Post by Wageningen Environmental Research

New research published in Current Biology by Cell Press shows how severe rainfall triggered thousands of landslides in the habitat of the critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan in Indonesia, potentially killing an estimated 58 individuals. The study shows that extreme weather events may increasingly affect species whose populations are already vulnerable due to habitat loss and fragmentation. It also highlights how the global crises of climate change and biodiversity loss are increasingly intertwined. “Extreme weather events and biodiversity loss are often treated as separate crises, but in reality they are deeply connected,” says Douglas Sheil of Wageningen University & Research, who contributed to the international study. ➡️ https://lnkd.in/evThzZpw --- 📸 Fig. 3: The loss of an estimated 58 Tapanuli orangutans, out of fewer than 800 remaining worldwide, illustrates how extreme weather events can threaten already vulnerable species. 📸 Fig. 4: Satellite images of the Batang Toru forest before and after Cyclone Senyar, showing extensive landslide scars in the orangutan habitat.