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Tapanuli orangutan endangered by Sumatran hydropower scheme

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 4, pages 1438–1439 (2020)Cite this article

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To the Editor — The Tapanuli orangutan survives today in less than 1,200 km2 of rainforest in northern Sumatra, Indonesia, in an area known as Batang Toru, where it was scientifically discovered1 in 1997. Teeming with endangered fauna and flora, the Batang Toru forest has been partially felled and fragmented and parts of the remainder allocated to agriculture, mining, hydropower and geothermal-energy production. The Tapanuli orangutan is estimated to number just 767 individuals, divided among three subpopulations1. Its total remaining habitat is merely a tenth of the size of Sydney, Australia.

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Fig. 1: The Tapanuli orangutan and the hydrodam that imperils it in Sumatra, Indonesia.

Maxime Aliaga (orangutan image); maps created using ArcMap by ESRI (www.esri.com); map images from Planetscope / US Geological Survey Global Visualization Viewer (https://glovis.usgs.gov/).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland, Australia

    William F. Laurance

  2. Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK

    Serge A. Wich

  3. IUCN Species Survival Commission Primate Specialist Group, Gland, Switzerland

    Serge A. Wich, Dirck Byler, Russell Mittermeier, Rebecca Kormos & Erik Meijaard

  4. Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia

    Onrizal Onrizal

  5. University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Gabriella Fredriksson

  6. University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands

    Gabriella Fredriksson

  7. Independent environmental consultant, Drakelow, UK

    Graham Usher

  8. Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, London, UK

    Truly Santika

  9. University of Stirling, Stirling, UK

    Elizabeth A. Williamson

  10. Borneo Futures, Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam

    Erik Meijaard

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  1. William F. Laurance
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Correspondence to William F. Laurance or Erik Meijaard.

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Laurance, W.F., Wich, S.A., Onrizal, O. et al. Tapanuli orangutan endangered by Sumatran hydropower scheme. Nat Ecol Evol 4, 1438–1439 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-1263-x

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