Indonesian floods leave rare orang utans at risk of extinction

Indonesia's deadly flooding was an “extinction-level disturbance” for the world’s rarest great ape, the tapanuli orang utan, causing catastrophic damage to its habitat and survival prospects, scientists warned on Dec 12.

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Scientifically classified as a species only in 2017, tapanulis are incredibly rare, with fewer than 800 left in the wild, confined to a small range in part of Indonesia’s Sumatra.

One dead suspected tapanuli orang utan has already been found in the region, conservationists told AFP.

“The loss of even a single orang utan is a devastating blow to the survival of the species,” said Mr Panut Hadisiswoyo, founder and chairman of the Orangutan Information Centre in Indonesia.

An analysis of satellite imagery combined with knowledge of the tapanuli’s range suggests that the flooding which killed nearly 1,000 people in November may also have devastated wildlife in the Batang Toru region.

The scientists focused on the so-called West Block, the most densely populated of three known tapanuli habitats, and home to an estimated 581 tapanulis before the disaster.

There, “we think that between 6 and 11 per cent of orang utans were likely killed”, said Dr Erik Meijaard, a longtime orang utan conservationist.