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Watching a pro at work
15 Feb 2021
As I said in my last blog,
Entertainment Sumatran-Rhino-Sanctuary style, in September 2019 I spent a few days at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary (SRS) in Way Kambas National Park, Indonesia, with my long-time friend and wildlife photographer, Nick Garbutt.
I blame / credit Nick for my mid-career switch to rhino conservation. After studying History of Art at university and 13 years of working for specialist art booksellers and publishers and finally for Tate, my husband and I did something completely out of character and signed up for a group wildlife trip to Madagascar. Author Jim Crace, whom I met via a freelance fundraising consultancy job, recommended that I read David Quammen’s book,
Pongo tapanuliensis
, identified as a new species of orangutan, is found on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Photo: Andrew Walmsley/Handout via Reuters.
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 researcher at North Sumatra University, where he studies the biodiversity of his native island, including the orangutans that likely inspired the stories of the orang pendek. And while the stories may just be stories, there’s still an element of truth to them: the creatures are indeed disappearing from the forest.
Historical data point to ‘imminent extinction’ of Tapanuli orangutan
A new study indicates that the Tapanuli orangutan, already the world’s most threatened great ape species, faces a much greater risk of extinction than previously thought.
It estimates the orangutans today occupy just 2.5% of their historical range, and attributes this to loss of habitat and hunting.
Those threats persist today and are compounded by mining and infrastructure projects inside the Tapanuli orangutan’s last known habitat in northern Sumatra.
At the current rates at which its habitat is being lost and the ape is being hunted, the extinction of the Tapanuli orangutan is inevitable, the researchers say.