Sanctuary for displaced elephants, other wildlife in Sabah soon

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) is in the process of establishing a Borneo Pygmy Elephant Sanctuary at Lot 8, Kinabatangan.

Sabah Wildlife director Dr Laurentius Ambu told press members yesterday after the opening of the Sabah Wildlife Conservation Colloqium 2012 that the 2,000-hectare sanctuary would be used to house displaced elephants and other wildlife.

The sanctuary has received an initial funding of RM5 million from the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) and RM1.5 million from a Japanese non-governmental organisation.

He said that the establishment of the sanctuary is crucial as 60 per cent of elephants in Sabah are located outside of protected areas and presently, some 60 to 100 elephants are waiting to be rescued at the Kalabakan and Tingkayu areas.

He added that the sanctuary will begin operation sometime this year.

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Proboscis monkey declining

KINABATANGAN: Sabah’s proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus) population is declining due to habitat loss as riparian forests are continually destroyed to plant oil palm and mangrove areas reclaimed for development.

“The proboscis monkey or Monyet Belanda in Malay as they are more commonly known, is declining in numbers because we have oil palm plantations planting all the way down to the river edge and in areas closer to towns we have seen their habitat lost as the mangrove areas they occupy are reclaimed and built upon,” stated a very concerned director of the Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD), Dr Laurentius Ambu, in a press statement yesterday.

To make matters worse, only an estimated 15 percent are living within protected areas, which means preventing the conversion of non-protected areas is crucial.

“The oil palm industry does not have to plant all the way down to the river edge. They should leave the riparian forest with a buffer of preferably one kilometer for wildlife and also as a measure to protect our waterways as the water is also ultimately used for human consumption,” said the director.

Sabah, noted Laurentius, has given much for oil palm production and now it is time for the industry to give back by replanting riparian areas in particular.

“The State Government is committed to reforestation and we are working closely with community groups, NGOs and even private companies but the oil palm industry on the whole has been very slow to replant riparian areas although they talk a lot of it,” said Laurentius.

The director also vented his frustration at seeing areas that are unsuitable for oil palm plantation due to semi annual flooding being planted with the crop then destroyed by floods.

“These marginalised lands which you see in the Lower Kinabatangan, particularly those close or adjacent to Lots 3 and 6 of the Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, should be replanted by the oil palm companies with native species of trees that survive this flooding instead of just being abandoned and the soil washing out into the river during flooding,” he said.

The SWD estimates that there are only 6,000 proboscis monkeys left, with five viable populations in Sabah.

“We have one population in the West Coast, one in the South and three in the East Coast, including the Lower Kinabatangan where oil palm has had a dramatic effect on a variety of Sabah wildlife, including this large nosed monkey,” shared Laurentius.

Monitoring carried out by a non-governmental organisation, HUTAN – Kinabatangan Orang-utan Conservation Programme (KOCP) from 2008 to 2010 along a 15-kilometer stretch within the Lower Kinabatangan, has found that the area was losing 10 percent of the proboscis monkey population every year. A similar declining pattern has been observed in the vicinity of SWD’s Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC).

Continue reading (Incl. Pic) at: Proboscis monkey declining
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Lower Kinabatangan has lost 300 orang-utans since 2004

KINABATANGAN: The Lower Kinabatangan has lost about 300 orang-utans in seven years due to forest isolation and loss of corridors, according to Dr Marc Ancrenaz, scientific director of HUTAN – Kinabatangan Orang-utan Conservation Programme (KOCP).

“What we are seeing with our latest surveys within theLower Kinabatanganis a clear population decline of the orang-utans in this area,” said Ancrenaz who hoped such issues would add to urgency to events such as the Roundtable for Sustainable Oil Palm (RSPO) being held in Kota Kinabalu for the first time this week.

The biggest threat to orang-utan and other wildlife populations in Sabah today is fragmentation. What this means is that agriculture development, primarily oil palm, has created small islands of forest, which are isolated and completely surrounded by human-made landscape.

“Because it is difficult for wildlife to move from one forest patch to the next, this situation leads to inbreeding and eventual population decline, which is what we are witnessing today in theLower Kinabatangan,” explained Ancrenaz.

