The orangutan has been studied in its natural environment since 1712 when the Englishman Captain Daniel Beekman visited South Borneo. In 1776, the first orangutans reached Europe. They had been brought to Amsterdam for the natural science collection of Prince William V, and soon more followed. Studying the orangutan in its natural environment has not been easy however, because the "red ape" is the most solitary and elusive of the primates.
As late as the early 1960s, Tom Harisson, curator of the Sarawak Museum, first pointed out the sorry predicament of the orangutans (they were being shot and sold as museum specimens). Even by this time, next to nothing was known about their private lives. In terms of primary research, it is only since the great field studies initiated in Borneo and Sumatra by such inspired scientists as John McKinnon, Peter Rodman, David Horr, and Herman Rijksen that we have learned a good deal more about the environmental conditions and behavior of the orangutan, or "forest man."
McKinnon's research was based on the premise that if he were to learn about the orangutan, he must live as an orangutan himself. McKinnon's procedure was to search the forest until he met an orangutan. Then he stayed with this animal wherever it went, even sleeping in the wild when the ape slept, and following it the next day. Using this approach, he began to make some sense of the daily campaigns of the animals. McKinnon verified that, unlike the other great anthropoid apes--the chimpanzee and gorilla--orangutans are by nature solitary.
In terms of evolutionary adaptation, they are protected by their coloration. As Grzimek's encyclopedia of mammals states, "the red coat of the orangutan blends completely with the merging green and brown shades of the forest" (p. 402). McKinnon found that "the coloring of the [orangutan's] sparse fur ranges from brilliant orange in juveniles to dark chestnut or chocolate in adults...