A group of orangutans who appeared in Hollywood films, television commercials and magazine advertisements is being relocated to Great Ape Trust of Iowa – a significant move that begins to close the curtain in the United States on the decades-long use of orangutans in the entertainment industry.

Endangered wild orangutan (Pongo spp.) populations are declining more sharply in Sumatra and Borneo than previously estimated, according to new findings published this month by Great Ape Trust of Iowa scientist Dr. Serge Wich and other orangutan conservation experts in Oryx – The International Journal of Conservation.

When orangutans use gestures to get their point across, they rely on the same basic strategy that people follow in playing the game of charades. Captive orangutans intentionally modify or repeat hand or other signals selectively based on the success or failure of their first attempt, according to a August 2nd study in Current Biology, a publication of Cell Press.

By observing wild orangutans, a research team has found that walking on two legs may have arisen in relatively ancient, tree-dwelling apes, rather than in more recent human ancestors that had already descended to the savannah, as current theory suggests.

Orangutans are highly intelligent and are one of man's closest relatives. Found primarily in Indonesia, their name in English means "People of the Forest." Just a century ago, their numbers were plentiful, but deforestation, illegal hunting and natural disasters have left these large, red apes on the verge of extinction.