🤯 Did You Know (click to read)
The Tapanuli orangutan is the most endangered great ape species currently recognized.
The global Tapanuli orangutan population is estimated at fewer than 800 individuals. Many small towns exceed this number of residents. Yet these apes represent an entire great ape species. Such a small population leaves little margin for demographic fluctuation. Random events such as skewed birth ratios or disease outbreaks can have outsized effects. In large species populations, such variation is absorbed. Here, it is amplified. The scale of rarity places the species among the most endangered large mammals on Earth.
💥 Impact (click to read)
Comparing the population to a small human settlement clarifies its fragility. Imagine if a town’s entire population determined the survival of an evolutionary lineage millions of years old. Each individual becomes statistically significant. Population recovery requires sustained stability over decades. The species lives on demographic edge.
Small population size also reduces political visibility compared to more numerous wildlife. Yet evolutionary value does not correlate with headcount. The Tapanuli orangutan’s rarity heightens its global importance. In a world of billions of humans, fewer than 800 of these apes remain. The imbalance is profound.
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