Shrinking habitat threatens S'kan proboscis monkey

The Daily Express Online
Published on: Sunday, July 12, 2009

Sandakan: Proboscis monkeys living in mangrove forests here are under threat from shrinking habitat due to development projects, a wildlife sanctuary operator said.

Michael Lee Hing Huat, the owner of the Labuk Bay proboscis monkey sanctuary, said projects such as housing and township development caused forest fragmentation and threatened the wildlife's source of food.

"They are trapped in the fragmented and shrinking forests, forcing them to venture out in the open in search of food," he said.

This exposed them to danger, he said referring to a recent incident where a proboscis monkey was run over by a car in Jalan Utara.

He said he had informed the Wildlife Department and suggested alternatives to overcome the problem, among them was to relocate the proboscis monkeys to the Labuk Bay sanctuary.

The 263ha sanctuary currently has a population of 300 proboscis monkeys compared to about 100 when it was opened in 2001. - Bernama

Bornean Sucker Fish

After I saw Mr. Froggie on the stairs something orangish in colour draw my attention. Something moving on the stone in the water and with the shallow water, I can see it clearly. A few weeks back my friend did mention about a sucker fish in that small rocky stream but I didn’t bother so much about it. She told me there is a pretty fish in that stream, an orange colour sucker fish.

So, I move slowly towards the small witty creature in the water. She moves around on that stone where the water current is a little bit fast. After a while she was alert of my presence there and stops moving around. She was just stay still on the stone and maybe she was waiting for me to move away from there. But I am not done with her yet. Slowly I push my camera button and try to take a close up photo of her. I was amazed by that moment because this fish is really pretty. I never saw it before. After two shots I try to get closer and she moves faster into the deep area. Even though I can’t hold it and take a clear look of her, but I know this is something interesting.

When I get back home, I Google and try to find information about Bornean Sucker Fish. I don’t have any Pisces field guide books so I have to depend on source from internet. As I went through I found quite a few information and I read through article by Dr. Tan Heok Hui from Raffles Museum of Singapore. I did sent the photo to my friend and ask him about it. He answers me confidently that it might be Gastromyzon sp. Based on findings by Dr. Tan, they found three new species of Gastromyzon in Brunei and I was thinking maybe this is another new record or new species. Who knows right? Borneo is a hotspot biodiversity, I am sure there are lots of undiscovered species of animals and plants.

Interesting discovery and stay tune with me. See you tomorrow.

I Found Mr. Froggie

I did found Mr. Froggie this time. The only thing is that, I only have one shot of this slimy creature. The worst part is that, I can’t capture it and take a good look at it. If I do, I will have a good story to tell you guys about this animal. I have so many unidentified animals for this trip and I am ashamed of myself.

Okay okay…I will not blame myself, I am not an expert but I will always like to learn new things. To discover new things like this. A mystery will only solve after a proper scientific expedition is done in this area. Till then....

Water Skink – Something New

I only talk about monitor lizards quite some time in my previous post. It was my new discovery of Rough-necked Tree Monitor (Varanus rudiclois). For this entry, I have new discovery of another lizards. I found something interesting. I only can say that I found a Water Skink because I don’t know what species was it.

I tried to do some reading and look in my field guide book written by Das (2004) but my photo and my memories doesn’t help me much to identify it. This book only mentioned about five species of water skink. They are Tropidophorus beccarii (Smooth-scales Water Skink), Tropidophorus brookei (Bornean Water Skink), Tropidophorus micropus, Tropidophorus mocquardii (High-elevation Water Skink) and Tropidophorus perplexus. All these five species are endemic to Borneo. Sounds really interesting isn’t it? This one, the one that I found maybe something new or maybe one of these five. I have no idea.

I saw it stand still on the dead log inside the small stream. Actually I tried to get closer and get the close-up photo but it was inside the stream and the water limits my movement. So, this is the only best shot that I have.

Anyone dare to help me identifying this water skink? Do leave me comments. Thanks guys.

Animal Droppings/Dung

I am not sure if I need to share a story about this photos that I have. But, I think it is worth to be shared. As we walk in the forest we will always found something interesting and this dropping draw my attention. It looks like quite new and I can say the animal doing its business during the night. Must be this animal is a nocturnal species which only going out during the night.

There are two possibilities. It might be owned by civets or wild cats. I ask my field guide @ my assistant for my hiking. He told me it looks like civet droppings. I have no idea about it but maybe he is right or he maybe wrong. I was lucky because at the same time I got the chance to take a nice shot of this butterfly which lingering on this dropping.

Alright, I think it is enough about this animal dropping. Will talk about something alive again tomorrow. Just stay with me and my discoveries.

Wild Gingers

Wild ginger is one of my favorite plants. I like to eat some of the consumable such as Etlingera coccinea or in local names they are famous with names such as tuhau (Kadazan-Dusun), tepus (Iban), tipu (Bidayuh), tubu buen or tubu nanung (Kelabit).

The ginger family (Zingiberaceae) consists of more than 1200 species mostly growing in tropical forests. Southeast Asia especially rich, and Borneo alone harbours more than 200 species; the exact number has still not been established and more work is needed even at the generic level.

Gingers are herbaceous plants but some species can reach a height of 8 m. The flowers, which are often short-lived, superficially resemble orchids. They are highly specialized and usually bisexual. Because of their brilliantly coloured flowers, many gingers are commonly grown as ornamental plants. In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in cultivating gingers for landscaping in tropical gardens and glasshouses or for the cut flower industry. Sevaral species provide a source of food, condiment, spice or medicine. At the same time, knowledge of their basic taxonomy and their distribution and conservation status is incomplete. Several ginger species play an ecologically important role in the forest understorey, particularly after moderate logging, landslides or forest fires.

I have two photos of ginger flowers and I only can identify one to the genus level but I am not confident I get it right and the other one I don’t know what it is. Both are very pretty flowers.

This is under genus Globba. The name of the genus is based on an Indonesian plant name galoba – a spice from Ambon. However, if anyone knows about this species I hope please corrects me if I am wrong. I don’t want to give the wrong information.

For this one, I really don’t have any idea of what species is this. But what I can say is, this is the first time I saw it and this flower is really pretty with lots of flies and ants on it. What are these insects doing there, I don’t know either.

Reference: Poulsen A. D. 2006. A Pocket Guide: Gingers of Sarawak. Natural History Publications (Borneo), Kota Kinabalu.