Ancrenaz points out that this issue is inherently related in part to the oil palm industry and as this industry has much resources they should take real action to rectify the situation.

“We can still improve the situation for theLower Kinabatangan’s orang-utan and other wildlife by actually replanting and planning for actual wildlife corridors or patches of forest to support wildlife movement between protected or forested areas,” said Ancrenaz.

This according to Ancrenaz, has been paid much lip service by big organisations but in reality only local communities have been successfully carrying out such work.

“Except for Wilmar/PBB Oil which is replanting 382 hectares with 50 meters on the banks on the river, we mostly see signboards and newspaper articles but when you go to the ground you find that in reality there is more talk than actual viable replanting taking place,” he said.

Perhaps, the money the Malaysian government is spending for oil palm promotion such as the recent allocation of RM24 million for the Malaysian Oil Palm Council could instead be used for establishing real corridors and patches of forest in the Lower Kinabatangan,” said Ancrenaz.

Continue reading at: Lower Kinabatangan has lost 300 orang-utans since 2004

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Conservation boost for pygmy elephants in Sabah

KOTA KINABALU: Efforts to establish forest corridors along the lower Kinabatangan region – where isolated groups of wildlife are under threat – have received a boost with the recent collaring of five Borneo pygmy elephants.

Wildlife researchers said the four female and one male pachyderm would provide researchers with crucial information on the available elephant habitat in the region.

Dr Benoit Goosens of the wildlife research unit, Danau Girang Field Centre, said: “Extensive agriculture through oil palm plantations has considerably reduced the habitat of elephants in Kinabatangan, increasing human-elephant conflict.

“The herd there, estimated at about 200 to 250, is having difficulty moving between flooded lands, swamps, fenced plantations, villages and nature lodges,” he said yesterday.

To complicate matters, Dr Goosens said uncontrolled tourism with up to 20 boats along riverbanks increased the pressure on the elephants when they drink from the river.

“It is time we act to re-establish quality habitat and provide space for the elephants in the Kinabatangan region,” he added.

Three Bornean elephants were fitted with a satellite collar last week in the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary as part of a collaborative project between the Sabah Wildlife Department, the non-governmental organisation HUTAN and the centre.

Continue reading at: Conservation boost for pygmy elephants in Sabah
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Rope bridges a critical lifeline for orang utans in Sabah

KINABATANGAN, Sabah - The construction of seven bridges in eight years has made a difference in the effort to ensure the survival of the orang utans here.

This temporary measure has helped the primates and other species to move within forests fragmented by man-made rivers.

Sabah Wildlife director Dr Laurentius Ambu said ultimately, however, reconnecting forests via corridors or patches of forests was the next crucial step to better preserving wildlife in the state.

"Even though it will be an expensive and long process, reconnecting isolated populations which were originally linked together, will ensure the long-term survival of not only orang utans but other unique species, such as the Bornean Pygmy Elephants, the sunbears, the clouded leopards and many others," he said.

Surveys carried out by the department and non-governmental organisation, Hutan-KOCP (Kinabatangan Orang Utan Conservation Programme), shows that there are 700 orang utans within protected and non-protected areas of the lower Kinabatangan.

Sabah has an estimated 11,000 orang utans, which is 80 per cent of the nation's wild orang utans.

However, due to agricultural activities, many forests are fragmented, trapping animals such as the orang utans because of their inability to swim.

To tackle this problem, rope bridges were built for orang utans to cross small rivers and large drains since 2003, and also to connect pockets of isolated forest, said Azri Awang of Hutan-KOCP.

In the past, orang utans would use old-growth forests as "natural bridges" over small rivers.

However, at present, orang utans no longer have this luxury since most of the tall trees in such forests have been logged.

Continue reading (Incl. Pic) at: Rope bridges a critical lifeline for orang utans in Sabah

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Teaching Orang Utan The Ropes To Evade Isolation

KINABATANGAN -- Wild orang utan in the Lower Kinabatangan floodplain in Sabah are being taught the ropes, literally, to evade isolation owing to the logging of the tall trees which have served as their natural bridges across small rivers and large drains.

