Orangutans: VIPs of Asia’s rainforests

Forest destruction has halved orangutan numbers – but we can all help protect them.

Adopt an orangutan

Orangutans: VIPs of Asia's rainforests species:

Critically endangered (Around 104,700 remain) Pongo pygmaeus

Affected by: Habitat loss and fragmentation , Illegal wildlife trade

Critically endangered (Around 14,000 remain) Pongo abelii

Affected by: Habitat loss and fragmentation , Illegal wildlife trade

Critically endangered (Around 800 remain) Pongo tapanuliensis

Affected by: Habitat loss and fragmentation , Illegal wildlife trade

What an extraordinary creature the orangutan is. But, this ‘person of the forest’ (that’s what orangutan means in Malay) is now at serious risk.

A century ago, orangutans lived in forests all across south-east Asia – from southern China to the Indonesian island of Java. Today they’re only found on two islands: Sumatra and Borneo. The primary threat to orangutans is the extensive loss of their natural habitat due to logging, agricultural expansion (particularly palm oil plantations), and infrastructure development. Deforestation fragments their habitats, isolating populations and limiting their ability to find food and mates.

It’s vitally important to protect these incredible animals – Asia’s only great apes – and their rainforest habitat before it’s too late. Your support is crucial, and the good news is you can help in lots of ways.

"I spent my childhood growing up in an oil palm estate in Sabah. The only thing that I saw outside in the morning and where I spent my time playing with my friends was the oil palm plantation. As I grow up I started to look at nature differently and excited to uncover what we have in our rainforest. I changed from a person who didn't know anything about nature to someone who enjoys nature and is now working to conserve our closest living relatives - the orangutan."

Donna Simon
Field Biologist

Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmeus pygmeus) and her baby in Betung Kerihun and Danau Sentarum national parks' corridor in West Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Where do orangutans live?

Orangutans spend most of their lives up in trees, foraging, moving between branches, and building treetop nests for resting during the day and for a good night's sleep. Orangutans are primarily tree-dwelling primates, but Bornean orangutans, both males and females, are also known to walk on the ground to forage for food or travel to other areas.

In the past, orangutans used to live as far north as southern China, and throughout Southeast Asia. However, due to hunting and habitat loss, the species range is now restricted to the fragmented tropical rainforests on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo.

Orang utan female called Suma with male baby

Why orangutans are so important

Orangutans are known as gardeners of the forest, because they help spread seeds around. You know how it works – they eat fruit from the trees, the seeds come out the other end, the forest spreads. Especially the larger seeds that don’t get spread by smaller animals.

Without that seed distribution, the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra would be drastically different, and that would have impacts on all the people and animals that live in or use those rainforests.

The people of Borneo and Sumatra depend on the orang-utan’s rainforest for food, water, income and environmental protection.

Adopt an orangutan

Challenges affecting orangutans

Unsustainable palm oil production

There’s nothing wrong with palm oil. Lots of everyday products, from snacks to soaps, use it. The problem is how it’s grown. As consumers in the UK we can all help by demanding that the palm oil used in our local supermarkets only comes from Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certified sources.

Learn more
Hunting and illegal wildlife trade

Hunting remains a major threat to orangutans. Most of the animals are killed by local hunters for non-conflict reasons: for their meat, or the pet trade. Young orangutans (up to the age of seven) are popular targets for the illegal pet trade. Hunters usually kill the mother when stealing her infant. Though it’s against the law, the regulations aren’t always enforced strongly enough.

How we're stopping illegal wildlife trade
Threats from climate change

Orangutan breeding and survival is greatly dependant on availability of their main food source, fruit. Currently many rainforest flowers and fruits are at risk because of the increased rainfall, which interferes with the reproduction of the plants and decreases fruit production.

More about climate change
Habitat loss and fragmentation

In the early 1970s more than three-quarters of Borneo was forested. Within four decades, over half those forests had been cut down by commercial loggers (often illegally) or cleared for agriculture, mining, roads or other developments. Today, illegal logging inside protected areas and unsustainable logging in concessions where orangutans live remain a major threat to their survival. Less than a third of orangutans are currently living within protected forests in Borneo and their remaining habitat is severely fragmented splitting large populations into smaller, isolated sub-populations - increasing the risk of these sub-populations disappearing.

Learn about forest loss and damage

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How we're helping orangutans

© N.C. Turner / WWF

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© Thippakone Thammavongsa - WWF-Laos

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