Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ANIMALS
Borneo's 222 species of mammal - 44 of them endemic - include 13 primates and more
than 100 kinds of rodents and bats. Snake species number 166, amphibians over 100.
If you head into the rainforest, bear in mind that most animals wisely keep their distance
from humans and are thus nearly impossible to see. Even researchers with years of field ex-
perience have never seen especially shy creatures such as the Western tarsier or clouded
leopard.
Orangutan
There's something entrancing about a 90kg animal whose physique, facial expressions and
obvious intelligence are so eerily similar to our own.
Endemic to Borneo and Sumatra, the oran-
gutan, or 'man of the forest' (in Bahasa,
orang
means 'person' and
hutan
means 'forest'), is
Asia's only great ape. Even the most seasoned
traveller will feel a rush of awe if they are lucky
enough to cross paths with a wild orangutan
swinging through the canopy.
About 40,000 orangutans live in Borneo, in-
cluding 13,000 in Sabah, down from 60,000 just a decade ago. Some 78% live outside of
protected parks and reserves - that is, in forests that could be logged or turned into oil-palm
plantations at any time. Scientists estimate that before human encroachment, the world's
orangutan population was roughly 100 times what it is today.
Ranging over large areas of rainforest in search of fruiting trees and insects (a fine
source of protein), the orangutan has suffered greatly due to hunting and, especially, habitat
loss from logging, oil-palm plantations and fire. Also contributing to their numerical de-
cline is the fact that the interval between a female's pregnancies is usually about eight
years. The good news is that orangutans seem capable of adapting to new circumstances -
in Sabah, for instance, some now live in commercial forest reserves.
Wild orangutans are now difficult to find except in places like Sabah's Danum Valley
Conservation Area and Sarawak's Batang Ai region, but semi-wild animals can be seen at
the Semenggoh Nature Reserve in Sarawak and the Sepilok Orang-Utan Rehabilitation
Centre in Sabah.
The website of the Orangutan Conservancy (
www.orangutan.com
)
is a good source of
information about these great apes.
'The orangutan's future is dependent on the forests.
As more are cleared and converted to agricultural
plantations orangutan populations will continue to
decline.' Ashley Leiman, OBE, Director of Oran-
gutan Foundation (UK)