Rope bridges built by the Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD), in collaboration with French grassroots non-profit organisation HUTAN and the Kinabatangan Orang Utan Conservation Project (KOCP), are now enabling the orang utan to get cross these waterways.

HUTAN-KOCP co-director Dr Marc Ancrenaz said oil palm companies are being asked to help by not planting oil palm all the way down to the river but to set aside at least 500 metres along the banks as wildlife corridors.

"In May 2010, at the conclusion of the State Action Plan workshop, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Datuk Masidi Manjun stated that he would like to see plantations, particularly those located in the Kinabatangan, to set aside at least 500 metres along riverbanks as wildlife corridors," Ancrenaz said in a statement here today.

With support from various partners, such as Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Borneo Conservation Trust, Shining Hope Foundation and Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC), more rope bridges with different designs have been built over the years, including by using old fire hoses from Japan.

"This was to see if different designs would be used by the orang utan, and what we found is they seem to prefer to use the simple two-line rope bridges," said Ancrenaz, who has been working on wildlife issues in Sabah from 1998.

During a visit to Chester Zoo in the United Kingdom, Ancrenaz found that rope bridges used at the zoo's orang utan enclosure were of much lighter material and yet able to withstand ultraviolet rays.

"Our partners from Chester Zoo have come to Sabah, bringing with them these rope material so that we can pull down the old bridges and put up new bridges along the sites we know where the orang utan are using the rope bridges, as well as at new identified areas," he said.

With assistance from Ropeskills Rigging Sdn Bhd (RRSB), a team of professional tree climbers based in Sabah, the new rope bridges are being built and the old bridges pulled down or repaired.

In all, seven rope bridges have been put up and/or repaired with the collaboration of the SWD, RRSB, Chester Zoo, DGFC, HUTAN-KOCP and Barefoot Sukau Lodge.

Continue reading at: Teaching Orang Utan The Ropes To Evade Isolation
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Gomantong Caves: Vital source of edible bird's nests in Sabah

SANDAKAN: The Gomantong Caves are the largest and most important source of edible bird’s nests in Sabah.

It is an intricate cave system inside Gomantong Hill, which is the largest limestone outcrop in the Lower Kinabatangan area. Situated in a forest reserve, nearly two hours’ drive from here, the caves and the surrounding area are a protected area for wildlife, especially orangutans.

The main cave system is divided into two parts: the more accessible Simud Hitam (Black Cave), and the larger Simud Putih (White Cave) which lies above.

The cave system is home to many other animals, including massive populations of cockroaches and bats. Outside one can see crested serpent eagles, kingfishers, and Asian fairy bluebirds.

The caves have been renowned for their valuable edible swiftlet nests, which are harvested for bird’s nest soup. The most valuable of the nests, the white ones, can fetch very high prices.

Twice a year, from February to April and July to September, licensed collectors climb to the roof of the caves, using only rattan ladders, ropes, and bamboo poles, to collect the nests.

Harvesting is regulated by the Sabah Wildlife Department to ensure the swiftlets are given enough time to make new nests to lay their eggs and hatch them.

Continue reading at: Gomantong Caves: Vital source of edible bird's nests in Sabah

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Stalking pygmy elephants

We are on the hunt for Bornean pygmy elephants. It's a warm, steamy afternoon as we board a small safari riverboat and set off upstream along the mighty Kinabatangan River in Sabah, North Borneo, to stalk these Asian elephants - but only to view and shoot pictures.

I ask our guide about the thunderstorm brewing in the distance. "Oh, nothing to be concerned about," she replies. "That storm going other way downriver."

Sure enough, as we motor upstream, the storm moves away to the east. We glide gently along the wide river, passing crocodiles basking on the muddy riverbanks while colourful kingfishers perch in the branches.

Boats from other lodges are also searching for the pygmy elephants and word soon spreads of a sighting on a grassy bend on the river. The tall grass begins to move and a trumpet blast is heard. A family of wild elephants slowly emerge from the grass, tearing and munching as they go.

From the boat's viewing platform we can see adults, adolescents and babies in the herd of about 12. One of the younger elephants slides down the bank to take a bath in the river near our boat.

