Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi.2), including adjacent islands such as the Simeulue, Nias, Mentawai, Enggano, Riau Islands, Bangka Belitung and Krakatoa archipelago.
North Sumatra, also called North Sumatra Province, is a province of Indonesia located in the northern part of the island of Sumatra, just south of Aceh. Its capital and largest city is Medan on the east coast of the island. It is bordered by Aceh on the northwest and Riau and West Sumatra on the southeast, by coastlines located on the Indian Ocean to the west, and by the Strait of Malacca to the east.
Mount Kerinci, also spelled Kerintji, is an active stratovolcano and the highest mountain in Sumatra, Indonesia. At 12,484 ft (3,805 m) above sea level, it provides Sumatra with the fifth-highest maximum elevation of any island in the world. It is surrounded by the lush forest of Kerinci Seblat National Park, home to several endangered species including the Sumatran tiger. Mount Kerinci is ranked 32nd by topographic isolation.
The Bukit Barisan or the Barisan Mountains are a mountain range on the western side of Sumatra, Indonesia, covering nearly 1,700 km (1,050 mi) from the north to the south of the island. The Bukit Barisan range consists primarily of volcanoes shrouded in dense jungle cover, including Sumatran tropical pine forests on the higher slopes. The highest peak of the range is Mount Kerinci at 3,800 metres (12,467 ft). The Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park is situated towards the southern end of the range in Liwa, Indonesia.
The Sumatran tiger is a population of Panthera tigris sondaica on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It is the only surviving tiger population in the Sunda Islands, where the Bali and Javan tigers are extinct.
Gunung Leuser National Park is a national park covering 7,927 km2 in northern Sumatra, Indonesia, straddling the border of Aceh and North Sumatra provinces, a fourth portion and three-fourths portion, respectively. The national park, settled in the Barisan mountain range, is named after Mount Leuser (3,119 m), and protects a wide range of ecosystems. An orangutan sanctuary at Bukit Lawang is located within the park. Together with Bukit Barisan Selatan and Kerinci Seblat National Parks, it forms a World Heritage Site, the Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra.
The Sumatran elephant is one of three recognized subspecies of the Asian elephant, and native to the Indonesian island of Sumatra. In 2011, IUCN upgraded the conservation status of the Sumatran elephant from endangered to critically endangered in its Red List as the population had declined by at least 80% during the past three generations, estimated to be about 75 years. The subspecies is preeminently threatened by habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation, and poaching; over 69% of potential elephant habitat has been lost within the last 25 years. Much of the remaining forest cover is in blocks smaller than 250 km2 (97 sq mi), which are too small to contain viable elephant populations.
Mount Singgalang is a volcano in West Sumatra, Indonesia, about 10 km to the southwest of the town of Bukittinggi. Its elevation is 2,877 m (9,439 ft). It is a twin volcano with Mount Tandikat, which is located to the south-south-west of Singgalang. However, only Tandikat has had historical volcanic activity. Bukittinggi and the smaller town of Padang Panjang are located towards the east of the mountain.
Kerinci Seblat National Park is the largest national park on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. It has a total area of 13,791 km2 and spans four provinces: West Sumatra, Jambi, Bengkulu, and South Sumatra.
The Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra site was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004. It comprises three Indonesian national parks on the island of Sumatra: Gunung Leuser National Park, Kerinci Seblat National Park and the Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park. The site is listed under Criteria vii - outstanding scenic beauty; ix- an outstanding example representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes; and x- contains the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation. The Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra has been placed on the Danger List since 2011 to help overcome threats posed by poaching, illegal logging, agricultural encroachment, and plans to build roads through the site.
Weh Island is a small active volcanic island to the northwest of Sumatra in Indonesia, also known as Sabang after the city situated on the northeast end of the island, whose area of 122.13 square kilometres (47.15 sq mi) includes the whole island as well as several offshore islets. It had a population of 43,527 at the official mid-2023 estimate. It is 45 minutes by fast regular ship or 2 hours by ferry from the mainland port of Banda Aceh. It was originally connected to the Sumatran mainland and became separated by sea after the stratovolcano's last eruption in the Pleistocene era. The island is situated in the Andaman Sea.
