Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Wildlife
Apes & Monkeys
The monkeys you're most likely to encounter living wild around KL are macaques, the
stocky, aggressive monkeys that solicit snacks from tourists at nature reserves and rural
temples such as those at Batu Caves. If you are carrying food, watch out for daring raids
and be wary of bites as rabies is a potential hazard.
Leaf-eating langurs, such as the slivered leaf monkey whose fur is frosted with grey tips,
are also quite common - spot them at the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM)
swinging high through the trees.
To see Malaysia's signature animal, the orang-utan, you'll have to drop by Zoo Negara;
in Malaysia, these charismatic apes are found living wild only in the jungles of Sabah and
Sarawak.
The Encyclopedia of Malaysia: The Environment
by Professor Sham Sani Dato, one volume of an excellent series of
illustrated encyclopedias, covers everything you need to know about Malaysia's environment.
Dogs, Cats & Civets
The animals you're most likely to see in KL are domesticated dogs and cats. However, loc-
al Muslims consider dogs unclean, hence many have negative attitudes towards them. In
2009 villagers from Pulau Ketam in Selangor rounded up over 300 strays and dumped them
on two uninhabited islands. According to reports from animal welfare agency SPCA
Selangor, the starving dogs turned to cannibalism to survive.
Cats hardly fare any better, with many local species of wild cats facing extinction be-
cause of hunting and the trade in body parts for traditional medicines. The Malayan tiger is
now extremely rare on the peninsula, as are leopards and black panthers (actually black
leopards). Smaller bay cats, leopard cats and marbled cats fare slightly better, in part be-
cause they need less territory and eat smaller prey (birds and small mammals). You may
also spot various species of civet, a separate family of predators with vaguely catlike fea-
tures but longer snouts and shaggier coats.
Bats & Birds
