REFLECTIONS

Before this I was thinking of writing according to my plan. But then, I realize that when I write freely what I have in my mind at that time, it is more alive and I can share my ideas, information and perspective with others more. I would like to share my experienced and my journey in my current job. It is my dream job and for those who read my blog from the beginning you can see how I get where I am now. Without hard work, patient and the most important is NEVER GIVE UP I will end up doing something else now.

Been through this almost three years experienced teaches me a lot of things and it does built my personality as well. I become more sensitive with our nature and eager to know more about it. I still remember one of our collaborators and now I can say he is one of my friends ask me WHY I WANT TO BECOME A BIOLOGIST? I told him that there were a lot of foreign biologists in Sarawak and only a few local people. I want to know what we have in our rainforest as much as those foreign biologists know. That spirit and passion leads me to keep going and grow in this field.

THE NEEDS OF CONSERVATION IN BORNEO

The land of Borneo is the third largest island in the world and located at the centre of Maritime Southeast Asia. It’s richness in biodiversity makes it is one of the hot spot centre for the biologist (mammalogist, herpetologist, ornithologist, entomologist, botanist etc) to explore the undiscovered tropical rainforest. I searched information in the web and found some info from Wikipedia and it does provide this information:

There are about 15,000 species of flowering plants with 3,000 species of trees (267 species are dipterocarps), 221 species of terrestrial mammals and 420 species of resident birds in Borneo (MacKinnon et al. 1998). It is also the centre of evolution and radiation of many endemic species of plants and animals.

However, in the past few years, there are more species has been discovered by biologist and I found this article in WWF (http://www.panda.org/index.cfm?uNewsID=89620) websites. I quote a little bit from this article and if to read more go to the sites. This news is in 2006 so it means there is a lot more adding into the Bornean species since now is 2008.

“At least 52 new species of animals and plants have been identified this past year on the island of Borneo, according to scientists.

The discoveries, described in a report compiled by WWF, include 30 unique fish species, two tree frog species, 16 ginger species, three tree species and one large-leafed plant species.

WWF says that these findings further highlight the need to conserve the habitat and species of the world’s third largest island.

As one of the local people of Borneo, Sarawak particularly, I feel it is a wakeup call for our own people to consider and think deeply on the needs of conservation (whatever we have in our forest). Development is a good things to be done because we don’t want to be left behind by the develop country. My personal thought is that, we can’t fight the development but we can HELP the developer (e.g. the leader of the state, country or any other stakeholders that involve in any kind of development – plantations, mills, etc) by working together with them. As far as I know, these developers always claim that NGOs or researcher is against development and always become threat to them to run their projects. Maybe because they don’t know why squirrels are important to the ecology? Or why we need peat swamp forest? I am not good in all of this but we have experts in every field that can help.

Hmm..i am not sure what message that want to share here but my main interests is that I don’t want Sarawak forest to be bulldoze and convert into plantations before we be able to know what we have inside our forest.

FROGGING & NIGHT SURVEY

As we walk through the dark night we saw one bird sleeping on the small tree branch. Trying not to disturb it, we slowly move towards it and take photos with it. It is so funny because the bird didn't notice our presence there or it pretend to be dead on that branch.

I try to touch it and i can touch it's fur. It doesn't move too. However, we didn't know what species of birds is it even though we are very close to it because we can not see it clearly. It's crawl it's head under it's flight feather and looks like a round ball.

Hahaha..this one is so funny. This is the first snake that i successfully caught and it is the first time i try to catch snake. This is only a small snake and i was terrified by it. I was very scared and nervous when i hold it in my hand. Because i have SNAKE PHOBIA. I try to overcome my phobia and at last i catch this snake. I will never forget this experienced. (Photo Credit: Joanes)

RODENTS & PLANTED FORESTS

By Roslina Ragai - Conservation Department, Grand Perfect S/B, Bintulu, Sarawak.

Anthropogenic activities foster fragmentation and other such modifications of natural habitats can create serious threats to biodiversity. Nevertheless some types of patchy forest remnants within tree plantations can help to maintain certain types of wildlife, such as rodents. Rodents, the Order containing squirrels, rats and porcupines, are distributed widely in natural forest, artificial forests or plantations and near human settlements. Some are pest to crops but others play important roles in forest ecosystems. Their importance in carbon and energy fluxes in the tropical systems is widely accepted. Rodents compose a major food resource to a number of birds e.g. raptors, owls, snakes, felids and other carnivores. Moreover, they enhance the decomposition of plant matter in natural ecosystems.

The Planted Forest Zone (PFZ), located in the Bintulu Division of Sarawak, is an area established for the development of a large Acacia plantation by the Forest Department of Sarawak. Almost 55,000 ha of PFZ have already been planted with Acacia mangium, an exotic tree species that can produce industrial wood for pulp and papers within about seven years.

Since January 2005, small mammal surveys have been underway in collaboration with local and international partners in several areas of the PFZ. Acacia compartments, secondary forests and the less disturbed forests of two conservation areas (Bukit Sarang and Binyo-Penyilam Conservation Areas), conservation corridor (Bukit Mina Conservation Corridor) have been surveyed, along with forest remnants in planted Acacia blocks. However, only a relatively small area of the PFZ has actually been covered so far. Undoubtedly, many more interesting small mammal species are likely to be encountered.

