Catastrophic rains wipe out 7% of the world’s rare Tapanuli orangutans, sparking extinction fears
Four days of extreme rainfall in North Sumatra, linked to climate change, killed about 58 of the remaining 800 Tapanuli orangutans (roughly 7% of the species) and wiped out ~8,300 hectares (11.7%) of key forest habitat via landslides. Researchers warn that such climate-induced events can cause rapid population decline for small, fragmented populations and call for an immediate halt to habitat-degrading activities, expanded protected areas, and funding for biodiversity recovery to prevent the potential extinction of the world’s rarest great ape.