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On this day we celebrate Orangutans!

To coincide with World Orangutan Day, we’d like to invite you to get to know more about these amazing apes.

Face first: how to ID an orangutan

How much can we tell about an orangutan from its face?

When the team in WWF-Malaysia monitor orangutans, there are certain visual cues which help the team to tell the individual’s age, and whether the orangutan is male or female (sexual dimorphism). These insights help researchers to understand population composition.

Infants, juveniles, adolescents

Infants, juveniles, adolescents

White patches around the eyes of an orangutan serve as an indicator of an orangutan’s age. When they are young, these white eye patches are very prominent. As orangutans grow or mature, the white patch around the eye will gradually fade due to facial pigmentation and hair density changes.
Flanged Males

Flanged Males

When they mature, some male orangutans develop cheek pads, known as ‘flanges’. These indicate a dominant male – along with a large throat sac, these amplify their loud long calls to attract females.
Unflanged Males

Unflanged Males

Some males do not develop cheek pads. These ‘unflanged’ males are still mature, but they have lower testosterone and will be submissive to the dominant males within the social hierarchy.

Learn about Orangutans

Find out more
Test your Orangutan knowledge

Test your Orangutan knowledge

Take our short quiz and see how much of an orangutan expert you are.
Orangutan quiz
Top 10 facts about orangutans

Top 10 facts about orangutans

Discover more information about orangutans, the issues and threats they are facing, and what you can do to help.
Orangutan facts

World Orangutan day activities

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    Craft your own orangutan mask

    Turn yourself into this gentle forest dweller with our downloadable template.

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    Can you speak animal?

    Animals communicate with each other in all sorts of ways – and not always by making a noise! Can you match these weird ways of keeping in touch with the right animal?

    Find out more
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    Forests of life

    On the tropical island of Borneo, forests are alive with wonderful wildlife – which we’re helping protect! Find out more about the animals we work with.

    Find out more

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Adopt an orangutan

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