Indonesia floods were ‘extinction level’ disturbance for world’s rarest ape

Conservationists fear up to 11% of Tapanuli orangutan population perished in disaster that also killed 1,000 people

The skull of a Tapanuli orangutan, caked in debris, stares out from a tomb of mud in North Sumatra, killed in catastrophic flooding that swept through Indonesia.

The late November floods have been an extinction-level disturbance" for the world's rarest great ape, scientists have said, causing catastrophic damage to its habitat and survival prospects.