Orangutan Facts

About the orangutan

Orangutans have long arms, short legs and reddish-brown hair. Dominant adult males grow cheek pads called flanges and give long calls to attract females and warn rivals. Fruit is the main food, but they also eat bark, bird eggs, insects, honey and other plants. They can live more than 30 years, and they are the most solitary great apes, with strong bonds mostly between mothers and young.

Scientists once counted one species, then split it into Bornean and Sumatran species in 1996. A third, the Tapanuli orangutan, was confirmed in 2017. In the Pleistocene, their range covered Southeast Asia and South China. Among the smartest primates, they use clever tools and build a new sleeping nest of branches and leaves every night, and different groups may have their own cultures.

Did you know?

• Orangutans are the only living members of the subfamily Ponginae.
• Their line split from other hominids between 19.3 and 15.7 million years ago.
• The Bornean orangutan, P. pygmaeus, is split into three subspecies.