Kinabatangan is Sabah's longest river, flowing from the mountains to the Sulu Sea, and its lower reaches support one of the world's most diverse ecosystems. During the wet season, the basin becomes the biggest forested floodplain in Malaysia and animals and plants thrive there thanks to its status as a long-established nature sanctuary.

Apart from the elephants, wildlife such as orang-utans, long-tailed and proboscis monkeys, Sumatran rhinoceros, crocodiles, otters, tree snakes and many bird species, including eight species of hornbill, can be seen from a river safari boat.

On our way back to our river resort, we stop to view families of proboscis monkeys, huge-bellied, big-nosed primates with long white tails who live by the river and are most active during dusk or dawn, when they socialise or forage for food.

Earlier, I had checked in at the Myne Resort with my wife, Robyn. Set on a hill overlooking a bend in the river two hours from Sandakan, the family-run resort feels like an undiscovered treasure. It's one of a handful of small jungle lodges near the villages of Bilit and Sukau, though it is newer than most and a little more up-market.

Tucked amid the jungle, the well-appointed wooden chalets have ensuites and are connected via pathways to the open-air dining and reception area and viewing deck.

Just after sunset, we arrive back at the resort's floating jetty and prepare for an alfresco dinner of delicious local cuisine. As we eat, wild pigs emerge from the jungle to graze on the nearby grass.

The following morning, we embark on a downriver safari cruise. Through a soft mist we can hear birdsong and animal calls. Fishermen wave from the bank as they check their prawn traps. We spot a male orang-utan eating fruit in a fig tree. He proves to be rather bashful, turning his back on us and hiding his face but sneaking the odd glance at our boat. Our guide, Vivian, says his behaviour is unusual and speculates that he's noticed Robyn's red hair and thinks she is a female orang-utan. I manage to click a few pictures of him showing his face.

Continue reading (Incl. Pic) at: Stalking pygmy elephants
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Proboscis monkey survives by a nose

VISITORS to Borneo come face to face with a monkey that has to be seen to be believed.

The endangered proboscis monkey is very hard to keep in captivity, so most people have never seen one in real life - unless they have been to the island.

The big-nosed monkeys live alongside orang-utans and are facing much the same threats, such as land clearing for palm oil plantations. Tourism can also disrupt the monkeys' natural social behaviour, feeding and breeding.

Dr Heather Leasor, of the Australian National University, studied threats to the proboscis monkey population for her PhD.

"I just find them fascinating, their social interactions with each other, their odd faces, the group dynamics," she said. "They are quite charismatic. Not everybody thinks so. They think they look odd and weird. But I think they're majestic and beautiful too."

She compared her observations of monkeys in the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary and surrounds with those recorded by other researchers more than a decade earlier, before tourism and palm oil plantations took off.

Continue reading (Incl. Pics) at: Proboscis monkey survives by a nose

Recommended Proboscis Monkey Tours in Sabah:

• Klias River Cruise
• Kota Belud Wetlands Usukan Cove
• Kinabatangan Ox-Bow Lake

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The awe of the Borneo jungle

The very mention of Borneo is enough to conjure vivid images of dense jungle inhabited by strange, hairy creatures, a land penetrated only by brave, machete-wielding explorers fending off menacing headhunters, blow darts and pirates.

Modern, internet-connected Borneo may have lost some of its wild and untamed characteristics but it's still one of the most dramatic and exciting destinations left on our shrinking planet.

Today we travel in four-stroke outboard-powered Zodiacs, putt-putting quietly along the mangrove-lined Kinabatangan River in the eastern Borneo state of Sabah, comical hornbills swooping overhead while boisterous macaque monkeys play tag among the palm fronds.

Chris, our naturalist guide from Orion Expedition Cruises, points out a rhinoceros hornbill just above the fork in a nearby tree.

Armed with powerful field glasses, large telephoto lenses and packing gigabytes of storage, we stalk these exotic species, ticking them off one-by-one as we progress silently within arm's reach of the mangrove-lined banks.

