Read the Rules

Experiment

Control variables:

  • Starts with 15 orangutans
  • Experiment runs for 1,825 days (5 years)
  • All other rules of the model apply (see complete rules)

Independent variables:

    While the experiment is running, you can click and highlight an individual orangutan to track.

    Save and Reload Your Experiment

    You can save the data from a previous experiment by copying the experiment code. You can even save this entire page as a PDF.

    Run at least one experiment to generate your code.

    Rules of the model

    5years

    The experiment runs for 1,825 days (5 years).

    Ty / 100

    Orangutans start with 100 energy points. They eat fruit from the rainforest and customary forests and termites. They move toward trees with the most plentiful fruit and eat termites in their path. Orangutans stay at a fruit tree for 1 day. Orangutans use 1 energy point each day. Orangutans lose additional energy points when they move. Orangutans all move at the same speed.

    You can select whether orangutans reproduce and die. When checked, orangutans die if they run out of energy points and reproduce when they reach 200 energy points. When unchecked, orangutans do not die or reproduce.

    Fruit represents figs and other fruits growing on trees in the forest. Orangutans gain 5.2 energy points each time they eat a fruit. Fruit trees can regrow fruit.

    You can adjust the percentage of fruit trees available in the forest from 0-40 percent.

    You can increase the percentage of fruit by choosing “Fruit”, then click on individual blocks (or drag over multiple blocks), which changes them to fruit. You can decrease the percentage of fruit by clicking on a block of fruit (or multiple blocks) and chose a new feature (Rainforest, Palm, etc.).

    Termites can be found throughout the forest. Orangutans gain .45 energy points when they eat termites.

    Orangutans can swing through the rainforest trees, but do not gain any energy points from them. There are 400 hectares of forest available to the orangutans.

    In Indonesia, land along rivers are protected from farming and should remain forest. "Forest Only" defaults to mostly rainforest with 25% fruit trees. "Income Only" defaults to mostly oil palm trees on the farm land and approximately 20-25% fruit trees in the rainforest.

    Palm represents large, commercial oil palm farms.

    Customary represents the customary rainforest. This is a forest area that people actively use to grow and harvest rainforest products, such as fruit, honey, and grass for weaving objects.

    Other crops are gardens or large community farms growing crops for people to consume. In real life orangutans eat from these gardens, but the computer model does not allow them to do that.

    Cut down is land cleared of rainforest and not being used to grow or harvest crops.

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