Female orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii) at Tanjung Puting National Park, Indonesia. Female orangutans give birth only once every eight years—the longest time period of any animal. Most of their lives are spent in trees where orangutans travel from branch to branch by climbing, clambering, and brachiating. Mothers and their young, however, share a strong bond. Infants will stay with their mothers for some six or seven years until they develop the skills to survive on their own.