Discoveries and Contributions
Biruté Galdikas discovered and contributed so much to the learning and protecting of orangutans.
One of her biggest contributions would be the recognition she brought to a virtually ignored species. Little was known of orangutans before Galdikas came around. Galdikas brought widespread attention to orangutans, which is now needed as they become endangered.
Galdikas has discovered a lot about orangutans. Some of her discoveries:
-Galdikas discovered that orangutans have one of the longest birth interval rates of any animal. They tend to only have offspring every 8 years
-She documented over 400 different types of food consumed by orangutans, including fruit, insects, honey, vegetation, bark and bird eggs
-Galdikas also studied and learned a great deal about the social lives and relationships of orangutans. Adult males tend to be completely independent and live alone, and when they do have interactions between other males, they tend to be hostile. The majority of social bonds occur between the adult females and their offspring. The offspring tend to be extremely dependent within their first 4 years of life.