Tag: Orangutan

Tapunali Orangutan

Tapanuli Orangutan

Tapanuli orangutan

Orangutans are often animals high on the list that people wish to see one day. Orangutans are the only great ape that lives outside Africa. While fossils show that at one time, it was found on the mainland of Asia, the Orangutan is now restricted to the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. There are 3 species of Orangutan and their conservation status varies dramatically. The Orangutan was first scientifically described in 1779 by Dutch anatomist Petrus Camper. 

The Tapanuli orangutan, was discovered in 2017, It lives in the Tapanuli forest in Sumatra, but is thought to be more closely related to the Borneo Orangutan. It is thought that just 800 remain, in an area covering around 1000 square miles. This is around 9.75% less than the area they would have historically roamed. It is scary when we are only discovering species of this importance when they are this close to extinction. One would think that they Indonesian government would be working as hard as possible to save what habitat remains, but there is a dam being built, which will split this population into 3, and it is quite plausible that they will not survive.

You will find all the articles we have written on the Tapanuli Orangutans below (there will be a video between)

As always, we hope to add many destinations for Orangutans in the near future, do get in touch if you wish to list somewhere in their range. These links will be added below the news sections as we make links.

[smart_post_show id="12478"]

Sumatran Orangutan

Sumatran Orangutan

Sumatran Orangutan

 Orangutans are often animals high on the list that people wish to see one day. Orangutans are the only great ape that lives outside Africa.

 

While fossils show that at one time, it was found on the mainland of Asia, the Orangutan is now restricted to the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. The Orangutan was first scientifically described in 1779 by Dutch anatomist Petrus Camper. This page is devoted to the Orangutans of Sumatra.

As with all great apes, the Orangutan is a keystone species and by saving its habitat, we save many thousands more as a by-product. The greatest threat has been palm oil plantations – while in theory these are created to reduce carbon emissions, it is questionable as to whether these plantations could ever be carbon negative. Building it on land that has to be cleared of rainforest, means that these palm oil plantations will have huge carbon footprints, which are likely to take over a century to pay off. As such it is not useful for climate change mitigation.
The orangutans of Sumatra are classed as critically endangered. 

They are currently thought to number around 14,000. As always, we hope to add many destinations for Orangutans in the near future, do get in touch if you wish to list somewhere in their range. Below, any listings that might get added in the future, you will find all the articles we have written on Orangutans. 

The Borneo and Sumatran Orangutans were only recognized as separate species in 1996

 

[smart_post_show id="12470"]
Posted on

The worlds top sovereign fund is cutting ties with a dam which will likely lead to the extinction of the Tapanuli Orangutan

In most countries, if a dam was to cause so much destruction to the last habitat of a species, the dam would likely not get permission to be built.

It is true that the dam will only take about 20% of the land in question, directly. It will also split the population in half.

It is not surprising that the Norwegian sovereign fund has pulled out of this dam

Given that only around 800 Tapanuli Orangutans survive in the wild, the loss of just a handful is bad. A loss of 20% of the remaining population could quite rapidly push the population towards extinction, particularly as it will split the few remaining Orangutans into separate populations which cannot interbreed.

Norway has a huge sovereign fund, into which it pours the countries earnings from fossil fuel extraction. Perhaps recognizing that this has a shelf life which is not far from ending, Norway has made sure that for the most part its sovereign fund is good for the natural world (alongside giving good returns)

Generally rules on financing should have ruled this project out in the past, so it is good that this decision has been eventually made.

Will the dam still get built? We will have to wait and see.

Posted on

Positive news from Borneo – reconnecting wilderness

One of the problems with cutting down rainforest, it often what is left is so fragmented that it is useless for conservation. Remaining blocks of forest must allow a viable population of the rarest creatures, in order for the animals not to need to travel outside protected areas.

In Borneo, like in Sumatra, there has been a rapid loss of rainforest over the last few decades. Often it is claimed that enough is left behind in order to conserve the animals that live there.

Could this provide a way for wildlife and humans to thrive in close proximity?

In Borneo, while there is still a large quantity of wilderness, this is increasingly fragmented.

Continue reading “Positive news from Borneo – reconnecting wilderness”
Posted on

Solitary male Orangutans peek on locals

Generally great apes are animals that live in community. Indeed, one of the reasons that great apes developed such large brains is as a result of their need in social situations. Great apes (along with lesser monkeys, dolphins, bears and wolves, with a few more) require a large brain to remember things about the many individuals that they socialize with, and how each has behaved, who is nice.

By following locals, they can work out what is eaten locally that may be very different from elsewhere
Continue reading “Solitary male Orangutans peek on locals”
Posted on
World maps: explore

This website aims to make it easy for those living with wildlife, and those who would like to see it, to find each other. Where-ever the wildlife, if the local people do not benefit it will not survive.  Please note, on some computers these maps can take 10 seconds to load.

