The
orangutans (also spelled
orang-utan,
orangutang, or
orang-utang) are the two exclusively Asian
species of
extant great apes. Native to
Indonesia and
Malaysia, orangutans are currently found in only the
rainforests of
Borneo and
Sumatra. Classified in the
genus Pongo, orangutans were considered to be one species. However, since 1996, they have been divided into two species: the
Bornean orangutan (
P. pygmaeus) and the
Sumatran orangutan (
P. abelii). In addition, the Bornean species is divided into three subspecies. Based on genome sequencing, the two extant orangutan species evidently diverged around 400,000 years ago. The orangutans are also the only surviving species of the subfamily
Ponginae, which also included several other species, such as the three extinct species of the genus
Gigantopithecus, including the largest known primate
Gigantopithecus blacki. The ancestors of the Ponginae subfamily split from the main ape line in Africa 16 to 19 million years ago (
mya) and spread into Asia.