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes and Pan paniscus, have been proposed to belong with H. sapiens in the genus Homo, rather than in Pan.

Orangutans are orange, but the name "orangutan" is not derived from the color. The name "orangutan" comes from the Malay words orang meaning "person" and hutan meaning "forest". In 1631, naturalist Jacobus Bontius described that Malaysians considered these apes as wild humans. They had informed him the ape was able to talk, but preferred not to "lest he be compelled to labour".