Birdwatching in Brunei, Borneo

This video says about itself:

April 29, 2013

The Sandakan Borneo Bird Club is proud to announce the 1st Borneo Bird Race to be held on 31st May to 9th June 2013 in collaboration with Brunei Tourism and Sabah Tourism Board. This event is specially organized for Birders and Photographers primarily, with an offshoot of promoting Borneo Island as one of the premier nature tourism destination in Asia. This inaugural race will expand over the years including Sarawak and Kalimantan of Indonesia.

The Race — an overview

For the first time, we launch the first international Borneo Bird Race 2013, where 10 countries travel more than 1000 kilometres in search of more than 400 species of birds in a wide range of habitats from the coastal regions, freshwater swamps, lowland forests, to the hills and mountain ranges of Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei. At the end of the day, each team will enjoy the beauty of this land as they count the numbers of recorded species, and the longest list shall earn the prestigious “Bornean Bristlehead Cup”.

Race starts from Ulu Temburong National Park, Brunei then continues to Kinabalu Park and concludes at Rainforest Discovery Centre, Sepilok, Sabah where the 5th Borneo Bird Festival is simultaneously held.

The key objectives of the race are:
1. To promote Borneo as one of the premier bird watching destination in the world;
2. To network with birdwatching fraternities around Asian region and the world;
3. To increase arrival of eco-tourists and birdwatchers to Borneo;
4. Create awareness and conservation of the bird species unique to Borneo to the local Community and to the global birding fraternities;
5. Foster closer integration and harmony through nature festival of the neighboring States of Borneo, Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei and Kalimantan, Indonesia;
6. To enhance and complement the “Heart of Borneo” initiative – Tourism Program;
7. Further development of naturalist guide and birdwatching guide.
8. To create and further improve nature tourism facilities and infrastructure.

From BruDirect.com:

Borneo Bird Race To Rope In Nature Enthusiasts From Around Region

Tuesday, 14 May 2013 07:19

Siti Hajar

Bandar Seri Begawan – Brunei Darussalam’s tourism plan will soon gain better momentum following the country’s wise investment that will see the pooling of efforts between two nations that aim to bring in nature enthusiasts from around the region.

Within the next few weeks starting May 31 until June 9, Brunei Tourism with co-hosts Sabah Tourism Board and Sandakan Borneo Bird Club has arranged to bring-in two dozen registered bird watchers from across seven Asian countries who will take part in the inaugural Borneo Bird Race 2013 that spans across the Abode of Peace and neighbouring Sabah.

A press conference chaired by Brunei Tourism Acting Director Mariani Haji Sabtu; Sabah Tourism Board Chairman Dato Seri Tengku Zainal Adlin; Cede Prudente, Chairperson of the Borneo Bird Festival and Race; Mohd Vol for the country’s Nature Festival; and Roger Rajah, Executive Board for the World Federation of Tourist Guide Association; explained that the event has been pegged to become a source for further economic diversification through eco-tourism. …

In total, the whole of Borneo spans an area of 743,330 square kilometres and is home to one of the oldest rainforests in the world at 130 million years old, and shelters 13 primate species, 15,000 species of flowering plants with 3,000 species of trees, 221 species of terrestrial mammals and more than 680 species of resident and migratory birds.

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Orangutan corporate destruction victims rescued

This video says about itself:

April 5, 2013

The International Animal Rescue team have rescued several female orangutans from the ravaged forests of Indonesian Borneo. One female was half starved, her frightened baby clinging to her back, while another was lactating, but her baby was missing, presumed dead or stolen after a desperate search.

The footage shows the IAR team and members of the local forestry department (BKSDA) capturing the starving orangutans and translocating them to areas where there is sufficient food for their survival.

Wildlife Extra writes about this:

4 starving orangutans rescued after their forest was bulldozed

International Animal Rescue (IAR) releases dramatic footage showing rescue of starving orangutans

April 2013. International Animal Rescue‘s team in Indonesia has released dramatic footage showing how they rescued four starving orangutans from an oil palm concession in Borneo after their forest homes were bulldozed by a company belonging to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

IAR is now urging the company, Bumitama Gunajaya Agro (BGA) to halt any further land clearing because it is believed that there are other orangutans trapped inside the concession that will die if they are not relocated.

