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Orangutan Factsheet
Conservation Status
IUCN Red Data List for Pongo abelii
and Pongo pygmaeus
Where found
Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus)
Occurs in Central Kalimantan
(Indonesia) and Sabah (Malaysia), with smaller populations in West and
East Kalimantan and Sarawak (Malaysia). By 2004, the area of Bornean
orangutan habitat remaining was around 86,000 km2 in total.
Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii)
Occurs
predominatly to the north of Lake Toba on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The most
viable populations are found in the Leuser Ecosystem of Aceh and North
Sumatra (the large landscape within which is set the Gunung Leuser National Park),
particularly in the coastal swamps and certain lowland parts of the
Alas Valley.
Habitat
Orangutans are most common in peat-swamp forests and forests in flood
plains, close to streams, rivers and swamps, probably because of the
higher incidence of preferred fruit trees there.
Diet
They eat mainly sugary, ripe fruit and seeds, and occasionally leaf shoots, insects, flowers, bark and soil.
Numbers surviving
The latest population estimate for the Sumatran
population in late 2004 is about 7,500
and declining, down from an estimate in 1997 of 12,770. For
Borneo, population estimates are 57,000 in total,
distributed within three subspecies in fragmented islands of habitat.
Deforestation for palm oil plantations, illegal logging, forest fires (often deliberately lit to clear the forest), and killing the adults to capture infants for the wildife trade.
Organisations involved in their conservation
GRASP International
Australian Orangutan Project
Orangutan Foundation Intl .
Orangutan Foundation UK
Great Ape Project International
Sumatran Orangutan Society
Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Project (S.O.C.P.)
Ape Alliance - Action for Apes!
Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation
[UK ] [Australia ]
Orangutan Conservancy
Orangutan Health Project (OHP)
Born to Be Wild
Photos on this website courtesy of William Calvin, Jeff Canin, Aleisha Caruso, Debby Cox, Furuichi c/o JGI Uganda, Kris Descovich, Lola Ya Bonobo sanctuary, Tony Gilding, Selby King, Carlos Schuler, Jodie Sheridan
Contact us: email help@grasp.org.au