Native to Malaysia and Indonesia, the Bornean and Summatran Orangutans are the closest mammals to humans. In Malay, orang translates to “person” and utan is derived from hutan, which means “forest.” So orangutans are literally “forest people”. Unfortunately, due to excessive deforestation in both countries, the Bornean orangutan is classified as endangered (only 104,700 remain) and the Sumatran orangutan is critically endangered (as few as about 7,500 are alive). Another species or orangutans, known as the Tapanuli orangutan was officially announced by an international team of scientists in 2017. WWF suggests that “with 800 or fewer individuals, the Tapanuli orangutan is the rarest of all great apes”. Click here to know how you can help.