New ape species goes straight on to endangered list as dam threatens
A NEW species of great ape has been discovered by British scientists and immediately listed as the most endangered in the world.
Conservationists had known for several decades that a curious population of orang-utans lived in the Batang Toru forests of North Sumatra, Indonesia, but until recently had been unable to compare them with other apes.
However, after discovering the dead body of an ape, experts at Cardiff University were able to study its features and DNA to determine its species.
To their surprise, they discovered it was entirely new, and named it pongo
tapanuliensis, or the Tapanuli orangutan – the first new ape species discovered this century.
Until now, there were only six living species of great ape: Sumatran and Bornean orang-utans, which were separated into two distinct species in 1996, eastern and western gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos. The discovery, reported in the journal Current Biology, brings the total to seven.
Yet with no more than 800 individuals, the new species is now considered the most endangered great ape on the planet, and there are fears it could die out within the lifetime of its discoverers.
As well as being hunted for meat, the apes are threatened by a proposed hydroelectric dam which would flood large parts of their habitat.
“It’s exciting to describe a new great ape species in the 21st century. However, with such low numbers of the Batang Toru orang-utans, it is vital that we now work to protect them,” said Dr Benoit Goossens from Cardiff University. “Mining, hunting, deforestation and human encroachment all risk the lives of these great apes. It is crucial that we work to conserve the forest, because if we do not take the steps needed to protect the Tapanuli orang-utans, we could see their discovery and extinction within our lifetime.”
The new species lives further south than the known range for Sumatran orang-utans, and although there had been rumours about an unusual troop in the area, the population was not recorded until 1997.
In 2013, researchers started studying a skeleton belonging to a Batang Toru orang-utan killed by a human. Years of tests revealed crucial differences in its skull and teeth. Genetic studies showed that the last common ancestor of all three orang-utan species split more than three million years ago.
“The Batang Toru orang-utans appear to be direct descendants of the initial orang-utans that had migrated from mainland Asia, and thus constitute the oldest evolutionary line within the genus Pongo,” said Alexander Nater, of the University of Zurich.