Tales of the wild lands, animals and people of Borneo first reached Europeans in 1522, when the straggling survivors of Magellan's fleet limped back to Spain. Indian, Javanese and Chinese traders, however, had been visiting for centuries prior in search of timber, ivory, gold and spices. Later, the Dutch and British colonial powers held sway, while the local sultans played their own power games. The 20th century was a dramatic chapter with a firm British grip until the Japanese took control briefly during WWII before liberation by Australian troops in 1945.

Sabah, on the farthest north-eastern tip, is now part of independent Malaysia and a source of much of the world's palm oil, a crop that is, unfortunately, replacing the coastal and riparian (riverside) forests vital to many endangered species of birds and mammals. Driven by this urgency, eco-tourism is the new growth industry of Borneo, often colliding with the more established forestry and palm plantations.

Continue reading at: The awe of the Borneo jungle
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Corridor of hope for Borneo elephants at Sukau

KOTA KINABALU: A re-established forest corridor measuring 1km by 50m at Bukit Melapi at Sukau in the east coast Kinabatangan district will offer hope for the area's Borneo elephants.

The move became a reality recently with the support of two companies Syarikat Yu Kwang Development Sdn Bhd and Proboscis Lodge Bukit Melapi.

The re-establishment of the corridor will allow for the smooth movement of around 200 elephants through Lots 1, 3 and 4 of the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary.

The corridor is part of the animals' ancestral migration route which has been disrupted in recent years due to deforestation, said Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) director Dr Laurentius Ambu.

He also commended the two companies for their contributions to elephant conservation at the Lower Kinabatangan.

The efforts, aimed at addressing the impact of large-scale oil palm plantation development and logging practices to wildlife species particularly the orang utan and the Borneo elephants was coordinated by the Borneo Conservation Trust (BCT) and SWD.

BCT conservation and research division head Raymond Alfred said habitat fragmentation was the main threat to elephant conservation in Sabah.

He said linking habitats via forest corridors would prevent the fragmentation and isolation of the elephant population.

“Population isolation makes the species more prone to genetic drift and inbreeding. It also increases the threat of human-elephant conflict within the area,” he said.

Another species facing decline at the Lower Kinabatangan is the orang utan due to the conversion of degraded forests into large-scale plantations.

Continue reading at: Corridor of hope for Borneo elephants at Sukau
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Up close with the Dutchman, the Proboscis Monkey

One little-studied primate gets some attention from scientists.



TWACK! The proboscis monkey jolted violently as a tranquillising dart sank into its flesh.



It was a matter of seconds before it went limp and crashed into an outstretched net below.



The Danau Girang Field Centre research team acted quickly; they only had an hour with the creature before it awakens. They had two tasks: extract bodily samples and tag it with a satellite collar. An intravenous needle was inserted for a blood sample, the creature’s hair combed for parasites, a finger stuck into its anus for faecal samples and saliva harvested for bacteria and virus detection.



Minimum sedative is preferable as the operation team has to wait until the darted animal is alert, otherwise a carnivore might kill it in its stupor.



At 24kg and 1.2m, this was the biggest proboscis monkey the team had encountered so far. It is probably head of its clan.



Dr Senthivel Nathan, Sabah Wildlife Department senior wildlife veterinarian, had described the tranquillising operation to me during a recent brief excursion into the Kinabatangan forest reserve in Sabah. I had left the hustle and bustle of city life for a couple of days to find out more about the endangered species and experience our Bornean forest before it disappears. Earlier, my request to tag along the nocturnal mission was met with a firm no.



“Far too dangerous for you,” said Senthivel, shaking his head dismissively. He probably did not want to startle me with the possibility that I could be mauled by a clouded leopard or swallowed whole by a crocodile in the wild.



That was the first proboscis monkey to be tagged with a satellite collar, to enable the research team to monitor the primate’s location and environment.



The Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC) is located in a 27,000sqkm parcel of wetlands, known as Lot 6, in the lower reaches of the vast Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary in Sabah. To get to the field centre, I had taken a 30-minute boat ride downstream from Batu Putih, a village 90km south of Sandakan.



It is where Senthivel works closely with conservationist and DGFC director Dr Benoit Goossens, who was previously involved in the conservation studies of other endangered wildlife such as the orang utan in Sumatra, black rhinoceros in Zimbabwe as well as red and giant pandas in China.



