The body of a critically endangered elephant killed by a hunting trap was found in Indonesia on Friday, local officials said. Shocking images of the Sumatran elephant show the animal’s decomposing body lying on its side, with a cut on its leg from where it was caught by the trap. The male elephant, who is […]
Tag: Sumatra
Deforestation spurred by road project creeps closer to Sumatra wildlife haven
JAKARTA — An upgrade to a road that cuts through one of Southeast Asia’s last great swaths of intact rainforest is driving deeper encroachment by humans into blocks of forest that may spread into a national park. The road runs 36 kilometers (22 miles) between the districts of Karo and Langkat in Indonesia’s North Sumatra […]
Historical data point to ‘imminent extinction’ of Tapanuli orangutan
JAKARTA — Onrizal Onrizal remembers hearing stories of human-like creatures living in the forest when he was growing up in Sungai Dareh, a town in western Sumatra, Indonesia. Legend had it that the creatures, called orang pendek, or “short people,” by the locals, disappeared from the forest in the 1970s. Today, Onrizal is a forestry […]
A forest in Sumatra disappears for farms and roads. So do its elephants
Jumar is no stranger to the presence of elephants. Having lived and farmed in the village of Pematang Pudu village in Bengkalis district, in Indonesia’s Riau province, for more than 20 years, he’s seen elephants wandering through his village and fields of sweet potato. And he has never become upset with the animals. He says […]
Marcellus Adi Riyanto: The Indonesian vet who lived for the Sumatran rhino
Camera traps monitor a handful of the world’s remaining Sumatran rhinos in Sumatra’s Way Kambas National Park. Wildlife managers tend to a female rhino at a breeding center in Kalimantan, the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo, hoping she can help ensure a future for this critically endangered species. Like many efforts to protect […]
A new sanctuary for the Sumatran rhino is delayed amid COVID-19 measures
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — A much-anticipated plan to establish a new rhino-breeding sanctuary in northern Sumatra is one of many that has been put on hold in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The proposed facility is atop priority for Indonesia’s conservation plan to rescue the world’s last remaining Sumatran rhinos (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) through a […]
For world’s rarest great ape, COVID-19 is latest in a litany of threats
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 […]
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 […]