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How are orangutans related to humans, chimpanzees, and gorillas?

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An illustration of a female Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) with long reddish-brown fur, hanging from tree branches with one arm extended upward and one leg hooked over a branch. A scale bar at the bottom shows lengths of 30 centimeters and 12 inches for size reference. — orangutan Female orangutans (*Pongo*) have the longest breeding interval of any mammal, giving birth on average once every eight years.

Orangutans, humans, chimpanzees, and gorillas are all classified within the family Hominidae of the order Primates. While they share a common ancestry, their evolutionary paths diverged significantly over millions of years.12

Evolutionary Relationships

Subfamily Classification: Humans, chimpanzees, and gorillas are grouped together in the subfamily Homininae, reflecting their closer evolutionary relationship to one another. Within this subfamily, humans are placed in the tribe Hominini, while gorillas and chimpanzees are placed in their own distinct tribes, Gorillini and Panini, respectively.13
Orangutan Divergence: Orangutans are placed in their own separate subfamily, Ponginae. They diverged from the common lineage shared by humans and African apes more than 13 million years ago. Consequently, humans, chimpanzees, and gorillas are more closely related to each other than any of them are to orangutans.1342

While orangutans are more distantly related to humans than African apes are, they remain "great apes" and share complex cognitive abilities, such as self-recognition in mirrors and tool use, with their relatives.12