wildlife

Visualizing Orangutans: The Most Endangered Great Ape

Published

2 years ago

January 31, 2023

Shehryar (Shay) Saharan

Featured Creator

Article/Editing:

Freny Fernandes

Click to view this graphic in a higher-resolution.

Orangutan: The Most Endangered Great Ape

Just 50 years ago, millions of our orange-haired relatives—the orangutans—populated Earth.

But over the past five decades, these numbers have declined by 50%, and orangutans are estimated to completely disappear in the next 50 years. Currently, the world’s most endangered great ape is on a path to extinction.

This illustrated graphic by Shehryar Saharan uses a wide range of information to highlight the threats that led to the downfall of the world’s orangutans, and what can be done to prevent their extinction. Sources include National Geographic, the New England Primate Conservancy, WWF, the IUCN Red List, Current Biology, Our World in Data, Nature, AAAS, and Britannica.

Where Are the Orangutans?

These long-haired, orange, and gentle primates are closely related to humans. They are extremely intelligent, and also crucial to the ecosystem as they help spread the seeds of trees in the forests they inhabit.

Found exclusively in the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia, these tree-dwellers are Asia’s only great apes. Their three species are all found on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo.

Species	Scientific name	Location	Distinct Physical Features
Sumatran Orangutan	Pongo abelii	Sumatra (Indonesia)	Wide cheek pads, longer hair.
Bornean Orangutan	Pongo pygmaeus	Island of Borneo (Indonesia and Malaysia)	Small beard, broad face, dark fur.
Tapanuli Orangutan	Pongo tapanuliensis	Sumatra (Indonesia)	Flat face, Frizzy hair.

Bornean Orangutans

The dark reddish-haired Bornean Orangutans are more likely than the others to come down from their trees and travel the ground in search of fruit. According to the IUCN, their population declined by over 50% in the past 40 years to a range of 55,000‒104,700, making it a critically endangered species.

Sumatran Orangutans

More social than their Bornean cousins, Sumatran Orangutans are often seen feasting on fig trees in large groups and don’t need to travel the ground. Historically distributed over the entire massive island of Sumatra and further south into Java, the species’ range is now restricted to the north of the big island.

Tapanuli Orangutan

Discovered in North Sumatra in 2017, the Tapanuli Orangutan is the newest-discovered great ape and the rarest one. With an estimated population of just 800 surviving individuals, these critically-endangered apes are teetering on the brink of extinction.

Threats

Like wildlife across the world, the orangutan population is threatened by factors like climate change, forest fires, and urbanization and development.

Threats to Orangutans	Estimated Population Impacted
Agriculture and Aquaculture	28%
Hunting and Trapping	22%
Logging and Wood Harvesting	14%
Natural System Modifications	10%
Climate Change and Severe Weather	10%
Residential and Commercial Development	8%
Energy Production and Mining	7%
Transport and Service Corridors	1%

However, the biggest drivers are the orangutan’s loss of habitat due to palm oil production, deforestation, as well as hunting and trapping.

Over the past 20 years, orangutans have lost over 80% of their habitat to deforestation for palm plantations, agriculture, mining, and infrastructure. One palm oil plantation can require thousands of hectares of tropical forests to be bulldozed.

Forced into a smaller areas with less food and shelter, the rest are in a constant game of hide and seek with hunters and poachers looking to capture them for food, artefacts, and the illegal pet trade of baby orangutans.

Our Role in Their Conservation

From lipsticks and body lotion to biofuels and wood, many items we use drive deforestation for their creation.

In the case of orangutans, avoiding items that use the very palm oil produced in plantations that destroy their habitats plays a big role.

On a larger scale, there are organizations like The Orangutan Project that are campaigning to end the deforestation of orangutan habitats and conserve the depleting population.

This article was published as a part of Visual Capitalist's Creator Program, which features data-driven visuals from some of our favorite Creators around the world.

Click for Comments

Environment

Charted: The Longest-Living Animals on Earth

Earth’s longest-lived animal can survive for over 10,000 years.

Published

2 months ago

March 22, 2025

Niccolo Conte

This infographic highlights the longest-living animal species on Earth based on lifespans in the wild.

Charted: The Longest-Living Animals on Earth

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

In the natural world, every day is a quest for survival, but some creatures have evolved to endure for centuries and even thousands of years.

So, which animals have the longest lifespans?

This infographic highlights the longest-living animal species on Earth based on data from the International Fund for Animal Welfare, which includes marine creatures, birds, and land-dwelling species.

Nature’s Longest-Lived Creatures

Many of the world’s most enduring species inhabit marine environments, where deep-sea conditions provide stable temperatures, fewer predators, and slow metabolic rates.

Here’s a look at the animals with the longest confirmed lifespans in the wild:

Animal	Longest Confirmed Lifespans (wild)	Animal type
Glass Sponges	>10,000 years	Sponge (Marine)
Black Coral	5,000 years	Coral (Marine)
Giant Barrel Sponges	>2,300 years	Sponge (Marine)
Greenland Sharks	>400 years	Fish
Aldabra Giant Tortoises	150–250 years	Reptile
Ocean Quahogs	225 years	Mollusk
Bowhead Whales	>200 years	Mammal
Rougheye Rockfish	>200 years	Fish
Lobsters	100 years	Crustacean
Tuataras	100 years	Reptile
Elephants	80 years	Mammal
Parrots	80 years	Bird
Albatrosses	73 years	Bird

Glass sponges are the oldest living creatures, with some thought to be more than 15,000 years old. Often found at depths beyond 450 meters below sea level, some glass sponges have likely been around since the last ice age.

Other ocean-dwelling, long-lived creatures include black corals and giant barrel sponges, which can survive for thousands of years. Greenland sharks are the longest-lived vertebrates, with some estimated to be over 400 years old.

Meanwhile, Aldabra giant tortoises are the longest-living land dwellers and are native to the Seychelles Islands. As of 2025, a tortoise named Jonathan holds the title of the oldest known living land animal at 192 years old.

Among mammals, elephants can live almost as long as humans, with the longest recorded wild elephant reaching 80 years. However, the longest-living mammals are bowhead whales, which can live for over 200 years.

Unexplored Life in the Ocean

While most of the longest-lived animals live in marine habitats, what’s truly astonishing is that more than 80% of Earth’s oceans remain unexplored.

In the depths, there may be even older, undiscovered creatures that have endured for thousands of years and are waiting to be found.