Planned roads would be 'dagger in the heart' for Borneo's forests and wildlife

Date:  September 18, 2019

Source:  James Cook University

Malaysia's plans to create a Pan-Borneo Highway will severely degrade one of the world's most environmentally imperilled regions, says a research team from Australia and Malaysia.

"This network of highways will cut through some of the last expanses of intact forest in Borneo, greatly increasing pressures from loggers, poachers, farmers and oil-palm plantations," said Professor Bill Laurance, project leader from James Cook University in Australia.

"This would be a nightmare for endangered species such as the Bornean orangutan, clouded leopard and dwarf elephant," said Professor Laurance.

The study focused on new planned highways in the Malaysian state of Sabah, in the north of Borneo, the world's third-largest island.

"Some of the planned highways are relatively benign, but several are flat-out dangerous," said Dr Sean Sloan, lead author of the study and also from James Cook University. "The worst roads, in southern Sabah, would chop up and isolate Sabah's forests from the rest of those in Borneo."

"Slicing up the forests is toxic for large animals, such as elephants, bearded pigs and sloth bears, that must migrate seasonally to find enough food or otherwise face starvation," said Professor Laurance.

The new roads would also bisect protected areas in northern Borneo, making them vulnerable to illegal poachers and encroachers, say the researchers.

Read on

Two-headed turtle born in Malaysia

JULY 18, 2019

A baby turtle with two heads born in Malaysia

A two-headed baby turtle has been born in Malaysia, captivating conversationists, but it only survived a few days after being discovered.

It was found Monday on Mabul island, off the Malaysian part of Borneo, in a nest alongside more than 90 other recently hatched green turtles.

David McCann, marine biologist and conservation manager for group SJ SEAS—which oversees the nesting site—said the creature was "utterly fascinating."

"The right head seems to control the front right flipper, and the left head the front left flipper. Yet they are capable of coordinating their movements in order to walk and swim," he said in a statement.

SJ SEAS chairman Mohamad Khairuddin Riman added: "We have released around 13,000 hatchlings from the hatchery and have never seen anything like this before."

But the turtle died late Wednesday, Sen Nathan, a vet from Sabah Wildlife Department, told AFP.

He said the cause of death was not yet known but added the turtle would have had little chance of surviving long in the wild.

"It would have been poached by an eagle because it could not swim well," he said.

While rare, it was not the first time a two-headed baby turtle has been found.

Read on

Three elephants found poisoned in Malaysia

JUNE 7, 2019

Three elephants were poisoned to death near a palm oil plantation in Malaysia, officials said Friday, in the latest case of the endangered creatures being killed near human settlements.

Local police in southern Johor state found the animal carcasses and alerted wildlife officers on Tuesday, Wildlife and National Parks Department director-general Abdul Kadir Abu Hashim told AFP.

The dead animals are believed to be part of a herd of 30 elephants from the nearby forest reserve.

"We conducted a post-mortem on the three female elephants aged between 18 and 22, and it revealed they were poisoned," Abdul Kadir said.

"I am shocked and saddened by this incident. If this trend continues, all our wild elephants will be wiped out."

Electric fences used to keep elephants away from village crops were not functioning and allowed the creatures to trespass on plantations, Abdul Kadir said.

Read more

Inside the ocean cave that became a chilling ‘turtle graveyard’ – via Herp Digest

By Mark Hodge, The Sun, 4/2/19

Go to https://nyp.st/2I6ORLD for video

Photographer Josh Vergara, 34, from the Philippines, discovered the tomb of dead reptiles on Sipadan Island in Malaysia, while on holiday on March 26.

He said the shelled mammals die after becoming lost and trapped in the cave, meaning they never return to the surface to breathe.

Vergara’s disturbing images show numerous turtle skeletons lying on the floor of the Indian Ocean.

He said: “Turtle Tomb in Sipadan is the only known turtle graveyard in the world.

“The cave system is often visited by turtles as they need to breathe but after getting lost in the cave, they finally find a spot to lay and rest for eternity. It was quite scary as we headed dark caverns and as we got in deeper into the caves, we found more and more turtle remains.”

The chilling graveyard was first spotted by legendary ocean explorer Captain Jacques Yves Cousteau in the 1980s.

He believed that the turtles in the cave had gone there to die peacefully.

However, according to locals in Sipadan Island, the reptiles became disorientated and died of asphyxia.

A skeleton of a dolphin, which is also believed to have suffered the same fate as the turtles, also lies in the cave which reaches up to 600 meters (about 656 yards) in depth.

China's appetite for 'stinky' durian fruit threatening endangered tigers

Forests in the region of Raub in Malaysia are being burned and cleared to make way for durian plantations

The habitat of one of the world’s most endangered tigers is under threat, according to environmental groups, as forests in Malaysia are cleared to meet growing demand for durians, the divisively pungent fruit hugely popular in China.

