1.5 Euro Spain 2022 Endangered Species – Orangutan

They live on only two islands in Southeast Asia: Borneo and Sumatra, making them particularly vulnerable to deforestation for oil palm cultivation. In addition, their low reproductive rate and poaching or trapping for sale as exotic pets have made them one of the world’s most endangered primate species. They are solitary animals, apart from the mating period, the only social interaction they have is the relationship between the mother and her offspring. These relationships last for many years. It is the animal on the planet, whose offspring dependency on the mother lasts the longest, that is an obstacle to the reproduction of this species. Like the African great apes, orangutans share much in common with human DNA. They are endowed with great intelligence, which allows them to make and use tools that facilitate the collection of food. This intelligence is also shown in their building nests or branches out of branches to roost in trees at high altitude and thus stay away from their few natural predators. They are highly sexually dimorphic animals, with males having very large cheeks or protrusions, which is a symbol of their maturity and dominance, which is especially striking in the Bornean species, which have similar throat pouches.

The coins of Spain were issued in a special design with enameling on the obverse, which ensures greater realism of the image.

The obverse of the Spanish 1.5 Euro coin depicts an Orangutan.

The reverse (common to all coins) depicts a floral ornament and animal tracks, the denomination and the inscription ANIMALES EN PELIGRO DE EXTINCIÓN (Endangered Animals).

Alloy: copper-nickel

Denomination: 1.5 euro

Weight: 15 grams

Diameter: 33mm

Quality: UNC

Circulation: 5000 pcs

The coin was released in Spain’s 2022 collection “Endangered Species”

The collection includes 16 coins:

African elephant

Giant otter

Iberian lynx

Giant lizard of La Gomera

Monk seal

Philippine eagle

Ring-tailed lemur

Bengal tiger

Blue iguana

Cantabrian brown bear

European mink

Gorilla

Irrawaddy Dolphin

Javan rhinoceros

Okapi

Orangutan