Perhaps via word association or inundation in popular culture, orangutans are synonymous with their recognizably reddish-orange fur. But the "orang" sound in their name has nothing to do with their distinct coloration: the name orangutan means "person of the forest" in the Malay language. The moniker may be more accurate than we knew.
"They're extremely intelligent, they're very similar to us, they have cultures, they have prototypical behaviors that are assumed to be precursive of language," Dr. Adriano Lameira told Salon.