Bisected by the Kinabatangan river, the wildlife sanctuary comprises 10 fragments of primary to secondary forests, significantly impacted by villages, agriculture and oil palm plantations.



Continue reading (Incl. Pic) at: Up close with the Dutchman, the Proboscis Monkey

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Language skills only for orang utan that cannot live in the wild

KOTA KINABALU: Teaching language skills to orang utan should only be considered for those that cannot be rehabilitated and released back into the wild.



A Sabah-based conservationist Dr Marc Ancreanz said it was more important to help displaced orang utan go back into the wild to increase their population.



“Teaching communication skills, yes, but only for those that cannot be rehabilitated,” said Dr Ancreanz, who heads the Kinabatangan Orang Utan Conservation Project helmed by the French non-governmental organisation Hutan.



Dr Ancreanz was commenting on report quoting scientist Dr Francine Neago's plan to set up an orang utan language study centre in Sarawak to teach language skills to the primate via a computer programme.



Dr Ancreanz said teaching communication skills like sign language to the orang utan was possible as other great apes gorillas and chimpanzees had already been taught to communicate with humans.



“Previous studies have shown that the intelligent great apes are able to learn language skills like sign languages but they cannot speak because they do not have larynx.”



Teaching orang utan that could not be rehabilitated or those living in captivity was apt as they get bored easily, he said.



Continue reading at: Language skills only for orang utan that cannot live in the wild

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Conservationists keep tabs on proboscis monkeys via satellite tags

KOTA KINABALU: Wildlife conservationists in Sabah are working towards ensuring the survival of the state's unique primate the proboscis monkey by installing satellite tags on 10 of these long-nosed creatures.

Sabah Wildlife Department director Dr Laurentius Ambu said the department staff and volunteers from the Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC) in the east coast Kinabatangan district had recently fitted the first satellite tag on a 24kg male proboscis monkey.

“This is the first time in Borneo that a proboscis monkey is tagged with a satellite device,” said Dr Ambu, adding that it was the start of a long-term research and conservation programme initiated by their department and DGFC with funding from the Sime Darby Foundation.

Department veterinarian Dr Senthilvel Nathan said the primate was caught by members of the Wildlife Rescue Unit and DGFC during the course of Proboscis Monkey Programme initiated last week, a collaboration between the department, DGFC and Cardiff University.

“We will catch proboscis monkeys in the whole state to collect blood for genetic analyses and parasite identification, saliva for viruses and bacteria, ectoparasites and morphometric data.

“We will also fit 10 primates with satellite tags in the Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary,” added Dr Senthillvel.

DGFC director Dr Benoit Goosens said the satellite tagging was aimed at understanding the ranging patterns of proboscis monkeys and the factors hindering their movement and density.

Continue reading (Incl. Pic) at: Conservationists keep tabs on proboscis monkeys via satellite tags

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RM1.5 million to conserve proboscis monkeys in Sabah

DANAU GIRANG: Yayasan Sime Darby (YSD) yesterday donated RM1.5 million to the Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) to conserve and manage the estimated 2,500 to 3,000 proboscis monkeys that are living in the fragmented forests in the Lower Kinabatangan.

The three-year commitment will see SWD and Cardiff University of the UK conduct a Proboscis Monkey Conservation Programme at the Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC), a centre established by SWD.

The programme will support research and conservation work on proboscis

monkeys, considered as one of the most unique, charismatic and endemic primate species of Borneo.

YSD Governing Council member Caroline Russell said during a press conference following the handing over of a mock cheque of the amount to SWD at DGFC yesterday that this was part of Sime Darby’s corporate social responsibility efforts to give back to society.

She added that they were keen on the project as the proboscis monkeys are one of the YSD’s ‘Big 9’, which are the sun bear, orangutan, pygmy elephant, Bornean clouded leopard, hornbill, banteng, proboscis monkey, Bornean Sumatran rhinoceros and Malayan tiger.

Proboscis monkeys in Sabah are most commonly found in mangrove forests and are sighted in mangrove forests in Sandakan (Sukau, Sepilok) and Klias Wetlands as well as in Tabin. Deforestation is the main threat to the population.

