Tapanuli orangutan

How it was counted

The figure comes from a survey and is given in animals, with 645 to 792 as the range around the most likely number. It covers the whole species in the wild, all of its separate groups across the Batang Toru Ecosystem in North Sumatra.

A survey estimate with a range: about 716 animals is the most likely figure, and 645 to 792 is how far either way the true number could sit.

Earlier figures

• 767 in 2011: the previous count. Source: Hadi et al. 2026, Global Ecology and Conservation 69: e04302 (open copy on LJMU Research Online), co-authored with KSDAE and BBKSDA Sumatera Utara.

What moves it

Hadi and others point to a hydropower project and its roads splitting the range, a gold mine, forest cleared for farmland, and deaths caused by people, which they say matter most for a species this small. They also report that landslides from Cyclone Senyar destroyed forest in the West Block, with orangutan deaths projected there.

• a hydroelectric project and its roads fragmenting the range. Source: Hadi et al. 2026, Global Ecology and Conservation 69: e04302 (open copy on LJMU Research Online), co-authored with KSDAE and BBKSDA Sumatera Utara.
• a gold mine and conversion of forest to farmland. Source: Hadi et al. 2026, Global Ecology and Conservation 69: e04302 (open copy on LJMU Research Online), co-authored with KSDAE and BBKSDA Sumatera Utara.
• killing by people (deaths not caused by habitat loss), which the authors say hits this species hardest. Source: Hadi et al. 2026, Global Ecology and Conservation 69: e04302 (open copy on LJMU Research Online), co-authored with KSDAE and BBKSDA Sumatera Utara.
• Cyclone Senyar (late November 2025): landslides destroyed forest in the West Block, with about 58 deaths projected there. Source: Hadi et al. 2026, Global Ecology and Conservation 69: e04302 (open copy on LJMU Research Online), co-authored with KSDAE and BBKSDA Sumatera Utara.

The next count

Counts for the Tapanuli orangutan are irregular, and no date for the next is known as of 12 November 2026.

Sources

• Hadi et al. 2026, Global Ecology and Conservation 69: e04302 (open copy on LJMU Research Online), co-authored with KSDAE and BBKSDA Sumatera Utara Last checked 12 November 2026.

What changed

• 12 November 2026 Added to Live Species, on the wall (1,000 or fewer): 716, between 645 and 792 (Estimate, with range, 2023).

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