Mount Sinabung is a Pleistocene-to-Holocene stratovolcano of andesite and dacite in the Karo plateau of Karo Regency, North Sumatra, Indonesia, 40 kilometres (25 mi) from the Lake Toba supervolcano. Many old lava flows are on its flanks and the last known eruption, before recent times, occurred 1200 years before present, between 740 - 880 CE. Solfataric activities were last observed at the summit in 1912; recent documented events include an eruption in the early hours of 29 August 2010 and eruptions in September and November 2013, January, February and October 2014. The volcano has recently claimed the life of at least 23 people in a number of events since 2014. Between 2013 and 2014, the alert for a major event was increased with no significant activity. On 2 June 2015, the alert was again increased, and on 26 June 2015, at least 10,000 people were evacuated, fearing a major eruption. The long eruption of Mount Sinabung is similar to that of Mount Unzen in Japan, which erupted for five years after lying dormant for 400 years. A major eruption began on 10 August 2020.
Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park is a national park located in East Java, Indonesia, to the east of Malang and Lumajang, to the south of Pasuruan and Probolinggo, and to the southeast of Surabaya, the capital of East Java. It is the only conservation area in Indonesia that has a sand sea, the Tengger Sand Sea, across which is the caldera of an ancient volcano (Tengger) from which four new volcanic cones have emerged. This unique feature covers a total area of 5,250 hectares at an altitude of about 2,100 meters (6,900 ft). The massif also contains the highest mountain in Java, Mount Semeru, four lakes and 50 rivers. It is named after the Tenggerese people. The explosion of the volcano that created the caldera, happened ca. 45.000 years ago, in an event similar to the Krakatau eruption.
Thomas's langur, also known as the North Sumatran leaf monkey or Thomas's leaf monkey, is a species of primate in the family Cercopithecidae. It is endemic to northern Sumatra, Indonesia, not living to the south and east of Lake Toba and the Alas and Wampu rivers. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests. It is threatened by habitat loss. Its native names are reungkah in Acehnese and kedih in Alas. It can be found in Gunung Leuser National Park, where substantial populations exist in Ketambe and Bukit Lawang.
Southeast Aceh Regency is a regency in the Aceh province of Indonesia. It is located on the island of Sumatra. In 1974, the Southeast Aceh Regency was created by being separated from the Central Aceh Regency; however in 2002 the northern part of this regency was itself split away to form the new Gayo Lues Regency. The regency now covers an area of 4,242.04 square kilometres and had a population of 179,010 at the 2010 census and 220,860 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2023 was 229,368. The seat of the regency government is at the town of Kutacane.
The Leuser Ecosystem is an area of forest located in the provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. Covering more than 2.6 million hectares it is one of the richest expanses of tropical rain forest in Southeast Asia and is the last place on earth where the Sumatran elephant, rhino, tiger and orangutan are found within one area. It has one of the world's richest yet least-known forest systems, and its vegetation is an important source of Earth's oxygen. Leuser also possesses more lowland rainforest than the rest of Sumatra combined and supports some of the last viable populations of tiger, rhino, orangutan and elephant. These, and many co-occurring species, are severely threatened by habitat destruction and poaching.
The Singkil Barat Nature Reserve is a 650-square-kilometre (250 sq mi) nature reserve found on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. Located in the province of Aceh, the preserve contains the largest peat swamp within the leuser ecosystem and is hailed as the orangutan capital of the world. The Singkil is one of three peat swamps in Aceh province, the others being the smaller Kluet and much degraded Tripa. The Kluet swamp is world famous for its tool using orangutans and has been featured in documentaries. No where else in the world do orangutans gather naturally in large groups or use tools.
The Greater Sunda Islands are four tropical islands situated within the Indonesian Archipelago, in the Pacific Ocean. The islands, Borneo, Java, Sulawesi and Sumatra, are internationally recognised for their ecological diversity and rich culture. Together with the Lesser Sunda Islands to their southeast, they comprise the archipelago known as the Sunda Islands.
Mount Matsurai, natively known as Gunung Masurai, is a large complex of inactive stratovolcanoes in Jambi, Sumatra, Indonesia. The volcano attains an elevation of 2,916 m (9,567 ft) above sea level.
The Leuser gymnure is a gymnure from the island of Sumatra in Indonesia that was described formally for the first time in 2023. The holotype was collected in 1939 by Frederick A. Ulmer in the upper parts of Gunung Leuser, Sumatra. It is only known from 2,073 to 2,835 m above sea level on Gunung Leuser. Its specific name derives from its voracious behavior described by F. Ulmer. Mitochondrial DNA analysis differentiates this species from Hylomys parvus, inhabiting similar mountain forests in Gunung Kerinci, on the same island of Sumatra, and from Hylomys maxi, a congeneric species inhabiting lower areas.
