Indonesia’s deadly flooding was an “extinction-level disturbance” for the world’s rarest great ape, the tapanuli orangutan, causing catastrophic damage to its habitat and survival prospects, scientists warned yesterday.
Only scientifically classified as a species in 2017, tapanulis are incredibly rare, with fewer than 800 left in the wild, confined to a small range in part of Indonesia’s Sumatra.
One dead suspected tapanuli orangutan has already been found in the region, conservationists said.
Photo: AFP
“The loss of even a single orangutan is a devastating blow to the survival of the species,” Indonesian Orangutan Information Center founder and chairman Panut Hadisiswoyo said.
Analysis of satellite imagery combined with knowledge of the tapanuli’s range suggested that the flooding which killed nearly 1,000 people last month might also have devastated wildlife in the Batang Toru region.
The scientists focused on the so-called West Block, the most densely populated of three known tapanuli habitats, and home to an estimated 581 tapanulis before the disaster.
“We think that between six and 11 percent of orangutans were likely killed,” orangutan conservationist Erik Meijaard said. “Any kind of adult mortality that exceeds one percent, you’re driving the species to extinction, irrespective of how big the population is at the start.”
Tapanulis have such a small population and range to begin with that they are especially vulnerable, he added.
Satellite imagery showed massive gashes in the mountainous landscape, some of which extend for more than a kilometer and are nearly 100m wide, Meijaard said.
The tide of mud, trees and water toppling down hillsides would have carried away everything in its path, including other wildlife, such as elephants.
The devastation means remaining tapanulis would be even more vulnerable, with sources of food and shelter now washed away.
More than 9 percent of the West Block habitat might have been destroyed, scientists estimated.
In a draft paper set to be published as a pre-print in the coming days, they warned the flooding represents an “extinction-level disturbance” for tapanulis.
They are urging an immediate halt to development in the region that would damage remaining habitat, expanded protected areas, a detailed survey of the affected area and orangutan populations, and work to restore lowland forests.
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