World’s newest great ape faces habitat loss, multiple threats: Will it survive?

World’s newest great ape faces habitat loss, multiple threats: Will it survive?

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 […]

Read More

Satellites show deforestation surging in Indonesia’s Tesso Nilo National Park

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 […]

Read More

Indonesian official charged, but not jailed, for trading in Sumatran tiger parts

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 […]

Read More

Starving and injured Sumatran tiger dies in captivity, Indonesian officials report

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 […]

Read More

Southeast Asia losing tigers as deadline looms to double population by 2022

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, […]

Read More