ANU helps discover a new species of orangutan

The Australian National University (ANU) has played a leading role in the discovery of a new species of orangutan, which has been described for the first time in the latest edition of the Current Biology journal. The Tapanuli orangutan is a population of just 800 apes located in a small patch of forest in the north of Indonesian island Sumatra, making it the most endangered of the now seven known species of great apes. Anton Nurcahyo, a PhD scholar with the ANU School of Archeology and Anthropology, undertook a morphology study of the only known specimen of the apes which, combined with a genomic analysis, confirmed the group as a new third species of orangutan. Mr Nurcahyo said his research showed the new species had smaller measurements than the other two known species of orangutans - the Bornean and the Sumatran orangutans . "It has a smaller skull, but larger canine teeth than other orangutan species," Mr Nurcahyo said. Mr Nurcahyo said it was now crucial to protect the small population from extinction. "We believe the population is no more than 800.