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| 'Forest Person' (Photo by Eleifert) |
According to Wikipedia, the very name “orangutan” is derived from two Malay and Indonesian terms:
orang (“person”) and hutan (“forest”).
This name originally applied to “forest-dwelling humans,” rather than to great apes.
The intelligence of orangutans was noted early on. Dutch
physician Jacobus Bontius wrote in 1631 “that Malaysians had
informed him the ape was able to talk, but preferred not to ‘lest he be compelled to labour.’”
Orangutans are now known to be “among the most intelligent primates,” and have been “extensively studied for their learning abilities.” They utilize a variety of “sophisticated tools,” are “very technically adept nest builders,” do cost/benefit analyses, and play computer games at Zoo Atlanta.
Richard Lough of Reuters reports on a recent “landmark ruling” by an Argentinian court. Sandra, an orangutan at the Buenos Aires Zoo, was afforded the rights of a “non-human person.” Due to her high cognitive functioning, AFADA (the Association of Officials and Lawyers for Animal Rights) had argued that she “should not be treated as an object.”
AFADA lawyer Paul Buompadre pointed out that this case paves the way “for other sentient beings which are unfairly and arbitrarily deprived of their liberty in zoos, circuses, water parks and scientific laboratories.”
As compassion evolves, may cognitive functioning become just one of many reasons for freeing these
sentient captives.
Resources
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/21/orangutan-argentina_n_6363582.html
Copyright January 8, 2014 by Linda Van Slyke All Rights Reserved
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