6 February 2018 - Santa Monica, CA - Orang Utan Republik Foundation.  A juvenile male orangutan from Kutai National Park in East Borneo, has died of numerous gunshot wounds after presumably feeding in a nearby palm oil plantation. The Office of Conservation of Natural Resources (BKSDA) initially asked staff from the Centre for Orangutan Protection (COP) to rescue the injured 5-7 year old primate removed from a pond located in the Park.

While still barely alive, the rescuers from COP rendered immediate treatment; but despite their best efforts, the orangutan, named "Kaluhara 2" died in the early morning of 6 February 2018. The team from COP took the orangutan to the PKT hospital in Bontang, East Kalimantan to reveal the cause of death.

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"The Batang Toru orangutans appear to be direct descendants of the initial orangutans that had migrated from mainland Asia," researcher Alexander Nater said.

2 November 2017 (UPI) -- Scientists have determined that an isolated population of orangutans living among the lowlands of Sumatra are unique enough to warrant a new species designation.

Researchers named the Tapanuli orangutan Pongo tapanuliensis and described the new species in a paper published this week in the journal Current Biology.

With the new designation, there are now seven living great ape species -- the Tapanuli orangutans join the Sumatran and Bornean orangutans, eastern and western gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos.

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