Critically Endangered
Tapanuli orangutan
Pongo tapanuliensis
Tapanuli orangutan is a primate in the family Hominidae (order Primates) — Pongo tapanuliensis, recorded as Critically Endangered and tied to Indonesia.
Appearance
Tapanuli orangutans resemble Sumatran orangutans more than Bornean orangutans in body build and fur color.
Range and habitat
Tapanuli orangutans live in tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests located south of Lake Toba in Sumatra. The entirety of the species is found in an area of about 1,000 km2 (390 sq mi) at elevations from 300 to 1,300 m (980 to 4,300 ft). Tapanuli orangutans are separated from the island's other species of orangutan, the Sumatran orangutan, by just 100 km (62 mi).
The Tapanuli orangutan is a orangutan restricted to South Tapanuli in the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. It is one of three known living species of orangutan, alongside the Sumatran orangutan (P. Abelii), found farther northwest on the island, and the Bornean orangutan (P. Pygmaeus).
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet
Their diet is also unique, containing unusual items like caterpillars and conifer cones.
In crisis
As of 2018, there are roughly 800 individuals of this species and it is currently on the critically endangered species list. With fewer than 800 individuals restricted to an area of about 1,000 km2 (390 sq mi), the Tapanuli orangutan is the rarest great ape. It is listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) because of hunting, conflict with humans, the illegal wildlife trade, rampant habitat destruction for small scale agriculture, mining and a proposed hydroelectric dam, the Batang Toru hydropower project, in the area with the highest density of orangutans, that could impact up to 10% of its already dwindling habitat and degrade important wildlife corridors.
Inbreeding depression is likely due to the small population size and fragmented range. This is supported by the genomes of the two Tapanuli orangutan individuals, that show signs of inbreeding.
Tapanuli orangutan is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Tapanuli orangutan, Wikidata item Q42564025. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
