Status of Borneo pygmy elephant upgraded

KOTA KINABALU: The status of Sabah’s Bornean pygmy elephant will be upgraded to Part 1 of Schedule 1 of the Totally Protected Animals under the Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997 of the State.

Speaking during the closing ceremony of the Sabah Wildlife Conservation Colloquium 2012 held at the Le Meridien here yesterday, Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said his ministry had decided to upgrade the status of the species which is presently protected under Part 1 Schedule 2 of the same enactment.

The status upgrade was part of the objectives in the Sabah Elephant Action Plan 2012-2016, he said.

Masidi said that with the upgrade, the issue of the ‘no kill for elephant’ will not arise anymore.

“If you kill, you will go to jail. There is a requirement of a jail sentence. The penalty requires a jail sentence of between six months and five years,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sabah Wildlife Department director Dr Laurentius Ambu said that in the species present status, the penalty for killing an elephant is a fine of RM30,000 and/or imprisonment of three years.

He said that they had prosecuted a lot of cases involving the killing of elephants in Sabah.

However, he did not have the figure on hand.

He also said that prosecution was difficult as they needed concrete evidence before they could prosecute someone.

“Very often, they are not (prosecuted) and they get away scot-free. Evidence is hard to find,” he said.

Continue reading at: Status of Borneo pygmy elephant upgraded
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Sabah losing flagship wildlife species

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is losing her flagship species, said Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun.

According to him, there are now less than 11,000 orangutans, 6,000 proboscis monkeys, 2,000 elephants, 500 bantengs and 40 rhinos in Sabah.

On the other hand, the human population in the State is increasing.

“We are 3.2 million today in Sabah. In 2025, it is predicted that we will be 4.2 million, an increase of 30 percent. I don’t want to think that at the same time we will have a decrease of 30 percent in our wild populations: 7,700 orangutans, 4,200 proboscis monkeys, 1,400 elephants, 350 bantengs and 28 rhinos,” he said at the Sabah Wildlife Conservation Colloquium 2012 yesterday.

Masidi also expressed his disgust over the killing of 5,000 kilograms of pangolins that were smuggled out of Sabah last month.

He added that he had instructed his permanent secretary to conduct an immediate probe on the issue and said that poaching was a big problem.

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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.

Continue reading at: Sanctuary for displaced elephants, other wildlife in Sabah soon

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A deer tale in Borneo

IN recent weeks, I have seen two species of European deer: the artifi cial ones decorating shopping malls in Malaysia, Singapore and the UK with their glittering lights towing Santa’s sleigh, as well as two live deer in the fields beyond my house in South West England.

The Santa sleigh deer – reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) – is native to Northern Eurasia and North America.

Today, the Lapps in North Western Europe and the Tungus and Yakut peoples in Northern Siberia breed reindeer.

A herd has even survived in the Cairngorm Mountains in Scotland for over 40 years.

In the fi elds of a deep valley beyond my house, when taking two Chinese visitors on a ramble with my dog, we saw red deer (Cervus elaphus).

The red deer migrated to Britain from the European continent 11,000 years ago, when the English Channel was covered in ice near the end of the Pleistocene Ice Ages.

Carbon 14 dating has accurately identified the age of their antlers and long past lives in the UK.

The red deer now lives, in herds, in my nearest National Park on Exmoor, in valley woodlands and on the high exposed moors.

I know of one particular valley where I can guarantee my house visitors a view of 10 to 15 deer at almost any time and, during the rutting (mating) season, the sight of a magnificent stag with his huge, branching antlers held proudly aloft.

Photo shoots abound.

Having seen deer in public parks in China, my friends enquired about the species of deer I had observed in Asia.

Apart from the Shika deer – messengers from the gods – of Nara Park at Japan’s first national capital in Western Honshu, where the deer are tame, my encounters with wild deer have always been in East Malaysia.

The Bornean deer are all classified in the Cites lists as vulnerable verging on endangered species.

All deer are ungulates (hoof shaped animals) of the species Cervidae.

Muddy slightly crescent shaped imprints abound on paths and the sides of riverbanks.

Most deer have a facial gland set either in front of their eyes or beneath their chins, which secrete a strongly scented pheromone (a chemical to infl uence another animal’s behaviour) and this it does to excellent effect in the mating season to deter other deer from its territory.

