Orangutans - Facts for Kids

Conservation & Population

There are less than 105,000 Bornean orangutans left in the wild!

The number of Sumatran orangutans has dropped by 80% in the last 75 years!

There are fewer than 800 Tapanuli orangutans left, making them the most in-danger great ape!

Orangutans lose about 1% of their population every year because their homes are being destroyed!

A single orangutan needs a really large home — about 1,000 to 2,500 hectares (2,500–6,200 acres) — to find enough food throughout the year!

Good conservation work has helped create many orangutan rescue and recovery centers — over a dozen across Borneo and Sumatra!

It takes about 7 to 10 years for an orphaned orangutan to learn all the jungle skills it needs to survive on its own!

Orangutans have lost over 80% of their forest homes in the last 20 years because people cut down trees to make room for farms and palm oil!

Scientists warn that wild orangutans could disappear completely in the next 50 years if we don’t do much more to save their forests and stop hunting.

In orangutan countries like Indonesia, forests are being destroyed at a scary pace — about one football field of rainforest every 25 seconds!

Recovery centers have helped dozens to hundreds of orangutans return to the wild — so far over 700 have been released!