Cyclone Senyar kills nearly 60 Tapanuli orangutans, wiping out over 7% of the world's rarest great ape population
By
Mustafa Qadri
A baker's-dozen of insight crammed into one ring.
Summary
A study published in Current Biology reveals that Cyclone Senyar, which struck Sumatra, Indonesia in November, killed nearly 60 Tapanuli orangutans — over 7% of the remaining global population of approximately 800 individuals. This critically endangered species, the world's rarest great ape, suffered devastating losses from catastrophic flooding and landslides triggered by four days of extreme rainfall. The cyclone has further pushed the species toward the brink of extinction.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledA cyclone that brought catastrophic flooding and devastating landslides to Indonesia wiped out more than 7% of the global population of the world's rarest great apes, a new study has found.
Nearly 60 of the 800 Tapanuli orangutans remaining in the wild were killed when Cyclone Senyar slammed into the Indonesian island of Sumatra last November, according to the study published this month in the journal Current Biology.
The cyclone has pushed these critically endangered orangutans closer to extinction.
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