Tapanulis are incredibly rare, with fewer than 800 left in the wild Sumatra

xBangkok : Indonesia's deadly flooding was an "extinction-level disturbance" for the world's rarest great ape, the tapanuli orangutan, causing catastrophic damage to its habitat and survival prospects, scientists warned on Friday.

Only scientifically classified as a species in 2017, tapanulis are incredibly rare, with fewer than 800 left in the wild, confined to a small range in part of Indonesia's Sumatra.

One dead suspected tapanuli orangutan has already been found in the region, conservationists told AFP.

"The loss of even a single orangutan is a devastating blow to the survival of the species," said Panut Hadisiswoyo, founder and chairman of the Orangutan Information Centre in Indonesia.

And analysis of s

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