Overview
- A draft analysis using satellite imagery estimates 6–11% of the roughly 581 orangutans in the West Block were likely killed, with more than 9% of that habitat destroyed.
- Humanitarian workers found one dead Tapanuli orangutan on Dec. 3, and rangers report losing contact with individuals they routinely monitor near the disaster zone.
- Scientists say 4,800–7,200 hectares of forest on the western slopes were stripped by landslides, raising the possibility that about 35 apes there were lost.
- Researchers link the catastrophe to weakened, deforested slopes and to Cyclone Senyar’s unusually intense rainfall over North Sumatra.
- Conservation groups call for emergency surveys, expanded protections and habitat restoration, while the environment ministry has paused a hydropower project and a gold mine pending reviews.