Adi Irawan, Programme Director of IAR Indonesia, said: “We know there are more orangutans isolated in small patches of forest within this plantation along with other species of protected wildlife such as proboscis monkeys. All the animals in this plantation are under threat and therefore this company should stop all land clearing immediately, carry out habitat assessments and develop strategies to protect all the endangered wildlife in their estate.”

Large orangutan population

The concession is operated by BGA subsidiary PT Ladang Sawit Mas (LSM) in a forest buffer next to Gunung Palung National Park, an area that hosts one of the largest populations of Central Bornean Orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii) in West Kalimantan.

The footage shows the IAR team and members of the local forestry department (BKSDA) capturing the starving orangutans and translocating them to areas where there is sufficient food for their survival.

Karmele Llano Sanchez, Executive Director of IAR Indonesia, said: “We were appalled at the condition of these orangutans. All of them had gone through long periods of starvation before we rescued them, as the area where they were found, since the company had cleared most of the forest, was too small to provide them with sufficient food.

Baby disappeared

“One of the orangutans had lost her baby, probably killed before the rescue team arrived. More orangutans could die if this company does not take immediate action.”

The rescuers found evidence that the orangutans had been reduced to eating bark and stems because there was little fruit and few leaves available. As well as the lactating female whose baby could not be found, a pregnant female and a mother and baby were successfully translocated.

Alan Knight OBE, IAR Chief Executive said: “It is heartbreaking to see the state of these animals: they are weak from hunger and an increasingly desperate search for food. The only positive note is that, on this occasion, rather than chasing them away or killing them, the palm oil company did the right thing in contacting us so that we could move them to a place of safety.”

International Animal Rescue’s team in Indonesia has saved the lives of more than 60 orangutans. The majority are currently undergoing rehabilitation in IAR’s new centre in Sungai Awan, Ketapang, with a view to eventually being returned to protected areas of forest.

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• Secret population of orangutans discovered in Borneo (thehindu.com)
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• The Last Stand of the Sumatran Orangutan (understory.ran.org)
• Adventures in Sabah Borneo Malaysia – Part 2 – Monkey Business (discovertheorient.wordpress.com)

Borneo orangutan discovery

This video says about itself:

Hercules the Orangutan – Orangutan Diary – BBC

Sep 20, 2012

Wildlife conservationist Lone Drøscher Nielsen interacts with Hercules, a rescued Orangutan who has been allowed to roam one of the river islands near Lone’s Orangutan sanctuary in Borneo.

From Wildlife Extra:

New population of 200 of world’s rarest orangutans discovered on Sarawak

Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) congratulates Government of Sarawak for protecting globally significant orangutan population

April 2013. A new population of rare orangutans has been found in an area of about 14,000 hectares (140 sq km) in Ulu Sungai Menyang, close to Batang Ai National Park in Sarawak. Local Iban communities had been aware of the existence of orangutans in this area, but until recently no major research had been conducted in Ulu Sungai Menyang.

Just 3 – 4,500 known to exist

The sub-species of orangutan, Pongo pygmaeus pygmaeus, is listed as the most severely threatened orangutan worldwide with a total of between 3,000-4,500 animals, of which 2,000 live in Sarawak in Batang Ai National Park and Lanjak-Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary.

The Wildlife Conservation Society congratulates the Government of Sarawak for protecting a globally significant population of up to 200 of the world’s rarest Bornean orangutans recently found by a team of conservationists in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo.

Melvin Gumal, Director of Wildlife Conservation Society, Malaysia Program, said: “It is indeed wonderful to hear the Government’s initiative towards protecting these orangutan and their habitat especially when preliminary scientific data indicates the existence of a globally significant population.”

Central Borneo

Field surveys were conducted in February by staff from the Sarawak Forest Department, assisted by Sarawak Forestry Corporation, Wildlife Conservation Society and Borneo Adventure. The surveys covered 248 kilometres (154 miles) of transects in the hilly, undulating terrain in central Borneo. Ground surveys were supplemented by data from aerial surveys so that 80 percent of the study area was covered.

995 nests found

A total of 995 nests were found in the area. Fresh nests were found in all transects as well as in the remote areas covered by the aerial surveys indicating recent use of the area by these rare orangutans.

Highest level of protection

Upon confirmation that the area had a globally significant population of the rare sub-species, the Government of Sarawak officially indicated the need to protect this area in perpetuity. It is already a High Conservation Value Forest, considered to have an area of high biological, cultural, economic and livelihood significance.

