The name Orangutan can be translated to 'man from the forest'. In the Malay language (the official language of Malaysia and Indonesia) 'orang' means man and 'hutan' means forest. Today the orangutans are only found on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, but once they probably inhabited all of South-East Asia. Their natural habitat is the rainforest, and in contrast to other great apes they spend most of their life in the trees.Orangutans have developed a remarkable ability to travel through the forest treetops, and there they also spend the night sleeping in nests made of leaves and branches. Their reddish brown hair color is unique in the ape world. An adult male is twice the size of a female and can reach a height of 1.4 m and a weight of about 70-90 kg.
Their long, strong arms can reach a span of about 2 m, specialized for swinging from tree to tree, while the legs are short. This give them some disadvantage on the ground, and they rarely come down from the trees. Like humans their hands have four long fingers with an opposable thumb which can be used to grasp objects. (Bjorn Grotting) Src: indonext.com
