Sumatra currently has one of the highest deforestation rates in the world. A combination of historical fragmentation of forest habitats, mostly for small-scale agriculture, and unsustainable hunting likely drove various orang utan populations to the south, east and west of the current population to extinction. This happened prior to the industrial-scale forest conversion that started in the 1970s.

    Saving this species will require the prevention of further fragmentation and killings or other removal of animals from the remaining population. Without concerted action, the remaining populations are doomed to become extinct within several orangutan generations. As of 2020, there are roughly 800 individuals of this species and it is currently on the critically endangered species list.