In her speech earlier, Russell mentioned that the cooperation was the first of its kind in the world.

“It will allow for the management of proboscis monkeys in Sabah and allow SWD to execute research and management of the species, particularly in Danau Girang,” she said.

She added that YSD was attracted to the project due to its emphasis on sustainability and community building.

Eventually, she said that they hope to formulate a comprehensive management plan for Sabah with regards to the species and get a consensus for the proboscis monkeys.

The three-year project shall also include the rescue and translocation of proboscis monkeys residing at non-viable locations.

“It is estimated that 100 to 200 are living at sites that are under threat,” she said.

Continue reading at: RM1.5 million to conserve proboscis monkeys in Sabah

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Danau Girang, Kinabatangan wildlife haven for photographers

DANAU GIRANG: The wildlife in Danau Girang and in the Kinabatangan region is just so magical with its abundance and diversity and is a haven for wildlife photographers.

For Robert Colgan, 21, a Cardiff University undergraduate student presently a volunteer at the Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC), it has been an incredible opportunity to have been allowed to stay in a place like Danau Girang for so long and gets to see so much.

“And I have been here for so long and I still find some things that are amazing,” said Robert.

He has been at DGFC for over a year, helping researchers with their projects as well as help conduct field surveys and field courses.

During the course of his stay, he has learned the cultures of the Sungai people that reside at the Kinabatangan, acquired a liking for spicy food served during Hari Raya Aidilfitri open houses as well as gotten a brand new camera to record all his experiences while in Sabah.

His pictures, mainly on the wildlife of Kinabatangan, are amazing.

He believes that he has snapped up more than 16,000 pictures of wildlife since getting his camera last October.

“On average I shoot several hundred pictures a day, particularly when we go out into the forest at night,” he said.

Having the camera has been beneficial.

It has allowed him to have a database of wildlife pictures he and his peers had encountered during the course of their work, he said.

Yet more importantly it has allowed him to practise taking pictures on some of the really exotic subjects in Danau Girang.

Wildlife photography, said Robert, is a lot more interesting and has allowed him to learn about the habits of the animals.

“I have captured mostly monkeys, western tarsiers, five of the eight species of hornbills such as the rhino hornbill, white crowned hornbill, black hornbill, oriental pied hornbill and wrinkled hornbill. I try to get a good picture but by the end of the day, it has to do with luck and being at the right place and the right time. It is awesome,” said Robert.

Continue reading at: Danau Girang, Kinabatangan wildlife haven for photographers

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First radio-collaring of Bornean slow loris

KOTA KINABALU: In the dense forest of the lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, lurks a Bornean slow loris in search of insects, lizards and other prey.

So what, you might ask? Well, that is no ordinary slow loris. It is the only species of its kind which is equipped with toxic defence and a hunting mechanism to snare its prey— insects, lizards and the like.

Going by the name, ‘Krik’, this slow loris has been fitted with a VHF radio-collar to record its every movement, ranging from sleeping habits and preferences to behaviour. Fitted by the Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) and Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC), the radio-collar will enable DGFC research assistant, Baharudin Resake, who is in charge of the project, to locate ‘Krik’ more easily in the forest.

In a joint press statement here, the SWD and DGFC said the first such attempt on the Bornean species was part of an ongoing Nocturnal Primate Project funded by the Columbus Zoo and Cleveland Zoological Society of the United States.

DGFC director Dr. Benoit Goossens said: “The collar weighs less than three per cent of his (slow loris) body weight, so will not hinder the animal as he moves around the forest searching for food.

“As little is known about the Bornean slow loris, particularly in Sabah, any information collected by Baharudin, through tracking through the forest, will be important in understanding the species, from sleeping site locations and preferences, to ranging behaviour. With this study, we also hope to raise awareness in Sabah on the importance of protecting nocturnal primates, as much as protecting the orang utan, proboscis monkey, sun bear and the elephant.”

The slow loris, ‘Krik’, is named as such as it is one of the sounds it makes a kind of clicking, chirping noise.