(No wonder my dog has to be bathed at that time of the year when she comes back stinking of strong odours after rolling in a bed of reeds.) Interestingly in many classical paintings of deer, a teardrop seems to emerge from a deer’s eye – a sad-looking deer.

What the painter has not realised is that the deer is in love.

All deer are uni-parental, in that, after birth, it is the mother deer (doe) that cares for the offspring, whilst the stag disappears until he emerges, perhaps amongst other herds, to fi ght with opposing stags over his right to sire.

The Bornean yellow muntjac (Muntiacus atherodes) only occurs here and can be seen in the lowland areas of Gunung Gading, Lundu and near Bintulu as well as in the Mulu and Niah National Parks in Sarawak.

I have also seen them at the Danum Valley Conservation Area, alongside the River Danum in Sabah.

They are often referred to as barking deer, for they communicate with dog-like yelps, and are even considered a relic species of deer.

With antlers only seven centimetres long and a shoulder height of 50 centimetres, they are confi ned to moist forest areas alongside riverbanks and are easy game for poachers as they live essentially on herbs, grasses and seeds.

These are a subspecies of the Bornean red muntjac (Muntiacus muntjak), which is more evident in the Danum Valley.

Both species of deer are diurnal in their habits.

The mouse deer of Borneo is the tiniest of all deer, yet it is the one most mentioned in Malaysian folklore as a shy and timid creature, which always gets the better of bigger and stronger animals (apart from human poachers) through its superb cunning in order to survive.

Continue reading (Incl. Pic) at: A deer tale in Borneo
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Capture of rare Sumatran rhino gives hope for species

Malaysian wildlife authorities said Monday the capture of a young female Borneo Sumatran rhino had given them a last chance to save the highly endangered species from extinction.

The female rhino, aged between 10 and 12 years old, was caught on December 18 and is being kept in the Tabin Wildlife Reserve in Sabah on the Malaysian area of Borneo island where it is hoped it will breed with a lone captive male.

"All of us in Sabah are relieved that we have been able to capture this rhino after almost a year-and-a-half," Borneo Rhino Alliance director Junaidi Payne told AFP.

The female rhino, which has been named Puntung, was caught in a joint operation by the Borneo Rhino Alliance and the Sabah Wildlife Department.

"This is now the very last chance to save this species, one of the most ancient forms of mammal," Laurentius Ambu, director of the Sabah Wildlife Department, said in a statement.

Puntung had been specifically targeted since early 2010 as the mate for a 20-year-old, lone male rhino named Tam, who was rescued from an oil palm plantation in August 2008.

"It is an ideal age for breeding. Puntung and Tam are being kept in adjacent paddocks. They can see each other and there is some communication," Payne said.

Previous attempts in the 1980s and 1990s to breed Borneo Sumatran rhinos failed but Payne said he was "cautiously optimistic" the latest captive breeding programme would succeed.

The critically endangered Sumatran rhino is a mostly solitary animal except for courtship and rearing young.

Payne said the main threat to the survival of species "is there are so few and they do not mate in the wild."

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Christmas miracle – healthy female rhino found in Tabin

LAHAD DATU: There was Christmas joy in the jungle yesterday as a healthy young female Sumatran Rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis harrissoni) was safely translocated within the Tabin Wildlife Reserve (TWR).

The Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD), Borneo Rhino Alliance (BORA) and the SWD’s special Wildlife Rescue Unit (WRU) captured the rhino, named Puntung, in a joint operation.

“This is a fantastic gift for our uphill battle in ensuring the survival of this truly unique species and wonderful timing with Christmas, a time to give thanks for our blessings,” said an elated Dr Laurentius Ambu, the director of SWD.

Capturing and translocating Puntung was done after months of observation and careful logistical planning to ensure her safety by the dedicated field staff of SWD, BORA and WRU.

“We have monitored her since 2007, and there is no sign that any other rhino has entered into her range in the past five years. This is a stark indication that so few rhinos remain that they are simply not meeting for reproduction,” elaborated Datuk Dr Junaidi Payne, executive director of BORA.

Puntung had been specifically targeted since early 2010 as the mate for a middle-aged, lone male rhino named Tam, who was rescued from an oil palm plantation in August 2008 and cared for since then in the Borneo Rhino Sanctuary (BRS).

