JAKARTA — The COVID-19 pandemic has become the latest threat to the Tapanuli orangutan in Indonesia, the rarest great ape species of all and one already under severe pressure from a range of human threats. The critically endangered species, Pongo tapanuliensis, found in a single patch of rainforest in northern Sumatra, shares 97% of its […]
Tag: Sumatra
Petition: Urge Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei Governments to Crack Down on Palm Oil and Save Forests and Orangutans!
According to the United Nations, palm oil is found in approximately half of all products in supermarkets. But palm oil is destroying forests and killing animals. Orangutans, especially, are losing their homes and lives to the production of palm oil. Palm oil is taken from forests that house 10% of the world’s biodiversity and provide […]
Sumatra’s dwindling forests face extra pressure from a major highway project
JAKARTA — In Indonesia’s Sumatra, which has lost much of its forests over the decades, a major highway project running the length of the island is poised to speed up incursions into the few significant stands of forest that remain, researchers say. Construction of the Trans-Sumatran Highway, spanning 2,700 kilometers (1,680 miles) from Banda Aceh […]
Ground-feeding birds in Southeast Asia may be going extinct outside protected areas
Nature reserves in large parts of Southeast Asia may be the last strongholds for charismatic ground-feeding birds such as quails, partridges and pheasants, together called galliforms, according to a recent study in Conservation Letters. Researchers estimate that five species of galliforms no longer survive outside protected areas in Sundaland, a region comprising the Malay Peninsula […]
Sumatran tiger blamed for killing two people is captured alive after marathon hunt
JAKARTA — Authorities in Indonesia have captured a Sumatran tiger blamed for killing two people earlier this year. They have moved the female tiger, nicknamed Bonita, to a wildlife rehabilitation center in West Sumatra province. The capture of Bonita on April 20 in Riau province marked the end of the “longest rescue and evacuation effort […]
Slow Loris Traffickers Get Historic Sentences in Indonesia
Animal advocates are celebrating a landmark ruling against wildlife traffickers who were arrested last fall in Indonesia after they were caught in connection with a criminal network trading endangered slow lorises. The operation, which was part of an effort to dismantle an illegal wildlife trafficking network that was using Facebook to sell wildlife, was carried […]
New Species of Orangutan Is Rarest Great Ape on Earth
On November 20, 2013, the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme got a call about an injured orangutan found in the mountainous region of Tapanuli. “He had cuts on his face, on his head, back, hands, and legs,” recalls researcher Matt Nowak. “They even found some air rifle pellets inside his body”—indicating torment and harassment by people. […]
Is the ‘Extinct’ Javan Tiger Still Alive in Indonesia?
No one’s actually seen the animal for 40 years, but a wildlife ranger in Indonesia has snapped photos and video of a tiger that many believe is long extinct. The Javan tiger is one of the nine subspecies of tiger. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List declared it extinct in […]