On which two islands are wild orangutans found?

Wild orangutans are found on two islands: Borneo and Sumatra. These Indonesian and Malaysian islands contain the only remaining wild populations of the great apes known for their reddish hair and tree-dwelling lifestyle.

Borneo is home to the Bornean orangutan, while Sumatra supports the Sumatran orangutan and the Tapanuli orangutan. The Tapanuli species was formally recognized in 2017 and survives in the Batang Toru forest of northern Sumatra. Thus, there are three living orangutan species, but their wild distribution is limited to two islands.

Orangutans are the most arboreal of the great apes and spend much of their lives in the forest canopy. Their name comes from Malay and Indonesian words meaning “person of the forest.” They eat mainly fruit, but also consume leaves, bark, insects, bird eggs, and other foods.

A common mistake is choosing Java, Bali, Sulawesi, or New Guinea because these islands are also associated with Southeast Asian wildlife. Orangutans once lived across a much broader part of Asia, but hunting, logging, habitat fragmentation, and plantation expansion have reduced them to Borneo and Sumatra.