Orangutans are large, tree-dwelling apes native to Borneo and Sumatra, and there are three living species today: Bornean, Sumatran, and Tapanuli. All three are Critically Endangered.
This page covers all three species, their habitat, diet, behavior, tool use, and current conservation status, with sources for every figure.
What are the three orangutan species?
The three orangutan species are the Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), the Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii), and the Tapanuli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis), which scientists described as a separate species in November 2017 after genetic and skeletal study of an isolated population in North Sumatra (IUCN). Before 2017, scientists recognized only two orangutan species, Bornean and Sumatran.
The word orangutan comes from Malay and means “person of the forest.” This section does not cover other great apes, such as gorillas or chimpanzees, which live in Africa rather than Southeast Asia.
Where do orangutans live and what do they eat?
Orangutans live only in the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra, spending most of their time in the forest canopy rather than on the ground. Fruit makes up around 60 percent of their diet, including figs, lychees, and durian, and they also eat young leaves, bark, insects, and occasionally bird eggs or small animals (WWF).
The Tapanuli orangutan lives in a single forest area of roughly 1,000 square kilometers in the Batang Toru ecosystem, which makes it far more geographically restricted than the other two species. This section does not cover orangutans in zoos or sanctuaries, only wild populations in their native range.
How do orangutans behave, and do they use tools?
Orangutans are mostly solitary animals, unlike many other great apes, and adult males and females typically travel and forage alone except when mothers are raising young. Each evening, an orangutan builds a new nest high in the trees by pulling branches together and weaving in smaller ones, usually finishing in about ten minutes, and may add a leafy roof in the rain (WWF).
Orangutans use tools in the wild, including sticks to pull insects like termites out of tree holes and cavities, and leaves folded into a kind of glove for handling prickly fruit or thorny branches (WWF). Mother orangutans stay with their young for several years, teaching them what to eat, how to build nests, and how to move safely through the canopy. This section does not cover tool use by orangutans in captivity, where trained behaviors can differ from wild tool use.
What is the conservation status of each orangutan species, and why?
All three orangutan species are listed as Critically Endangered, the most severe category before extinction in the wild, but their situations differ. The Bornean orangutan is listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN, with its population estimated at roughly 104,700 based on updated range mapping (WWF).
The Sumatran orangutan is also listed as Critically Endangered, with a population estimated at around 13,800, roughly double earlier estimates thanks to better survey methods rather than population growth (WWF). The Tapanuli orangutan, described in 2017, has no more than about 800 individuals, making it the rarest great ape species on Earth (IUCN).
The leading threat to all three species is habitat loss, mainly from clearing rainforest for palm oil plantations, logging, and small-scale agriculture, along with hunting and the illegal pet trade (WWF). Because orangutans reproduce slowly, typically one baby every seven to eight years, populations recover very slowly from habitat loss, which is a key reason all three species remain at such high risk today. This section reports population figures as of the years cited. Numbers change as new surveys are published, so check the source link for the latest data.
For more on endangered species, see our animals section and our page on zebras. For classroom resources, visit our science lesson plans.