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Meat-eating by a wild Bornean orang-utan (Pongo pygmaeus)

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Abstract

We present the first evidence for consumption of meat by a wild Bornean orang-utan (Pongo pygmaeus). Meat-eating has been reported in Sumatran orang-utans, specifically the hunting and consumption of slow lorises (Nycticebus coucang), but loris-hunting behaviour has not been observed in the Bornean species and meat of any species is essentially absent from their diet, with only two anecdotal reports of vertebrate meat consumption prior to this current finding in over 40 years of study. In August 2012 an unhabituated adult flanged male orang-utan was observed eating an adult horse-tailed squirrel (Sundasciurus hippurus) carcass in the Sabangau peat-swamp forest, Central Kalimantan. We suspect this to be a case of scavenging, never reported previously in a Bornean orang-utan.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the Research and Technology Department of the Indonesian Government (RISTEK) for approving this research, Dr. Suwido Limin of the Center of International Cooperation in Sustainable Management of Tropical Peatlands (CIMTROP) for his cooperation and support, and the Leakey Foundation, Chester Zoo Conservation Grants and the Selwyn College Cott Fund for their financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wildlife Research Group, The Anatomy School, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, UK

    Benjamin J. W. Buckley & David J. Chivers

  2. The Orang-utan Tropical Peatland Project, Center for International Cooperation in Sustainable Management of Tropical Peatlands, Universitas Palangka Raya, Jl Yos Sudarso, Palangka Raya, 73112, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

    Benjamin J. W. Buckley, Rosalie J. Dench, Helen C. Morrogh-Bernard & Unyil Bustani

  3. College of Life and Environmental Science, University of Exeter, Exeter, Devon, UK

    Helen C. Morrogh-Bernard

  4. Wyke House, Malt House Close, Broom, Warwickshire, B50 4JB, UK

    Benjamin J. W. Buckley

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  1. Benjamin J. W. Buckley
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  2. Rosalie J. Dench
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  3. Helen C. Morrogh-Bernard
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  4. Unyil Bustani
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Correspondence to Benjamin J. W. Buckley.

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Buckley, B.J.W., Dench, R.J., Morrogh-Bernard, H.C. et al. Meat-eating by a wild Bornean orang-utan (Pongo pygmaeus). Primates 56, 293–299 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-015-0487-x

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