A starving, heavily pregnant orang-utan clings to a solitary tree high above what had been pristine rainforest for millennia – till giant bulldozers moved in and flattened it in days. Boon-Mee was too weak and frightened to leave the trunk where she had sought sanctuary as the machines tore down her jungle home in Borneo, […]
Tag: borneo
Ground-feeding birds in Southeast Asia may be going extinct outside protected areas
Nature reserves in large parts of Southeast Asia may be the last strongholds for charismatic ground-feeding birds such as quails, partridges and pheasants, together called galliforms, according to a recent study in Conservation Letters. Researchers estimate that five species of galliforms no longer survive outside protected areas in Sundaland, a region comprising the Malay Peninsula […]
Video: A Rare Look at the Secret Life of Orangutans
In the vanishing lowland rainforests of Borneo, new research is underway to uncover and understand the unique cultural behaviors in wild orangutans. Photographer Tim Laman, researcher Cheryll Knott, and National Geographic Young Explorer Robert Suro have documented rarely-seen unique orangutan behaviors such as making pillows, fashioning umbrellas, and displaying regional greetings. With orangutan habitats disappearing […]
Facebook video shows orangutan defending forest against bulldozer
Dramatic footage released last week by an animal welfare group shows a wild orangutan trying in vain to fight off destruction of its rainforest habitat in Borneo. The video, filmed in 2013 but posted on Facebook on June 5th for World Environment Day by International Animal Rescue (IAR), was shot in Sungai Putri, a tract […]
War dancing Pygmy elephants of Borneo’s Deramakot Forest Reserve
While looking for the Clouded leopard in Borneo, we came across the herd of Borneo Pygmy elephants in Deramakot Forest Reserve a few days in a row. Unlike most pygmy elephants that would retreat at the first sight of a vehicle, this herd was very relaxed. They were happy to stay on the road and […]
Borneo Lost Half of its Orangutans in Just 16 Years
Conservationists have worked to secure the survival of critically endangered Bornean orangutans, but researchers have found they’re still declining at an alarming rate and have lost about half their population in less than two decades. According to a study published in the journal “Cell Biology“, which drew on field survey data collected from 38 research […]
New Species of Orangutan Is Rarest Great Ape on Earth
On November 20, 2013, the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme got a call about an injured orangutan found in the mountainous region of Tapanuli. “He had cuts on his face, on his head, back, hands, and legs,” recalls researcher Matt Nowak. “They even found some air rifle pellets inside his body”—indicating torment and harassment by people. […]
Scientists Discover Rare and Endangered Cat in Borneo
Researchers working in Borneo have captured footage of one of the most elusive and least studied wild cats on earth. Bay cats, or Bornean cats, are about the size of a large house cat and can only be found on the island of Borneo. Very little is known about them, and they’ve continued to elude […]
