Species Spotlight: Sumatran Orangutan

Sumatran orang utan male portrait (Pongo abelii) Gunung Leuser NP, Sumatra, Indonesia

Questions and answers

How much time do Sumatran orangutans spend in the trees?
The Sumatran orangutan is almost exclusively arboreal, living among the trees of tropical rain forests. Females never travel on the ground and adult males only rarely come down from the trees.

How do orangutans help forest composition?
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. Without seed distribution by orangutans, the rain forests of Borneo and Sumatra would be dramatically different, impacting people and animals that live there.

Which other great apes are found in Asia?
Orangutans are the only great apes found in Asia.

HABITAT

Orangutans are found only in the lowland forests of Borneo and Sumatra in Southeast Asia.
DIET

Fruit makes up 60 percent of the orangutan's diet.
THREATS

In addition to habitat destruction and fragmentation, wildlife trade threatens the orangutan’s long-term survival.