“We know all too well that Sumatran rhinoceros is on the brink of extinction with only definite signs of breeding in the wild over the past decade in Sabah and on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. However, this rate is still far too low to ensure its survival which is why we have initiated this captive breeding programme,” said Payne.

A key component of the State Action Plan to ensure the continued existence of the Sumatran rhino in Sabah includes captive breeding of the rhinos within a large enclosed area covering 20 hectares of natural forest located within TWR. This area is now known as the Borneo Rhino Sanctuary (BRS) and is managed by the State Government.

The BRS Programme is also in touch with a similar programme underway in Sumatra, Indonesia. While all possible efforts are being made to ensure that natural breeding is prioritised, advanced reproductive technologies, some yet to be developed, will be needed to boost the number of Sumatran rhinos being born as well.

Continue reading at: Christmas miracle – healthy female rhino found in Tabin

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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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Sabah rehabilitates degraded forests to conserve orang utan

KOTA KINABALU: The forestry department is stepping up efforts to rehabilitate degraded forests in Sabah's east coast Ulu-Segama Malua Forest reserve in efforts to conserve the orang utan.

Sabah Forestry Department has awarded reforestation contracts to four contractors to rehabilitate some 800ha of degraded forest in north Ulu Segama.

The area would be replanted with indigenous tree species and wild fruit trees within the next 12 months, Sabah Forestry director Datuk Sam Mannan said Sunday.

He said the area was part of the 2,400 hectares to be restored jointly by WWF-Malaysia and Sabah Forestry Department.

The northern Ulu Segama area was discovered in 2007 to have a large population of orang utan, which were surrounded by palm oil plantation to the north and the Segama River to the south.

He said the orang utan population was entrapped in a poor secondary logged forest environment, with limited source of food and shelter.

Mannan said the objective of the programme was to improve the forest condition through replanting of indigenous tree and wild fruit tree seedlings.

He said this would ensure, in years to come, that the forest will regenerate rapidly to provide fruits and nesting sites for the orang utan population and ensure their survival in such a small and isolated forest area.

Continue reading at: Sabah rehabilitates degraded forests to conserve orang utan

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Orang utan conservation in Sabah getting help from Federal government

KOTA KINABALU: The Federal Government is ready to help Sabah in its conservation of orang utan by financially assisting the state to acquire land between areas planted with oil palm.

This included buying parcels of land, largely owned by oil palm plantations, to be used as forest corridors, said Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok.

“I read in the papers about the difficulties faced by orang utan in moving through the oil palm plantations.

“I view this seriously. Perhaps the Sabah Government can work with us to acquire the lands.

“The Government will support whatever the state is doing, including with funds,” he said after launching the Roundtable Meeting on Sustainable Palm Oil ninth roundtable meeting here yesterday.

Dompok pointed out that Malaysia had made great strides in the palm oil industry, amidst environmental allegations, which he dismissed as baseless.

“For example, a report titled The Last Stand of the Orang Utan: State of Emergency claimed that oil palm plantations were expanding so rapidly in our rainforests that there would be no virgin forest by 2022.

“It also claimed that an equivalent of 300 football fields were deforested every hour for plantations.

“I am of the view that all these allegations are based on fear due to the competitiveness of palm oil,” he said.

Dompok said that despite this, Malaysia was concerned about unsubstantiated allegations on the displacement of the orang utan.

Continue reading at: Orang utan conservation in Sabah getting help from Federal government

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Catch rhinos in Sabah to save them

KOTA KINABALU: Captive breeding of the Borneo Sumatran rhinos seems to be the way forward in preventing its extinction.

With an estimated 216 of the species left in Sabah and Indonesia, conservation groups want funding and captive breeding allowed.

If nothing is done, they claim the species can become extinct in two decades.

The groups that are making the call are Borneo Rhino Alliance, Land Empowerment Animals People, Resources Stewardship Consultants Sdn Bhd, Malaysian Nature So­cie­ty, TRAFFIC Southeast Asia and WWF-Malaysia.

Their appeal comes following the extinction of the Javan rhino in mainland Asia.

Leaving rhinos in the wild to be poached or die of old age, they say, is no longer an adequate approach in conservation.

The groups noted that such measures were necessary based on recent data from governments, non-governmental organisations and researchers indicating that the global Sumatran rhino population had declined from about 320 in 1995.

Continue reading (Incl. Pic) at: Catch rhinos in Sabah to save them
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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.

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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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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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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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