Author:
Kralick Alexandra E.,McGrath Kate
Abstract
Orangutans are endangered primates that live in Asian forests. Each year, these forests are becoming more stressful to live in because of habitat destruction and deforestation. The stress of habitat change may affect some orangutans more than others. As male orangutans age, some of them grow big cheek pads on their faces, called flanges (flanged males), while others keep their kid faces (unflanged males). Scientists still do not understand why orangutans grow up to become one type or the other, but stress might help explain it. To test this, we examined orangutan teeth for signs of stress that formed when they were kids. We found that unflanged males have less severe stress lines, meaning lower levels of childhood stress, compared to flanged males. Nowadays, most orangutans have high levels of stress due to habitat destruction and climate change. As a result, adult unflanged males may be disappearing from the wild altogether.
Subject
General Materials Science