The Sarawak Government intends to hold a dialogue with local communities and the other key stakeholders to discuss options and to involve them in any conservation effort in the area. The four organizations involved in the survey will conduct a follow-up study in the area to formulate strategic actions involving all stakeholders including the local communities.

WCS orangutan conservation work in the Batang Ai – Lanjak Entimau landscape is supported by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Great Apes Conservation Fund.

The population of the rarest sub-species of orangutans was found by a research team from Sarawak Forest Department, assisted by Sarawak Forestry Corporation, Wildlife Conservation Society, and Borneo Adventure.

Related articles

• Secret population of orangutans discovered in Borneo (thehindu.com)
• Secret Population of Rare Orangutan Discovered in Borneo: New Protection for Primates (scienceworldreport.com)
• Rare Orangutan Sub-Species Found in Borneo (natureworldnews.com)
• Secret Population of Orangutans Found (livescience.com)
• Rare Bornean Orangutan Population Discovered In Malaysia, Government of Sarawak To Provide Protection (latinospost.com)
• Starving Orangutans, Dead Bats and Other Links from the Brink (April 13, 2013) (blogs.scientificamerican.com)

Over-hunting endangers rainforest trees

This video is called Tree and plant life in the jungle – David Attenborough – BBC wildlife.

From mongabay.com:

An insidious threat to tropical forests: over-hunting endangers tree species in Asia and Africa

Jeremy Hance

April 04, 2013

A fruit falls to the floor in a rainforest. It waits. And waits. Inside the fruit is a seed, and like most seeds in tropical forests, this one needs an animal—a good-sized animal—to move it to a new place where it can germinate and grow. But it may be waiting in vain. Hunting and poaching has decimated many mammal and bird populations across the tropics, and according to two new studies the loss of these important seed-dispersers are imperiling the very nature of rainforests.

“Animals that eat fruit and disperse seeds are particularly sensitive to hunting. So in hunted forests often you find that there are few animals that can disperse seeds, particularly the largest seeds,” Rhett Harrison with the Chinese Academy of Sciences told mongabay.com. Monitoring a protected forest in Borneo for over 15 years, Harrison and his team have found that over-hunting has led to “pervasive changes” in tree populations “leading to a consistent decline in local tree diversity over time,” according to their study published in Ecology Letters.

Ola Olsson with Lund University found a very similar situation thousands of miles away in Nigeria. Comparing non-hunted sites with hunted sites (where most primates including gorillas had vanished), Olsson and other researchers found that seedling populations—i.e. future trees—were vastly different in a new paper in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

“The changed composition among seedlings that we see now will lead to a future tree composition which is different from the present, with fewer large-seeded fruiting trees and more wind dispersed species,” Olsson says.

Although conservationists have long warned about the impacts of deforestation and climate change in the tropics, over-hunting also poses another still largely hidden problem. Scientists are still trying to work out the overall ramifications, but ultimately this “empty forest” trend will lead to less biodiversity and drastically different rainforests even in so-called protected areas.

The long article, with many photos, continues here.

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• Functional redundancy and complementarities of seed dispersal by the last neotropical megafrugivores (scicombinator.com)
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Endangered Sumatran rhino rediscovery in Indonesian Borneo

This video says about itself:

A rhino love story by David Attenborough

Jan 31, 2013

This piece is from the Natural World Special film: Attenborough’s Ark, where David Attenborough considers 10 unusual species he would like to save from extinction.

Number two on the list is the smallest of the rhino family, the Sumatran Rhino – critically endangered with numbers in the wild estimated around 200. We filmed the efforts of a Sumatran conservation rebreeding programme, who in June 2012 successfully bred the first ever captive born Sumatran Rhino in Sumatra. This is their story.

From Wildlife Extra:

Critically Endangered Sumatran Rhino rediscovered in Indonesian Borneo

WWF team find footprints of rhinos on Borneo

March 2013. A WWF team on the island of Borneo to monitor [the] Orang-utan population have discovered what they believe to be the footprints of a critically endangered Sumatran rhinoceros, where it was believed that the rhino had been extinct for some time.

The WWF staff were monitoring a population of orang-utans in West Kutai district of East Kalimantan. Having discovered the footprints, they conducted a further survey of the area along with government forestry officials and scientists from a local university. The survey discovered further footprints, and some horn scratches at mud holes, as well as trees used as rubbing posts and bite marks on plants, raising the possibility that there may be more than one lone animal, though numbers remain unclear.