Explore the worlds wilds, through the map above (each country contains a list of any wild areas within it – world maps for each fo these can be found at the top of the page -“wild places, “shadow of mankind”, “Hides”, “Future places” & “sightings board”), or the species in the expandable section below. Add your destinations, by clicking on “list your wild”. Scroll down to read our latest wild news.

[PFG id=24572]
[PFG id=36200]
[PFG id=36188]
[PFG id=36184]
[PFG id=36197]

Borneon Orangutan

Borneon Orangutan

Wild Borneo orangutan credit Sabar Minsyah

 

Orangutans are often animals high on the list that people wish to see one day. Orangutans are the only great ape that live outside Africa. While fossils show that at one time it was found on the mainland of Asia, the Orangutan is now restricted to the islands of Borneo and Sumbatra.

This page is devoted to the Orangutan on the island of Borneo. The Borneon Orangutan currently numbers roughly 104,750 wild members, which is far more than the other subspecies. It is classed as endangered – 50% of its rainforest has been cut down.

As always, we hope to add many destinations for Orangutans in the near future, do get in touch if you wish to list somewhere in their range. Below, any listings that might get added in the future, you will find all the articles we have written on Orangutans

[smart_post_show id="12466"]
Posted on

Will the 8th great ape- the Tapanuli orangutan – survive the first 2 decades after being described?

It is just 5 years since the Tapanuli orangutan was described. Despite this Orangutan being restricted to an area of Northern Sumatra, it is more closely related to the Bornean Orangutan than the Sumatran one. This might be the clearest indication of how long this species has been separate from its cousins.

Tapanuli Orangutan, only described in 2017 is still threatened by various projects in the area

The Tapanuli Orangutan split from its Bornean cousins around 670,000 years ago, while chimpanzee and Bonobo were split 1.5-2.2 million years ago. Baffling, the Sumatran Orangutan split from both the Borneon and Tapanuli Orangutan 3.38 million years ago. For context, Humans split from our chimpanzee ancestors 4-6 million years ago (so not much longer) and gorillas split from their chimpanzee ancestors 7-9 million years ago.

All this is to say, that while the Tapanuli Orangutan is relatively closely related to the Bornean Orangutan, it cannot interact with it as it is on another island; and the Sumatran Orangutan is too far removed to be able to interbreed.

It is thought that the Tapanuli Orangutan has faced population decline of 83% in the last few decades (three generations). Further threats are numerous. One of its biggest threats is a hydroelectric dam, which would remove much of the remaining habitat, but a gold mine, loss of habitat and an expansion of croplands are other threats.

Unfortunately little to nothing has improved in the last 6 years, they are probably closer to extinction now than ever. If you have followed this blog over the last 5 years, you will have seen that I have written on this new orangutan species a few times. We will continue to follow this animal on this blog – we must work to raise its profile and not merely chronicle its slide towards extinction.

This is a wonderful 8 minute documentary on the Tapanuli Orangutan, the 8th great ape
Posted on

Orangutans are roaming into villages in Sumatra – bad news

At first glance, you could look at this headline as good news – in most instances, wild animals do not start looking outside their habitat for places to live, unless there are too many and they are being forced out. However, they also start looking elsewhere when they struggle to find food where they are, or as a result of encroachment.

Tapanuli Orangutan mother with young – Image by Aditya Sumitra/Mighty Earth.

In this instance it is thought to be as a result of construction of a hydroelectric dam. Perhaps more alarming, these are the Tapanuli Orangutans, which only number 800 and which if this dam is completed, will lose most of their range.

As the 8th great ape, it may also be the first great ape pushed to extinction and in their case as a direct choice of the local authorities.

Posted on

How do we save the worlds remaining wildlife? Animals like Orangutan need huge areas to survive and thrive

One proposal, is named as half earth. The idea is to set aside half of the land on earth as a human-free nature reserve in order to preserve biodiversity, proposed by Eo Wilson.

It is asad fact, that were humans to disappear from the planet tomorrow, Orangutans would probably recover pretty quickly. Photo credit Carine06
Continue reading “How do we save the worlds remaining wildlife? Animals like Orangutan need huge areas to survive and thrive”
See Animals Wild

Read more news

Join as a wild member
to list your wild place & log in

Join as an ambassador supporter to
support this site, help save wildlife
and make friends & log in

Join as an Associate member
to assist as a writer, creator, lister etc & to log in

List a wild destination

List a destination in
the shadow of man

List a hide for animals more easily seen this way

Highlight some news
missed, or submit a
one-off article

Browse destinations for fun or future travel

Temporary membership
start here if in a hurry

Casual readers and watchers