The Effects of Smoke on Orangutan Behavior

Toxic particulates can make their way into the bloodstream and have been linked to lung and heart damage, immune system damage, inflammation in humans and animals. Wendy wanted to know how this smoke affected orangutan specifically. She first published a study in 2018 where she and her colleagues looked at behavioral changes as well as the overall health of orangutans in response to wildfire smoke. The researchers found that the animals were resting more, they were traveling less,. They were even consuming more calories in their diet. But when a solitary wild animal eats more and moves less, but still ends up using more energy and turning to fat stores, that's a big deal.