Aug. 19 is World Orangutan Day, a day to honor the three species of Southeast Asian great apes, all of which are classified as critically endangered by the IUCN, the global conservation authority. Orangutans were classified into two species: The Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii) found in northern Sumatra, Indonesia, and the Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), endemic to its namesake island. But in 2017, scientists described the Tapanuli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis) as a third, distinct species, also found in northern Sumatra. Here are the major orangutan developments over the past year: Whirlwind year for Tapanuli orangutans In September 2025, researchers confirmed a previously unknown Tapanuli population in a peat swamp forest in the Lumut Maju village forest in North Sumatra. Scientists previously believed the species, estimated at 716 wild individuals, lived only in Batang Toru, about 32 kilometers (20 miles) east of the new population. A Tapanuli orangutan. Image © Bert Harris via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC 4.0). Two months later, Cyclone Senyar triggered tens of thousands of landslides in Batang Toru and killed an estimated 58 Tapanuli orangutans. Habitat destruction for small-scale agriculture and logging accounts for around 70% of direct forest loss. Large-scale industrial projects, including the Batang Toru hydropower plant and the Martabe gold mine, are also encroaching into the orangutans’ range. Newborn Sumatran orangutan’s mother saved from trafficking In July 2026, a formerly trafficked Sumatran orangutan named Bulan gave birth in the wild seven years after being reintroduced. Her infant was the 10th confirmed birth from reintroduced orangutans…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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