The Problem
Numerous threats. One shrinking forest.
Deforestation, fires, poaching and the illegal pet trade — across Indonesia and Malaysia, the pressures compound. Habitat destruction is the largest of them.
“There are numerous threats to the viability of the remaining wild orangutan population.”
Habitat loss
The scale of it.
Habitat destruction through deforestation and fire is the most significant danger to the remaining wild population.
585,400 ha
Lost every year
Average annual loss of Indonesian humid primary forest, 2010–2019.
68
Rugby fields an hour
The equivalent rate at which that forest disappears.
150,000
Orangutans vanished
Lost over the sixteen years between 1999 and 2015.
45,000
More by 2050
Projected further losses from deforestation alone.
Three species
All three are critically endangered.
Under 14,000 Sumatran and around 57,000 Bornean orangutans remain in the wild. Fewer than 800 Tapanuli.
Bornean Pongo pygmaeus
57,350
Three subspecies spread across Kalimantan, Sarawak and Sabah.
Critically EndangeredSumatran Pongo abelii
14,470
Smaller, with longer faces and lighter coats than their Bornean cousins.
Critically EndangeredTapanuli Pongo tapanuliensis
<800
Fewer than 800 remain. Smaller skulls, larger canines, cinnamon hair.
Critically Endangered
Why recovery is so slow
A population that cannot bounce back.
Thinkers
Orangutans are highly intelligent with an ability to reason and think. They belong to the great ape family, with a larger brain capacity than monkeys and a demonstrated ability to use tools — sharing 98% of our DNA.
Gardeners of the forest
Living high in the canopy, orangutans disperse seeds across enormous distances. Some rainforest trees germinate only after their seeds have passed through an orangutan. Remove the ape and the forest itself begins to unravel.
An umbrella species
Protecting orangutan habitat protects everything that shares it. They are regarded as an umbrella species for the biodiversity of the Southeast Asian rainforest — lowland and hilly tropical forest across Borneo and Sumatra.
Slow to recover
Females reach maturity at around fourteen to sixteen years and bear offspring once every six to eight years. When food is scarce, that rate falls further. A population this slow to reproduce cannot absorb the losses it is taking.
Without effective habitat protection, extinction in the wild is likely within 10 to 20 years.
While the rate of decline may be debated, the trend is clear. Without effective habitat protection, expert consensus warns of extinction in the wild likely to be within 10 to 20 years.