On a lush island in Indonesia, scientists have discovered a new species of orangutan: the Tapanuli orangutan. It joins the Sumatran and Bornean orangutans, and brings the number of great ape species to eight.
The new orangutan species was hiding in plain sight. The animals live in the mountainous region of Tapanuli, on the island of Sumatra. Some of the apes had been cared for in local sanctuaries, where people mistook them for Sumatran orangutans.
But last year a DNA analysis of a skeleton showed that this orangutan was different from Sumatran orangutans. “The evidence is strong enough that we have a new species,” says Michael Krützen, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Zurich, in Switzerland.
Krützen’s team found that the new Tapanuli orangutan has a smaller skull than the Sumatran and the Bornean species. Each species has a different type of call as well.
Sadly, the future of the new species is already at risk. Only 800 Tapanuli orangutans are left. Scientists and governments have started protecting these critically endangered great apes.