The Sumatran rhino was believed to have been extinct in Indonesian Borneo since the 1990s; and fewer than 200 animals exist anywhere in the world in the wild, still living in the wild in Indonesia and Malaysia.

According to the WWF: Current population & distribution

The Borneo Sumatran rhino is now possibly extinct in Sarawak (Malaysia) and Kalimantan (Indonesia), with perhaps fewer than 25 surviving in Sabah (Malaysia). A 2005 survey in the interior of Sabah found evidence of at least 13 rhinos, and scattered individuals are found in other parts of the state.

Read more about the Sumatran rhino on the WWF website.

Indonesian and Malaysian governments agree to work together to save Sumatran rhino: here.

Talking about Indonesian Borneo: March 2013. Pulp timber suppliers to controversial paper giant Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) are continuing to log tropical forest and dig drainage canals through peat soils in Kalimantan, regardless of the new Forest Conservation Policy (FCP) launched with much fanfare by APP and parent group Sinar Mas last month: here.

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One-armed orangutan back in Indonesian forest

This video from Indonesia is called IAR staff change orangutan Pelangsi’s dressing after part of his arm was amputated.

In some sources, the spelling is Pelangsi; in others, Pelansi.

From Wildlife Extra:

One armed orangutan released back into forest after rehabilitation

Pelansi, the Bornean orangutan who lost his hand after being caught in a snare, is given the gift of freedom for Christmas.

December 2012. A young male orangutan that spent several days trapped in a snare resulting in the amputation of his right hand and half his arm, has been released back into the forests of West Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo after months of treatment and rehabilitation.

Original forest now a palm oil plantation

A team from International Animal Rescue Indonesia (Yayasan IAR Indonesia) and the Agency for Natural Resources Conservation (BKSDA) Ketapang have released Pelansi in Pematang Gadung forest. As his original home in the forest has been completely destroyed and converted into palm plantations, Pelansi has had to be reintroduced into a different area. After the release, a team of experts will follow and monitor Pelansi closely to see how he is coping with his disability.

Pematang Gadung is one of the forests in Ketapang Regency with the richest biodiversity. Many endangered species can be found in the forest which is patrolled and monitored by a volunteer group of local villagers from the community of Pematang Gadung. Yet this area is not currently officially protected. “With the release of this orangutan and by raising awareness of the condition of orangutans and their habitat in Ketapang, we also hope that Pematang Gadung will be given the protected status that it deserves” states Adi Irawan, Manager of the International Animal Rescue programme in Ketapang.

Arm amputated

In April 2012, Yayasan IAR Indonesia and the BKSDA in Ketapang mounted a rescue operation to free Pelansi after he had been caught in a snare near a palm plantation. He had been trapped for days without food or water. The tissue on his hand had become necrotic as a result of the snare around his wrist and he had injured his elbow in his desperate attempts to get free. His condition was extremely serious and for the first few days the medical team feared for his life.

Luckily the rescue team reached Pelansi (named after the place where he was found) in the nick of time. He was rushed to IAR’s Orangutan Rehabilitation and Conservation Centre in Ketapang where he gradually recovered from his injuries and his life-threatening condition. In May 2012 the IAR medical team, led by wildlife specialist vet Dr Paolo Martelli (Chief Veterinarian of Ocean Park in Hong Kong), carried out a complex and lengthy surgical procedure to amputate Pelansi’s hand which had suffered extensive damage and could not be saved.

For weeks after the rescue, International Animal Rescue’s medical team in Indonesia continued Pelansi’s intensive care until he was clearly on the road to recovery. However it wasn’t until six months post-operation that he was considered to be healthy and strong enough to be released.

Common story – With a happier ending

“Pelansi’s fate is no different to that of many other orangutans: their populations are rapidly being decimated in the wild, leading to serious concerns about their future survival,” says Karmele Llano Sanchez, a veterinarian and Executive Director of IAR Indonesia.

Orangutans are being pushed to the brink of extinction. This great ape that once inhabited a large area within South East Asia, is now confined to a small part of the islands of Sumatra and Borneo. Yet the survival of the species is threatened even on these two remaining islands by hunting, habitat destruction, human-orangutan conflict and the wildlife pet trade.

“Human-orangutan conflict is tragically inevitable when the expansion of monocultures like oil palm and the conversion of forest into agricultural land are escalating,” adds Karmele Llano.

