JAKARTA — When scientists made the bombshell announcement in 2017 that the Tapanuli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis) was a new species, the apes were immediately put under the global spotlight. With fewer than 800 individuals surviving in a tiny tract of forest in the western part of Indonesia, scientists declared the Tapanuli orangutan as the rarest […]
Tag: Panthera tigris sumatrae
Indonesia and Norway give REDD+ deal another go after earlier breakup
JAKARTA — Indonesia has signed a new climate deal with Norway that will see the Nordic country pay the Southeast Asian one to keep its forests standing. The deal comes a year after Indonesia terminated a nearly identical scheme between the two countries over the lack of payments. Land-use change, forest degradation, and deforestation account […]
Satellites show deforestation surging in Indonesia’s Tesso Nilo National Park
PEKANBARU, Indonesia — Reportedly home to 3% of the planet’s mammal species and one of the highest levels of lowland plant diversity known to science, Indonesia’s Tesso Nilo National Park is a sanctum for Sumatra’s wildlife – including critically endangered Sumatran tigers (Panthera tigris sumatrae) and elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus). But the capacity of Tesso […]
Indonesian official charged, but not jailed, for trading in Sumatran tiger parts
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — Authorities in Indonesia have charged three men, including a local political leader in Sumatra, with selling body parts from a Sumatran tiger, a critically endangered and protected species. Ahmadi, 41, the former head of Bener Meriah district in Aceh province, was arrested by provincial police along with two alleged accomplices while […]
Starving and injured Sumatran tiger dies in captivity, Indonesian officials report
JAMBI, Indonesia — Conservation authorities in Indonesia have reported the death of a Sumatran tiger captured in October following reports of deadly attacks on people. Officials have linked the death to a suspected local outbreak of African swine fever killing the big cat’s main prey. The adult female Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) died on […]
Mother tiger and her cubs found dead in Sumatran forest
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — A mother Sumatran tiger and her two cubs were found dead this week in a snare trap in Indonesia’s westernmost Aceh province. Local people in Buboh, a village in South Aceh, discovered the tiger carcasses on Aug. 24 and reported them to authorities. “The mother was entangled in the neck and […]
Southeast Asia losing tigers as deadline looms to double population by 2022
Tigers once roamed throughout the dense forested interior of mainland Southeast Asia and several islands of Indonesia. Positioned at the pinnacle of the food chain, tigers maintain ecosystem balance, and by protecting them, we can preserve entire biodiverse landscapes. However, the long-term survival of this flagship conservation species now hangs in the balance. In 2010, […]
Tigers threatened by a vast network of planned roads across Asia
The Bukit Tigapuluh landscape in Indonesia has been sliced and diced by roads, opening its forests to threats from the outside. As forest vanishes in the region, so too does its population of endangered Sumatran tigers. A rapidly expanding road network in Asia threatens to usher in similar problems for tigers (Panthera tigris) elsewhere in […]