Animal · Indonesia, Malaysia
Orangutan
Pongo pygmaeus — the name this animal has in the language scientists everywhere share.
The orangutan is a large, red-haired ape that lives almost entirely in the rainforest canopy of Borneo and Sumatra. Its name means 'person of the forest' in Malay.
Picture credit: A.Baihaqi (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Thomas Fuhrmann (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Mbrickn (CC BY 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where does the orangutan live?
Home: Tropical rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra.
In the wild you find it in: Indonesia, Malaysia.
Conservation status from the IUCN: critically endangered.
The short profile
Fully grown it measures up to 1.4 m tall. It weighs about 75 kilograms. On the menu: both plants and meat.
The story behind it
Orangutans are the largest tree-dwelling animals in the world and spend almost their whole lives in the branches, rarely coming down to the ground. Their long arms can stretch more than two metres, letting them swing safely between trees high above the forest floor. Each night they build a fresh sleeping nest out of leaves and branches, sometimes even adding a roof if rain is coming. Mother orangutans stay with their young for up to eight years, the longest childhood of any animal besides humans. Rainforest logging and palm oil plantations have destroyed much of their habitat, making orangutans critically endangered today.
Find it on the globe
Orangutan is there as a tiny animated figure that breathes and looks around. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.
Questions children ask
Why are orangutans endangered?
Orangutans are critically endangered mainly because rainforests are cleared for palm oil plantations and logging, destroying the trees they need to live and travel through. Illegal hunting and the pet trade add further pressure.
How much time do orangutans spend in trees?
Orangutans spend almost all their time in trees, feeding, sleeping and travelling through the canopy using their long arms. They rarely come down to the forest floor at all, unlike most other great apes.
How smart are orangutans?
Orangutans are among the most intelligent animals, able to use tools, solve puzzles and even learn simple sign language in studies. In the wild they use leaves as umbrellas and sticks to fish for insects or honey.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
Last checked: