Rare wildlife caught on camera in Borneo wildlife corridor

Camera trap proves how vital Borneo wildlife corridor is for large species

September 2012. Researchers from the School of Biosciences at the Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC) in Sabah, Malaysia have completed 18 months of a camera trapping project in the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary.

"This long-term programme initiated by the Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) aims to provide information on presence/absence of wildlife in the corridor and document its use by different species," said Dr Laurentius Ambu, Director of the SWD.

A corridor of forest between two fragments of the Sanctuary has been monitored for more than 18 months using camera traps. The results have captured a rich biodiversity that exists within this segment of forest.

27 mammal species including very rare otter civet
"After 18 months of intensive camera trapping, we have identified 27 species of mammals including the extremely rare otter civet and the charismatic Sunda clouded leopard and Malayan sun bear; and six species of birds including the endangered storm stork," summarised Dr Ambu.

Primates on the ground may indicate lack of trees
These images support their preliminary findings that these animals rely on forest corridors for moving between forest patches. "Interestingly, we captured a lot of pictures of arboreal primates such as orangutans, proboscis monkeys and langurs (including the very rare Hose's langur) on the ground. It probably demonstrates that there is a lack of tree connection," explained Dr Benoit Goossens, Director of DGFC.

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