Animals|A great ape’s nest can have a pillow, a blanket and a canopy bed.
An oranki learns to build its sleeping nest by observing adults and practicing on its own, says the international research team.
The researchers followed the activities of 44 Sumatran orangs for 17 years.
The chick starts practicing nest building at about one year old and fully learns the skill only at about 8 years old.
Adult the orangutan builds himself a safe and comfortable sleeping nest high up in a tree every night. It is a skillful trick that has been found to take many years to learn.
Chicks learn to nest by repeatedly observing the adult’s construction work and applying their observations to their own experiment, say researchers from the international research group. It followed 44 Sumatran orangutans in their home forest for 17 years.
No it’s a wonder that there’s enough learning, because the finished bed corresponds at best to a canopy bed with all the necessities.
At first the orangutan chooses a type of wood as the base of the nest, the branches of which are good in terms of construction properties and the leaves of which are suitable for linings and cushions.
It bends the branches into a platform for the base of the nest and sometimes combines with it the branches of neighboring trees of different species, if they are of a suitable type.
On top of the sole, monkey manufactures extra parts that bring comfort as needed. For a mattress, it folds a plush layer of thinner branches with lots of leaves.
The pillow is made of small leafy branches, and after lying down, it can place them as a blanket over itself. In case of rain, it can build an even tighter braided canopy.
A successfully placed and built nest protects against wild animals, falling and the cold. The chemicals contained in wood materials can also repel biting and stinging insects. In order for the result to work, the orang must know how to choose suitable materials and shape them with his hands and mouth.
Cub starts playing with nesting materials at about six months of age and practices assembling a simple day nest at about one year of age.
It only starts trying to make a sleeping nest at about three years of age and develops into a complete master at making it at about eight years of age.
The skill didn’t improve if you only stayed near a constructive adult, the researchers are reporting In Communications Biology. The boy had to watch the adult’s work with concentration and then try his own version.
In particular, the student found it difficult to manage multi-stage construction work, such as joining different trees and adding additional parts. At first, my own mother acted as a model, later other conkers in the immediate circle.
Published in Science in Nature 7/2025.