Your Call's One Planet Series: A new Orangutan species is facing possible extinction

Nov 19, 2017

What’s being done to protect wild orangutans and other endangered wildlife? On the next Your Call, we’ll have a conversation with conservation scientist Dr. Ian Singleton about the discovery of a new orangutan species in the Indonesian forest.

With a population of 800, the newly named Tapanuli orangutan is now the world's most endangered great ape. Like other orangutan species, they are facing threats from forest clearance, mining, and illegal logging. What's being done to protect them?


Dr. Ian Singleton, director of conservation at the PanEco Foundation, and scientific director of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program

Web Resources:

Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo: Palm Oil Crisis

The Batang Toru Ecosystem

The Guardian: Nestlé, Hershey and Mars 'breaking promises over palm oil use'

The NY Times: Endangered Orangutans and the Palm Oil Industry: An Environmental Science Case Study