Fight for survival: The battle to save the last Tapanuli orangutans

In 2017, the Tapanuli orangutan was identified as a new species of great ape — and immediately became the most endangered great ape on the planet, with a total population of less than 800. The orangutans are restricted to a small area of the Batang Toru ecosystem in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province, where they face threats from the illegal wildlife trade, mining, conflicts with humans, and a planned hydroelectric dam. A 2021 study found that the great apes have lost almost 97.5% of their habitat over the past 130 years. The $1.6 billion dam project, funded and built by Chinese companies and expected to supply clean electricity to North Sumatra, risks further fragmentation of their habitat and threatens to cut off the connectivity between separate population groups, making prospects for their survival even more difficult. Despite efforts by activists, locals and conservation groups, the dam project is still under construction, pushing the Tapanuli orangutan ever closer to the brink of extinc