Native to Indonesia and Malaysia, orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus and Pongo abelii) are found only on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. Their name derives from the Malay and Indonesian phrase ‘orang hutan’, meaning ‘person of the forest’. Orangutans spend most of their time in trees, and live a more solitary lifestyle than the African great apes. Social bonds occur primarily between mothers and their offspring, who stay together until adolescence. Fruit makes up about 60% of an orangutan’s diet; other food items include young leaves, shoots, seeds, bark, insects, and bird eggs. Orangutans use a variety of sophisticated tools and construct elaborate sleeping nests each night from branches and foliage.
Two species of orangutan are recognized: the Bornean orangutan and the Sumatran orangutan.
BORNEAN ORANGUTAN (PONGO PYGMAEUS) 3 SUBSPECIES
NORTHEAST BORNEAN ORANGUTAN (P. P. MORIO)


GRASP & IUCN (2018). Report to the CITES Standing Committee on the Status of Great Apes. UN Environment, Great Apes Survival Partnership, Nairobi and International Union for Conservation of Nature, Gland.
NORTHWEST BORNEAN ORANGUTAN (P. P. PYGMAEUS)


GRASP & IUCN (2018). Report to the CITES Standing Committee on the Status of Great Apes. UN Environment, Great Apes Survival Partnership, Nairobi and International Union for Conservation of Nature, Gland.
SOUTHWEST BORNEAN ORANGUTAN (P. P. WURMBII)


GRASP & IUCN (2018). Report to the CITES Standing Committee on the Status of Great Apes. UN Environment, Great Apes Survival Partnership, Nairobi and International Union for Conservation of Nature, Gland.
SUMATRAN ORANGUTAN (PONGO ABELII)


GRASP & IUCN (2018). Report to the CITES Standing Committee on the Status of Great Apes. UN Environment, Great Apes Survival Partnership, Nairobi and International Union for Conservation of Nature, Gland.
TAPANULI ORANGUTAN (PONGO TAPANULIENSIS)

GRASP & IUCN (2018). Report to the CITES Standing Committee on the Status of Great Apes. UN Environment, Great Apes Survival Partnership, Nairobi and International Union for Conservation of Nature, Gland.
VIRTUAL ECOTOURISM
Ecotourism lends a hand at Bukit Lawang. Tag along with a group of ecotourists as they visit a feeding platform at the orangutan rehabilitation center near Bukit Lawang.
Rescued Apes find Solace. Take a tour of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program’s (SOCP) quarantine facility, where rescued apes are monitored and cared for while the SOCP lobbies and raises funds for more permanent shelter.
Tripa’s Emperilled Peat Swamps. Join Ian Redmond 30 feet in the air for an ape’s eye-view of the rapidly disappearing habitat of the critically endangered Sumatran orangutan.