Continue reading (Incl. Pic) at: First radio-collaring of Bornean slow loris

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Move to save Bornean banting in Sabah

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah's endangered wild cattle, the Bornean banting, has become a focus in the state's wildlife conservation efforts.

Conservationists and scientists from across the world are working together to study the relatively unknown cattle species found in the wilds of Sabah.

“The Bornean Banting Programme intends to advance our understanding of and conservation efforts for one of the most charismatic and still unknown mammal species,” said state Wildlife Department director Dr Laurentius Ambu.

Dr Ambu, a member of the Asian wild cattle group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, said his department was working with various partners to study the ecology of the endangered wild cattle.

“It is a long-term programme which aims to provide an insight into the ecology of this endangered wild cattle species,” he said, adding that the number of the cattle in Sabah was much lower than the number of elephants.

He, however, declined to give any estimates of the current population of the rare cattle.

“The results of this programme will assist our department to develop a state action plan for all banting across Sabah,” Dr Ambu told The Star.

Dr Benoit Goossens, director of the Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC), the department's field study centre located within the Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, said there were fears that the Bornean banting might go extinct if nothing was done to conserve the species.

Continue reading (Incl. Pics) at: Move to save Bornean banting in Sabah

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Bridging the gap for Orang Utan migration

KINABATANGAN: Several organisations have joined hands with the Sabah Wildlife Department to re-build a rope bridge for Orang Utans, which had collapsed due to severe floods at the Takala River, a tributary of the Kinabatangan.

Department director Dr Laurentius Ambu said artificial bridges at the tributaries along the Kinabatangan, Sabah’s longest river, allowed the Orang Utan to migrate from one patch of forest to another.

Those extending their support to the department were the Danau Girang Field Centre, community-based organisations Hutan and Mescot, Ropeskills Rigging Sdn Bhd and non-governmental organisation (NGO) Borneo Conservation Trust Japan.

“This project is made all the more special by the fact that the Japanese NGO felt the project was important enough to pursue, despite the national difficulties it faces in Japan, following the earthquake and tsunami.

“Veterinarians, scientists and staff from Japanese zoos have joined the team,” Laurentius said in a statement yesterday.

Danau Girang Field Centre director Dr Benoit Goossens said Orang Utans in the Kinabatangan area were becoming isolated as their ability to move around was restricted by rivers and man-made drains.

Continue reading at: Bridging the gap for Orang Utan migration
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Capturing carnivores in Kinabatangan on camera

KINABATANGAN: Sabah Wildlife Department, Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC), the NGO HUTAN and WildCRU recently launched the “Kinabatangan Carnivore Programme” with funding from four American zoos, Houston, Columbus, Cincinnati and Phoenix, and private donors in New York.

“The Kinabatangan Carnivore Programme, initiated by our Department, will intend to advance understanding, and the conservation, of the diverse carnivores of the Lower Kinabatangan floodplain,” explained Dr Laurentius Ambu, Director of the Sabah Wildlife Department.

“For this, we are collaborating with Andrew Hearn from WildCRU (University of Oxford, UK) who spent the last four years studying clouded leopards and other carnivores in Danum Valley and Tabin Wildlife Reserve. His experience with camera trapping is primordial for the success of this project,” added Ambu.

“It will be a long-term programme which aims to provide insights into Bornean carnivore ecology and density and develop Bornean carnivore species distribution and habitat suitability models,” said Dr Benoit Goossens, Director of the Danau Girang Field Centre.

“It is crucial for us, wildlife conservationists and managers, to find out about what dispersal opportunities exist for these carnivores and other mammals within the fragmented landscape of the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, and how might dispersal corridors be protected, enhanced and restored,” added Goossens.

“Last November, we were extremely pleased to find a sequence of 12 pictures showing a clouded leopard female and her cub walking along a trail. These two individuals were also recorded in December on most of our cameras along a thin corridor of forest between the river and a plantation,” explained Rob Colgan and Rodi Tenquist, two undergraduates from Cardiff University, who are spending a year at DGFC during their professional training year and are providing field assistance to the project.

Continue reading (Incl. Pic) at: Capturing carnivores in Kinabatangan on camera
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