7 Things You Must Know About Orangutans

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As of 2017, there are three species of Orangutans: Bornean, Sumatran, and the most recently confirmed Tapanuli. They are only found on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra and unfortunately, all three orangutan species are critically endangered.

The word orangutan comes from the Malay ‘orang’ for person and ‘hutan’ for forest and it translates to the ‘person of the forest’. The name is pretty on point considering we share 97 per cent of our DNA with this great ape.

Orangutans spend most of their time swinging on canopies and need vast stretches of forest to find enough food and mates. Therefore, deforestation and hunting are some of the biggest threats to orangutans.

Orangutans have an arm span of about 2.2 metres from fingertip to fingertip and considering they are just 1.5 metres tall, it is an impressive reach.

Orangutans like to be comfortable and build a sleeping platform or nest every night. It takes them around 10 minutes to create a structure by gathering several small and large branches and weaving them together. They sometimes also add a roof when it is raining.

Young orangutans learn everything from their mothers, including what to eat, and stay with them until the age of seven. Infants are also often seen clinging to their mothers and sleep in her nest until they develop their own skills to survive.

According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), orangutans are critically endangered, with a population of less than 105,000 in Borneo. The IUCN’s Red List had previously estimated that their population would decline to about 47,000 by next year as a result of human pressures and loss of habitat.