Says Alan Knight, Chief Executive of International Animal Rescue: “We have all been eagerly awaiting the day of Pelansi’s release. When endangered species like the orangutan are in crisis, every single individual counts. Pelansi’s story is cause for celebration, not only because his life has been saved, but also because his reintroduction into the wild is a small but symbolic step in support of orangutan conservation.”

April 2013. A young orangutan that was being kept in a sack has been rescued by the Orangutan Information Centre (OIC), a conservation group working in Sumatra. The orangutan, a male thought to be around two years old, was being kept illegally by an oil palm plantation worker: here.

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• Pictured: Pregnant orangutan clinging to the last remaining forest tree after bulldozers clear jungle to make way for oil plantation (thisismoney.co.uk)
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• Conservationists urge RSPO member to cease rainforest destruction after starving orangutans rescued from concession (thenewstribe.com)

New slow loris discovery in Borneo

From the BBC:

13 December 2012 Last updated at 17:49

Primate species: new slow loris found in Borneo

By Matt Walker Editor, BBC Nature

A new species of small nocturnal primate has been discovered by scientists in Borneo.

The primate is a type of slow loris, a small cute-looking animal that is more closely related to bushbabies and lemurs than to monkeys or apes.

Uniquely among primates, they have a toxic bite, belying their appearance.

Two previously known subspecies of slow loris have also been accorded full species status.

Details of the discoveries are published in the American Journal of Primatology.

The new species of slow loris, named Nycticebus kayan, has gone unrecognised until now, in part due to its nocturnal lifestyle.

Animals that are active by night often rely less on visual clues, and can therefore appear more similar to one another.

So the scientists had to look hard to discover the differences between the new species.

An international team of researchers, led by Professor Anna Nekaris of Oxford Brookes University in the UK, and Rachel Munds from the University of Missouri in Columbia, US, surveyed slow lorises living in the forests of Borneo and the Philippines.

They focused on studying the primates’ facial markings, which take the appearance of a mask, with the eyes being covered by distinct dark patches and the heads by varying patterns.

Part of Prof Nekaris’s research was filmed by the BBC programme Natural World, which followed members of the team as they conducted surveys.

This research has revealed there are actually four species of slow loris in the Philippines and Borneo, each with their own, subtly different but distinct head markings.

Originally there was thought to be just a single species, called N. menagensis.

Two of these new species, N. bancanus and N. borneanus, were previously considered subspecies of N. menagensis.

While N. kayan is new to science.

“In Borneo in particular, from where three of the new species hail, this will mean that three new lorises will be added as threatened to some degree on the IUCN Red List of threatened species,” says Prof Nekaris.

“With more than 40% of the world’s primates already threatened with extinction, this brings the toll even higher.”

Outside of Borneo and the Philippines, four other slow loris species are known, living across south and southeast Asia.

All have a difficult relationship with humans.

They are the only primates with a toxic bite, secreting the toxin from glands in their elbows.

Slow lorises lick this toxin, and mix it with their saliva. They then use it when they bite, or to coat the fur of their offspring, possibly as a way to deter predators from attacking their young.

The toxin is powerful enough to potentially cause fatal anaphylactic shock in people.

But the slow lorises’ cute appearance also makes them a favoured target of the pet trade.

Captured animals often have their canine and incisor teeth pulled out before being sold on as pets, in a bid to protect their potential owner.

Harming the animals this way, though, can quickly lead to their death, as the toothless primates are unable to feed properly.

The discovery that more slow loris species exist also has implications for their survival.

“Well-meaning groups rescue lorises and rarely follow proper guidelines when releasing them back to the wild,” says Prof Nekaris.

“That means that the wrong species of loris has found itself in many a new place throughout Asia, if they have survived the traumatising practice of hard release to the wild in the first place.”

See also here.

Related articles

• Kayan Loris, New Species of Primate with Toxic Bite (sci-news.com)
• Discovered! The new species of Borneo’s enigmatic primate with a toxic bite (eurekalert.org)
• New species of slow loris found in jungles of Borneo (dailymail.co.uk)
• Amazingly cute new primate species in Borneo [Greg Laden's Blog] (scienceblogs.com)
• New Primate with Face Mask & Toxic Bite Discovered (livescience.com)
• New Slow Loris Discovered in Borneo (news.discovery.com)
• PHOTO: The Newly Discovered Primate With A Face Mask And Toxic Bite (huffingtonpost.com)
• Venomous Primates, Three New Species Of Loris Discovered (planetsave.com)

Borneo’s orang-utans in danger

This video is called Orangutans and palm oil.

