Scientific Name: Pongo abelii
IUCN Status: Critically Endangered
Height: 110–150 cm
Weight: 48–93 kg
Gestation: 232–267 days
Number of young: 1

Distribution: The Indonesian island of Sumatra
Habitat: Rainforest

Description: Orangutans have a coarse, shaggy reddish coat. Males look very different to females. An adult male is larger and has a throat pouch and flanges (cheek pads) on either side of its face. Orangutans have very long arms that can stretch as far as 2.6 m. Their hands and feet are used for grasping.

Diet: Orangutans are omnivores. Fruits are the favourite food of the orangutans, but they will also eat other parts of plants, honey, lizards, termites, birds and eggs.

In the wild: Females usually give birth after 12–15 years of age and the interval between births is an average of nine years. The young suckle for five to six years. Females may stay a further six years to learn valuable mothering skills. Males leave their mother at about eight years of age and travel large distances to set up their territory. Females tend to stay in the same area as their mother when they mature.

Threats: Around 80% of the orangutans’ habitat has been lost to logging and permanent agriculture conversion, in particular, oil palm plantations. Orangutans are also shot for stealing from the plantations or sold in the illegal pet trade. There are believed to be fewer than 7,300 Sumatran Orangutans left in the wild.

At Perth Zoo: Perth Zoo is considered a world leader in the breeding of the Sumatran Orangutan. The Zoo has successfully bred 26 orangutans since 1970 as part of an Australasian captive breeding program. In 2006, Perth Zoo released one of its female orangutans, Temara, into Bukit Tigapuluh National Park as part of a release program to re-establish a viable population of Sumatran Orangutans.

Come for the ‘Saving the Sumatran Orangutan’ presentation at 12.00pm every day.

Did you know? 'Orangutan' is Indonesian for ‘Person of the Forest’. The name of our oldest male, Hsing-Hsing, means 'Big Ape' in Chinese.

If you would like to help orangutans in the wild, make a donation to Perth Zoo’s Wildlife Conservation Action.

 Download an mp3 about the Sumatran Orangutan here (opens an external site).