ORANG-UTAN Malaysia's mascot

• Main Author: Payne, Junaidi (Author)
• Other Authors: Mahedi Andau
• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Published: Kuala Lumpur Berita Pub. 1989
• Subjects: Orangutan > Malaysia
• Online Access: Click Here to View Status and Holdings.

 Most of the recent research on orang-utan behavior has been con ducted in the field. Although both MacKinnon and Rijksen observed captive orangs and mention their observations in their publications, neither investigator set out to purposefully study captive orangs. This book is an attempt to integrate the findings of both field and laboratory/zoo researchers. My own research has been conducted on the largest population of captive orang-utans in the world, and while I feel comfortable with the opportunity to generalize, the de mands of the captive situtation are clearly different from those of the wild. Given these hazards, and due to the limitations of my own experi ence with a captive population, it is essential to begin by outlining some of the important environmental and ecological variables which have affected orang-utan evolution and behavior. With this informa tion at hand, it will be possible to utilize the details which fol low. In each subsequent chapter, if we are to profit from our review of the literature, we must always keep in mind the findings of field workers and the unique adaptations of the arboreal orang-utan. The problems of generalizing from captive to field setting are le gion. The Yerkes recognized the differences in the preparation of their 1929 volume which, by necessity, included more captive than field data.. We are far from believing that captivity necessarily invalidates naturalistic observa tion, but it is obviously important to consider in each instance the environmental conditions and circumstances under which psychophysiological data are obtained.