From Wildlife Extra:

Borneo will probably lose 50% of its orang-utans

According to new research led by a Liverpool John Moores University conservation scientist, one of our closest cousins, the Bornean orang-utan, is facing extinction.

November 2012. Sharing 97% of human DNA, orang-utans are close to humans in evolutionary terms but scientist Professor Serge Wich and others have found that only 22% of the already endangered species are actually living in protected areas.

Logging, oil palm plantation and tree plantation land

The research also shows that the rest of the orang-utans are inhabiting areas used for logging (29%), oil palm plantations (19%), industrial tree plantations (6%) or are in land that is not allocated for any specific use (24%).

Recent studies show that orang-utans could possibly survive in well-managed logging areas so a very optimistic outcome would be that half of the current population could continue to exist.

Unfortunately, it is more likely that far less than half of the population will survive as not all protected areas and logging areas will continue to be well-managed. Improving such management is therefore a high priority.

Commenting about the research, Professor Wich said: “This research paints a bleak future for the Bornean orang-utan. To avoid this potential decline, plantation development in orang-utan habitats must be halted because it infringes national laws on orang-utan protection.

Further growth of the oil palm plantation sector should be achieved through increasing the productivity of trees in existing plantations and expansion of new plantations into areas that have already been deforested.

Island-wide land-use masterplan

“To reach this goal a large scale, island-wide land-use masterplan is needed that clarifies which possible land uses and management systems are compatible with orang-utan conservation. Such a plan should make much better use of values of ecosystem services of forests such as water provision, flood control, carbon sequestration, and sources of livelihood for rural communities.

“Presently land use planning is more driven by vested interests and direct and immediate economic gains, rather than by approaches that take into consideration social equity and environmental sustainability.”

The research appears in the scientific journal ‘PLOS ONE’.

Related articles

• Logging concessions offer sanctuary for orangutans (wildlifenews.co.uk)
• Borneo will likely lose half of its orangutans if current deforestation and forest conversion trends continue, warns a comprehensive new assessment by an international team of researchers. (familysurvivalprotocol.com)
• Of Orang Utans, Proboscis monkeys & other wildlife – Sepilok, Malaysia (travelpod.com)
• Cheeky Chimps Not So Chirpy In Middle Age (news.sky.com)
• Orang-utans infected by mystery Ebola-like virus (newscientist.com)

New insect species discovered in Borneo

This video is called Crazy Looking Creatures – Expedition Borneo – BBC wildlife.

Translated from Dutch Vroege Vogels radio:

New species in Borneo

Sunday, September 23, 2012 9.9

A team of international scientists has discovered on the Southeast Asian island of Borneo at least three species which are new to science. The Dutch expedition leader Menno Schilthuizen of Naturalis Biodiversity Center announced that this Sunday on Vroege Vogels radio. They are two carrion beetle species and a new damselfly. Because they have just been discovered they have not yet been named.

The scientists have already been in Borneo for weeks to investigate the thousands of endemic plants and animals which are found there. The heart of the expedition is the famous Mount Kinabalu, with its 4095 meters one of the highest peaks in Southeast Asia. Central question is how all these unique species have evolved here. Among the 40 scientists from Naturalis and the Malaysian Sabah Parks conservation organization, there are insect experts, bird watchers, botanists, amphibian specialists and snails researchers.

Besides the carrion beetles and dragonfly, also a new site was discovered where the rare pitcher plant (Nepenthes edwardsiana) grows. This carnivorous plant is only found on Mount Kinabalu. According to Schilthuizen this is a unique and important find.

The English language blog of the expedition is here.

October 2012. At the conclusion of a large scale expedition on the island of Borneo, researchers of the Malaysian nature conservation organization Sabah Parks and Naturalis Biodiversity Center in The Netherlands collected some 3500 DNA samples of more than 1400 species. Among these are approximately 160 species new to science: here.

Heart of Borneo expedition

The Mount Kinabalu friendly warbler is also known as the friendly bush warbler (Bradypterus accentor).

This bird species occurs only in Malaysia, in the surroundings of Mount Kinabalu of Borneo island.

This is one of the animals, plants, and fungi which the Heart of Borneo expedition will probably see this September. But maybe they will discover species, new to science. And they may find out how the unique species of Mount Kinabalu and the mountains around it evolved.

What are people packing for that expedition? See here.

Rare wildlife caught on camera in Borneo wildlife corridor: here.