Personality can extend beyond social settings, showing up among humans and, as a scientific study indicates, among orangutans as well. Researchers concluded that orangutan communicative behavior and social responses vary from one individual to another and display notable flexibility. Indeed, orangutan mothers differ not only in the gestures they use with their offspring but also in how they communicate, including when they repeat gestures or respond to their young requests.
The question that often arises is whether orangutans possess personalities. Scientists argue they do, placing this species alongside chimpanzees, gorillas, and bonobos as self-aware, emotionally complex beings capable of reasoning, feeling, and forming lasting social bonds.
Individuals of this species show the capacity to feel, reason, and endure physical and psychological stress in captivity. They can make decisions, solve problems, learn, and transmit knowledge through cultural patterns similar to humans. A Swiss-German team led by the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution at the University of Tübingen, in collaboration with behavioral scientist Marlen Fröhlich from the Paleoenvironment, studied mother–infant interactions in orangutans.
The research group focused on how individual differences and flexible communication strategies manifest in orangutan mothers, both in the wild and in zoological settings.
Different communication tactics
The study, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B under the title Individual diversity and plasticity in infant-directed communication in orangutan mothers, reveals that orangutans adjust their communication to different social contexts, much like humans do. Differences are observed not only in the makeup of a mother’s gesture repertoire but also in the way mothers behave, their communication strategies, and how they respond to their offspring’s needs, regardless of environment.
An orangutan with its infant underscores the close, lasting bond typical of this species. In the wild, orangutans often live alone or in very small groups, with permanent ties primarily between mothers and their young. That bond can last for years as a mother spends nearly a decade preparing her cub for life independently.
Fröhlich explains that the mother–infant relationship in orangutans provides a rich model for studying intraspecific communication in great apes. Despite their reputation as solitary animals, orangutans display a broad repertoire of tactile and visual gestures used across varied social contexts, both in captivity and in the wild.
Researchers examined how much orangutan communication varies among individuals and how it adapts to different social settings. To do this, they analyzed the similarity of gestures among individual mothers living in captivity or in the wild and explored the breadth of gestural repertoires for the baby.
They also looked at how female orangutan communication patterns shifted in scenarios involving shared food or play with others.
Behavioral flexibility
In their analysis, researchers reviewed 4,839 video recordings of 13 Bornean orangutans and several Sumatrans, focusing on how the mothers coordinate with their offspring. A key finding is that successful maternal behavior in breeding depends on recognizing cues from offspring and guiding their actions through targeted signals. This signaling acts as a social glue, helping synchronize daily routines such as meals and outings.
The study notes that gestural similarity between Bornean and Sumatran mothers varies significantly when living in different environments. This aligns with prior comparisons between wild and zoo-dwelling primates. Most striking is the degree of behavioral flexibility at the individual level: orangutan mothers adjust their communication and responses depending on the social context. For some, meeting an offspring’s demands occurs only in certain contexts, while others meet needs in all circumstances.
Consistent individual differences, often described as personality in social behavior, have been identified across many animal groups and, more recently, within great ape species as well, including patterns of relationships and direct interactions among individuals.
Cited reference: Royal Society Publishing, 2022, DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.0200.
Note: Environmental context and social structure play crucial roles in shaping how orangutan mothers communicate with their young, highlighting the intricate link between personality and social adaptability in these intelligent primates.