A new study estimates the Sumatran orangutan population declined by nearly 20% between 2011 and 2023.The researchers found that habitat loss alone cannot explain the declines, pointing to additional threats such as killing, conflict and habitat fragmentation.The study is the first comprehensive reassessment of Sumatran and Tapanuli orangutans since a landmark 2016 survey.The Forestry Ministry co-authored the study and says it will use the findings to guide conservation policy, marking a contrast with the previous administration’s public claims that orangutan populations were increasing.
JAKARTA — The number of Sumatran orangutans has declined by nearly 20% in the past decade and the critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan remains perilously close to extinction despite years of conservation efforts, according to a new study.
The study, published in Global Ecology and Conservation, also suggests that habitat loss alone cannot explain the species’ decline. While deforestation remains the primary driver, several orangutan populations in Indonesia’s island of Sumatra shrank by a far greater degree than the rate of forest loss might explain, pointing to additional threats such as killing, conflict with humans and habitat fragmentation.
