How old do orangutans live to be as a pet?

Answer 1

Orangutans can live to be 50 or 60 years old, bu they are NOT good pets! Orangutans are an endangered species,and to get a baby orangutan for the pet trade, their mother is shot, and due to poor handling most infants die en route. Even if they are born in captivity, they are taken from their mothers at birth, and this has the exact same effect it would on a human mother and child.

Orangutans are extremely strong, way stronger than any human. No matter how loving a relationship they have with their owner there is always the possibility they will attack.

As infants, they are relatively easy to care for and can be raised as a human child. When they reach adolescence however, they start to become unmanageable, to the point where they have to be confined to a cage. Not even trainers in Hollywood can handle them at this point. After a lifetime of abuse, the orangutans are either put in abreeding situation or confined to a cage. Even a relatively well equipped cage is not ideal for an orangutan. They are simply too intelligent. It is like confining a human child to a cage their whole life.

Zoos usually cannot take pet orangutans, as they learn how to be an orangutan from their mother, and have no idea how to interact with other orangutans. Many are so humanized they view themselves as humans. Zoos are usually full anyway, and the same goes for sanctuaries.

IF you love orangutans, work to protect them in the wild, visit them in the zoo, or fundraise for the Center for Great Apes, but NEVER keep one as a pet.