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How did the range of orangutans differ during the Pleistocene Epoch?

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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.

During the Pleistocene Epoch (approximately 2,600,000 to 11,700 years ago), the geographic range of the orangutan was significantly more extensive than it is today. While modern populations are restricted to the Southeast Asian islands of Sumatra and Borneo, fossil evidence indicates that their range during the Pleistocene extended as far north as southern China.1