Head to head
Gibbon vs Orangutan
Gibbons and orangutans are both apes of Southeast Asian rainforest and both spend almost their whole lives in the trees, but in size, movement, and social life they could hardly be more different.
| Gibbon | Orangutan | |
|---|---|---|
| Size | Small, 5 to 12 kg | Large, up to ~90 kg in big males |
| Movement | Fast brachiation, up to ~55 km/h | Slow, deliberate climbing |
| Social life | Monogamous family group | Largely solitary |
| Hair | Short, black, brown, or grey | Long, sparse, orange-red |
| Voice | Loud coordinated dawn duets | Male long call carries over a kilometre |
| Range | Mainland and island Southeast Asia | Borneo and Sumatra only |
| Breeding pace | One young every 2 to 3 years | One young every 7 to 9 years |
| Status | Nearly all species Endangered or Critically Endangered | All 3 species Critically Endangered |
Gibbon vs Orangutan: common questions
Which is more endangered, the gibbon or the orangutan?
Both groups are in serious trouble, and it is close. Every orangutan species, the Bornean, Sumatran, and Tapanuli, is Critically Endangered, the highest category before extinction in the wild. Among gibbons, the picture is almost as dire across roughly 20 species, with the great majority Endangered or Critically Endangered and the Hainan gibbon, at about 40 individuals, the most endangered ape of all, orangutans included. So neither group is safe, and within gibbons a single species is arguably worse off than any orangutan population, even though orangutans as a whole get more conservation attention and funding.
Why does a gibbon swing so much faster than an orangutan?
It comes down to size and strategy. A gibbon is light enough that swinging fast beneath branches, called brachiation, is safe and efficient, and its very long arms, hook-shaped hands, and freely rotating shoulders are built specifically for this rapid pendulum motion. An orangutan is far heavier, and a fast swing that might work for a gibbon could snap a branch or throw a large orangutan off balance, so it instead distributes its weight across several branches at once, moves cautiously, and often bridges gaps by grabbing a tree and swaying it over rather than leaping. Both styles are efficient for the animal's size, but they look completely different.
Do gibbons and orangutans ever compete for food?
Where their ranges overlap, on Sumatra and Borneo, gibbons and orangutans do eat many of the same fruits, especially figs, and both track fruiting trees around their home ranges. Direct conflict is uncommon, though, because the two use the forest differently, since gibbons move fast through a smaller territory and can reach and clear out a fruiting tree quickly, while orangutans move slowly across a much larger range and arrive at trees less predictably. Both species also eat a good deal of leaves, bark, and other food that is not in short supply, which reduces head-to-head competition even where they share forest.