Another orangutan species was discovered. These are our cousins. These magnificent creatures could go extinct very soon. There are stupid fucking assholes who hunt and kill these orangutans. These subhumans need to be wiped off this planet.

Bone and genetic analysis confirm the Tapanuli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis) is a new species, but it's critically endangered.

New species of frizzy-haired orangutan discovered in Indonesian forest, critically endangered

What someone wrote: "Biologists have recognized seven living species of great ape: humans, eastern and western gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, and Sumatran and Bornean orangutans. Now, according to a paper published in Current Biology today, biologists can add another orangutan species to the list."

Threats: hunting, fragmented forests

The population of fewer than 800 orangutans roams a patch of only 1,000 square kilometres — and that relatively small area is under threat.

Construction of a hydropower plant, earmarked for completion in 2022, could flood up to 8 per cent of the Tapanuli orangutan's habitat.

It could also cut off forest corridors used by orangutans to move between populations, leading to more isolation and inbreeding.

But the immediate problem for the Tapanuli orangutans is hunting.

Any drop in numbers takes years to regain. Females usually give birth to one baby every six years or so.

"Reproduction rates are low," Professor Kruetzen said. "They don't breed like rabbits."

"If even eight out of 800 animals were killed each year, on top of the normal background death rate, the species will disappear," Dr Meijaard warned.

UPDATE: Biologist Jerry Coyne disagrees about these orangutans being a new species at A new species of orangutan? I doubt it.