Which genus contains the orangutans?

The genus that contains the orangutans is Pongo.

Pongo is the only living genus in the ape subfamily Ponginae. It includes the Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), the Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii), and the Tapanuli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis). All three are great apes, alongside gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, and humans.

A common mix-up is confusing genus and species. “Orangutan” is the common name for several species, while Pongo is the genus name shared by their scientific names. Homo is the human genus, Gorilla contains gorillas, and Pan contains chimpanzees and bonobos.

The name Pongo was introduced by the French naturalist Bernard Germain de Lacépède in 1799. Modern orangutans live naturally on Borneo and Sumatra, although fossil evidence shows that their relatives once occupied a much broader area of Southeast Asia. They are the most arboreal of the great apes and spend much of their lives in forest canopies.