A new study argues for treating endangered Sumatran populations in Borneo and Sumatra as “a single conservation unit”, lending academic support to a controversial proposal to move wild rhinos from Malaysia to Indonesia. The paper, authored by an international team of rhino experts and published in the journal Oryx, says that genetic differences between the […]
Tag: Indonesia
Endangered primates and cats may be hiding out in swamps and mangrove forests
What happens to animals when their forest is cut down? If they can, they migrate to different forests. But in an age when forests are falling far and fast, many species may have to shift to entirely different environments. A new paper in Folia Primatologica theorizes that some 60 primate species and 20 wild cat […]
Bizarre, little-known carnivore sold as illegal pet in Indonesian markets (photo)
Few people have ever heard of the Javan ferret-badger, but that hasn’t stopped this animal – little-known even to scientists – from being sold in open markets in Jakarta according to a new paper in Small Carnivore Conservation. The Javan ferret-badger (Melogale orientalis) is one of five species in the ferret-badger family, which are smaller […]
Civet poop coffee may be threatening wild species
Popularization of the world’s strangest coffee may be imperiling a a suite of small mammals in Indonesia, according to a new study in Small Carnivore Conservation. The coffee, known as kopi luwak (kopi for coffee and luwak for the civet), is made from whole coffee beans that have passed through the guts of the animal […]
Sumatran rhino population plunges, down to 100 animals
Less than 100 Sumatran rhinos survive in the world today, according to a bleak new population estimate by experts. The last survey in 2008 estimated that around 250 Sumatran rhinos survived, but that estimate now appears optimistic and has been slashed by 60 percent. However conservationists are responding with a major new agreement between the […]
Market figures out that geckos don’t cure AIDS, but killing continues
Millions of tokay geckos continue to be traded for traditional medicine, despite waning belief that the colorful lizards are a cure for AIDS, reports a new study from TRAFFIC. The study found that a spike in tokay gecko demand due to rumors that it could cure HIV/AIDS was relatively short-lived, lasting from 2009 and early […]
Has WWF just condemned the last rhino in Kalimantan?
WWF-Indonesia recently caught the attention of the global media with their announcement that the Sumatran rhinoceros still exists in Indonesian Borneo, some 40 years after being declared extinct there. This sounds like great news for biodiversity conservation. But is it really? Sumatran rhinos were once wide-spread in South-East Asia, but poaching for their horn decimated […]
Sumatran rhino found in Kalimantan after unseen in region for 20 years
Conservationists working to save the Sumatran rhino—one of the world’s most imperiled mammals—heard good news this week as WWF-Indonesia has found evidence of at least one Sumatran rhino persisting in the Indonesian state of Kalimantan, located on the island of Borneo. Small populations of Sumatran rhinos (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) survive on Sumatra and on Borneo (in […]