More Than Half Of Borneo's Carnivores Face Extinction

KOTA KINABALU -- More than fifty percent of Borneo's many carnivore species could become extinct, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) which lists them on its red list of threatened species.

In disclosing the findings, Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) director Dr Laurentius Ambu said as such, there was a need for action plans and long-term solutions to the declining number of Borneo's carnivores.

Speaking at the launching of the 1st Borneo Carnivore Symposium, here, today, he said the need to strengthen knowledge was crucial in efforts to protect the 24 species of carnivores found in Borneo such as the amazing Sunda Clouded Leopard (Neofelis diardi), which is only found in Borneo.

"Last year, scientists even rediscovered the world's most endangered otter species here in Sabah at Dermakot (near Sandakan), so it's obvious we have to work harder to protect these amazing wildlife," he said.

The symposium, aimed at developing action plans to ensure the survival of the carnivores in Borneo, was attended by almost 200 scienties from 15 countries including Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia.

"The conservation of carnivores is important because they are what we call the keystone species as their presence maintains a healthy ecosystem within the forests of Borneo," said Laurentius who was also the organising chairman of the Symposium.

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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.

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Clouded leopards in Borneo a unique subspecies

KOTA KINABALU: Using genetic and morphological analyses, an international team of researchers led by the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin (IZW), in cooperation with the Sabah Wildlife Department recently demonstrated that the Bornean clouded leopards need to be classified as a unique subspecies (Neofelis diardi borneensis), distinct from its relatives in Sumatra.

In 2006 clouded leopards have drawn international attention, when scientists found that the clouded leopard actually comprises two species living with distinct distributions.

Clouded leopards from Borneo and Sumatra are genetically and morphologically distinct from their relatives on the mainland (Neofelis nebulosa) and thus form a separate species, the Sunda clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi).

Following up on these findings, a team of researchers led by Andreas Wilting of the IZW investigated in more detail the differences between the spatially distinct populations of the Sunda clouded leopard on Borneo and Sumatra.

Wilting explains: “Due to the long isolation of Sumatran and Bornean clouded leopards we suspect both populations to be different in their genetic and morphological characters and this proves to be true and based on the observed significant distinct characteristics, the researchers have now formally described two subspecies of the Sunda clouded leopard,one occurring exclusively in Sumatra, the other being endemic to Borneo.”

The Sunda clouded leopard is the largest carnivore on Borneo and it was only last year that the first film of a wild Sunda clouded leopard taken in Deramakot Forests Reserve, in Sabah, was released by the IZW, SWD and the Sabah Forestry Department (SFD). This new finding separating Bornean and Sumatran clouded leopards adds another dimension to this discovery as it highlights that Sunda clouded leopards in Bornean forests are unique.

“Their distinctiveness makes them one of the highest priority populations for conservation and ratchets up the need for conservation actions.” said state wildlife director Dr Laurentius Ambu.

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