The Kids

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Animal

Young Orangutans

Location
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The Kids (Young Orangutans) — public sculpture on the Waco Sculpture Zoo trail
Older man and woman standing outdoors with autumn foliage in the background; the woman wears a red jacket with floral embroidery and smiles.

Donors

Brenda and Jerry Dyer

Shane Turner

Betsy and Clifton Robinson

This piece captures the natural play that is part of how young orangutans (and young humans) learn how to be a successful part of a family unit. Like us, these animals have complex social emotions and interactions, curiosity about the world around them, and a sense of humor. What do you think these two young orangutans are doing? What will happen next?

Did You Know?

  • In Malay and Indonesian, orang means "person" and hutan means "forest." Thus, orangutan literally means "person of the forest."
  • Orangutans are 'great apes,' as opposed to monkeys, and are very closely related to humans. In fact, we have 97% of DNA in common with orangutans.
  • Like humans, orangutans have opposable thumbs. Their big toes are also opposable.
  • Orangutans have tremendous strength, which enables them to swing from branch to branch and hang upside-down from branches for long periods of time to retrieve fruit and eat young leaves.
  • Orangutans are critically endangered due to logging, fires, and poaching.

About the artist

Lori Hough grew up in an artistic family in rural west Michigan. She initially went to college to get a degree in art, however a required class in Zoology led her to change her major to the study of animals. This led to Hough’s love of animals and artistic endeavors. Hough worked as a wildlife technician and biologist, and while on a foreign fishing boat in the Berring Sea, Hough’s interest in wildlife and art finally merged. While aboard, in between sampling the caught fish, she began creating papier mache animals. And finally, in 1988, her hobby became a full-time occupation. Lori Hough’s work features wild, domestic, extinct and fictional animals. She creates pieces from tiny tabletop giraffes to giant larger than life frogs. Hough specializes in creating very expressive pieces using strong gestural poses which form interesting compositions. In addition to bronze, Hough creates works in mediums of papier mache, ferro-concrete, and welded steel.

Mother and Child
Stalking Fox

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