Study of Orangutans Yields New Ideas about Human Evolution

Results from research conducted by a team of scholars and scientists on the dietary lives of orangutans in tropical Borneo have given possible clues to how very early human ancestors may have adapted, survived and changed millions of years ago. In addition, the results may help scientists better understand eating disorders and obesity in human populations today.

Led by evolutionary anthropologist Erin Vogel of Rutgers University (pictured below, right), the research team analyzed samples of compounds and byproducts in Orangutan urine over a 5-year period to determine the effects of protein recycling in their dietary, or eating behavior. What they found was that they have been able to survive through prolonged protein deficits by eating higher protein leaves and the inner bark of trees during lean times, as well as burning the energy from stored body fat and eventually muscles for extended times when their preferred diet of fruit is not available.

Borneo presents a very challenging environment for some of its faunal inhabitants. Many of the food-bearing plants they rely upon only produce appreciable quantities of fruit every four or five years, and when they do bear, the entire forest environment produces all at once. Animals, and particularly the orangutans, living there are thus forced to gorge themselves and gain a large amount of fat, living off their body fat reserves for the following three to four years during the cyclical "starving time". During the lean years they turn to hard foods, such as hard seeds and the starchy tissues beneath the bark of trees, supplementing the energy derived from the burning of their body fat and thus surviving an environment that otherwise would lead to starvation and death.

The Scars of Evolution:
What Our Bodies Tell Us
About Human Origins
by Elaine Morgan
"The most remarkable aspect of Todaro's discovery emerged when he examined Homo Sapiens for the 'baboon marker'. It was not there... Todaro drew one firm conclusion. 'The ancestors of man did not develop in a geographical area where they would have been in contact with the baboon. I would argue that the data we are presenting imply a non-African origin of man millions of years ago.'"
Ape culture hints at earlier evolution
BBC News Online
The complex behaviour of orangutans suggests human culture started to develop 14 million years ago, much earlier than thought. At this time the ancestors of chimps and orangutans diverged... Professor Van Schaik warned though that political unrest and habitat destruction could prevent further studies.
Orangutans and human origins
Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz
Department of Anthropology
University of Pittsburgh
Humans have a larger number of features that are uniquely shared with orangutans than with any other living ape. Schwartz (1984) proposed that humans are more closely related to orangutans than to chimpanzees - a model that contradicts the greater genetic similarity of base pair sequences in humans and chimpanzees.

The view presented here is that genetic similarity of base pair sequences is not a necessary measure of phylogenetic relationship and that morphology continues to exist as an independently reliable source of information on evolutionary relationships. The orangutan model presents a conundrum for biological systematics over how to chose between morphological and genetic evidence when they are in conflict.
New ape population found
BBC News Online
Conservationists believe about 2,000 rare apes are living out of sight in a remote lowland region of East Kalimantan. The find, if confirmed, will raise the number of known orang-utans in the world by about 10 per cent... The claim, by researchers from the US-based conservation group Nature Conservancy, is based on signs of nests made by the apes... They are in grave danger of extinction, because their habitat is under threat from illegal logging, forest fires and gold mining... Primate experts have predicted that the apes will be found only in zoos by the year 2020 unless immediate steps are taken to protect them.

`` What they found was that they have been able to survive through prolonged protein deficits by eating higher protein leaves and the INNER BARK OF TREES during lean times``

Nothing new:

``If legends hold true then the Iroquois moved from the Southwest to the East over a long period of time. In their journey they canoed up the St. Lawrence River and in Three Rivers, Quebec (Canada), they were enslaved by the Algonquins. The Iroquois called them the Adirondacks. Which meant “bark eaters.” They had a habit of flavoring their food with shredded bark.``
http://www.angelfire.com/mi4/polcrt/IroquoisIntro.html

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