The latest species observed was ranee mouse, Haeromys margarettae in Binyo-Penyilam Conservation Area (BPCA), found in a very unique habitat, mixed peat swamp and kerangas forest. Other interesting species of rodents discovered in PFZ areas are the three-striped ground squirrel, Lariscus insignis, horse-tailed squirrel, Sundasciurus hippurus, grey tree rat, Lenothrix canus and the thick-spined porcupine, Thecurus crassispinis.

A full understanding of small mammal distribution and ecology is still a long journey for us, both in natural forest as well as in the many man-made habitat mosaics which we are creating as Sarawak develops. Fortunately, it seems that a regenerating plantation forest can play an important role to provide a suitable habitat for some of the more adaptable species of small mammals. Even so, we must ensure the right policy, planning and management decisions are made for the long-term survival of these wonderful creatures.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the Conservation Department of Grand Perfect Sdn Bhd for their support and assistance in making the field work possible in PFZ. Special thanks to Mr. Rob Stuebing, Belden Giman, Nyegang Megom, Dr. Han Kwai Hin, Ch’ien C. Lee and for those who involved in this project.

References

Giman, B., Stuebing, R., Megum, N., Mcshea, W. J. and Steward, C. M. 2005. A camera trapping survey for mammals in a mixed use planted forest in Sarawak. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology.

Han, K. H. 2005. Field report on inventory study of small mammals and plants in Samarakan Nursery, Bintulu Planted Forest Area, Ulu Tatau from May 10 through 20, 2005. Grand Perfect Sdn. Bhd., unpublished report.

Wilson, D. E. and Helgen, K. M. 2005. Small mammal survey of Bukit Sarang and Samarakan. Grand Perfect Sdn. Bhd., unpublished report.

A CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY - TREESHREWS

This is a photo of Tupaia glis (Photo Credit: Stavenn). This species is not found in Borneo. Mammalogist already found out that the one that occur in Borneo is distinct from the one that occur in mainland (Peninsular Malaysia). We have Tupaia longipes in Borneo.

I know there are a lot of people get confused when they look at the tree shrews. Are they squirrel? Are they shrews? Are they primate? There are explanation about the treeshrews. I found article called " A CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY" from Brookfield Zoo websites that discuss about this topic.

They're not squirrels

Tree shrews are small mammals that live part of their lives in trees in the tropical forests of southeast Asia. Their legs are short, with padded feet and long claws for gripping branches. They have a long, pointy snout, and a great sense of smell. Tree shrews have small, elongated bodies and big bushy tails---just like squirrels. With their similarities, you might think that trees shrews and squirrels are closely related, but they aren't.

They aren’t really shrews, either

Tree shrews got their name from English sailors exploring southeast Asia, way back in 1780. To the sailors, these long-nosed creatures reminded them of shrews back home. Shrews are tiny, insect eating mammals (called "insectivores") with pointy snouts. The animals we now call tree shrews looked like an arboreal (or "tree-living") version of the familiar creatures of the English countryside. But sailors of the eighteenth century were wrong, as the resemblance to shrews proved to be superficial.

And no, they aren't primates

In the 1920s, a scientist proposed that tree shrews were actually related to primates, an early offshoot of the primate evolutionary tree. The scientist based his findings on comparative studies of primate and shrew skulls, muscles, reproduction systems, and other traits. Based on the similarities he found, the "tree shrews-as-primitive-primate" hypothesis was soon accepted. More recent studies have shown that a more likely explanation is that primates and shrews shared a common ancestor so far back in time that to call them close relatives was misleading. The similarities the scientist found between primates and tree shrews were probably due to both creatures adapting to life in the trees.

Well, what are they then?

So, they’re not squirrels, they’re not shrews, and they’re not primates. What are they? Tree shrews are apparently a distinct group, not particularly related to shrews or primates. In fact, the 18 different species of tree shrews are the only members of their own mammalian family, Scandentia.

Tree shrews on the ground?

Not all tree shrews are completely arboreal. Some, like the large tree shrew, spend more time on the ground sniffing and feeling for food than climbing trees. They root through the leaf litter, using their sensitive noses to find insects and seeds.

Just the facts

Body length: 8.4 inches

Tail length: 6.5 inches

Weight: 7.8 ounces

Habitat: Tropical rain forest and secondary growth forests

Distribution: Eastern Asia from India to the Philippines

Wild diet: Insects, fruits, seeds, leaves, and occasionally small mammals and lizards

BZ diet: Fruit, canned primate diet, cat food, and insects

BIRD'S SURVEY 2006

We are paddling on the boat along the river while enjoying our bird's watch. It is just an extra activity for us at late of the afternoon after we finish all our surveys in the morning. This is the first time for me involving in bird's study and the first time is always exciting experienced.

It is really tested our patience when we doing birds observation because to watch the birds using binocular make our neck tiring. To look up on the trees like what she did in the photos.

We do our distance surveys in the kerangas forest (heath forest) and when it's about near 11am, there is so quite. I still remember we only heard a call from one or two species of birds only.

Bird's distance survey using boat also a challenge for us and lucky we have an expert boatmen. We stop at the point that we wan to do the surveys. Actually she is collecting the habitat information using several variable and then counting the birds species by it's call and observation.

After almost a week inside the forest, we going back to the longhouse before we leaving back to Bintulu. We camp at the site. We are so lucky because the water level is high so we didn't face the problem of push the boat.

All of this photo was taken by Chi'en Lee. He is a professional freelance photographer.