Forests in the region of Raub in Malaysia, which has become a popular destination for Chinese and Singapore tourists on “durian tours”, are being burned and cleared to make way for plantations to grow the Musang King variety of the spiky but stinky fruit.

The land is home to the Malayan tiger, which is considered “critically endangered” with fewer than 300 left in the world. Environmental groups have said destroying their habit could have a “devastating” impact on the tigers’ survival.

World’s most controversial fruit may depend on giant bats for pollination

 

Read more

Siti Zuraidah Abidin from WWF Malaysia said the Hulu Sempan area, where new plantations are planned, had been designated an “expected tiger habitat”. The area is adjacent to a protected area where most of the tigers live, she said. Malayan tigers are found only on the Malay Peninsula and in the southern tip of Thailand.

Continued

Orangutans saved as Malaysia foils high-seas smuggling bid

September 24, 2018

Orangutans and baby crocodiles were among 400 animals seized by customs officials from a boat off Malaysia

A pair of young orangutans, baby crocodiles and rare birds were among over 400 animals rescued from a boat off Malaysia as they were being smuggled from neighbouring Indonesia, officials said Monday.

Three suspected Indonesian traffickers were arrested after customs officials thwarted the bid to transport the animals to Thailand in an operation Friday off the Malaysian holiday island Langkawi.

The unusual cargo included two "frightened-looking" orangutans and dozens of baby saltwater crocodiles, Malaysian wildlife official Mohamad Zaki Rahim told AFP.

There were also about 350 sugar gliders—a type of small marsupial—cockatoos, parrots and parakeets found in boxes on board, he said, adding the smugglers intended to sell all the animals as pets.

The smugglers were seeking to transport the animals under cover of darkness in a cargo vessel from the vast, jungle-clad Indonesian island of Sumatra, through the Malacca Strait to Thailand, customs chief T. Subromaniam told the Star newspaper.

Read more at: 

Elephant poachers arrested in Malaysia

March 13, 2018

Asian elephants, found in India and Southeast Asia, are listed as an endangered species

Four heavily armed poachers who targeted wild elephants in Malaysia have been caught, officials said Tuesday, the second such arrest in less than two years.

Wildlife officials said the gang caught near the town of Gerik in the northern Malaysian state of Perak was found with deer antlers and suspected tiger bones.

A joint police and wildlife department investigation also led the agents to find an elephant shot dead by the poachers in a nearby forest with its tusks ripped out.

"This crew is notorious. They hunt elephants," wildlife department chief Abdul Kadir Abdul Hashim told AFP.

"There are maybe two more (poaching) groups (in the area). We are working together with the police on this."

A police statement said weapons including rifles and homemade shotguns as well as animal snares were found after they arrested the gang.

The elephant's tusks were not found, with a wildlife official believing that they were already sold.

He added that the gang—all locals—were believed to have been operating since 2009, and were also active in the nearby state of Kelantan.

Read more at: 

Glimmer of hope as Malaysia’s last female Sumatran rhino shows signs of recovery

by Basten Gokkon on 27 December 2017

• The worst appears to be over for Iman, Malaysia’s last female Sumatran rhino, after she suffered massive bleeding from a ruptured tumor in her uterus earlier this month.
• Veterinarians and rhino experts are hopeful but cautious about Iman’s recovery prospects, and continue to provide around-the-clock care.
• The rhino is Malaysia’s last hope for saving the nearly extinct species, which is thought to number as few as 30 individuals in the world.

JAKARTA — Malaysia’s last remaining female Sumatran rhino appears to have overcome the worst of a serious health condition, less than two weeks after it was announced that her condition had deteriorated.

Officials from the Sabah Wildlife Department reported on Dec. 17 that Iman had suffered a ruptured tumor in her uterus, causing massive bleeding. Since then, however, an intensive regimen of medical treatment and feeding has raised hopes about her prospects.

“A week ago, I was sure she would die,” John Payne, head of the wildlife conservation group Borneo Rhino Alliance (BORA), which is involved in the treatment of Iman, said in a text message to Mongabay. “But somehow she did not.”

Read more

Lost species of bee-mimicking moth rediscovered after 130 years

The rare oriental blue clearwing, that disguises itself as a bee, was spotted in the Malaysian rainforest

Patrick Barkham

Friday 15 December 2017 15.59 GMTLast modified on Saturday 16 December 2017 00.05 GMT

A moth that disguises itself as a bee and was previously only identified by a single damaged specimen collected in 1887 has been rediscovered in the Malaysian rainforest by a lepidopterist from Poland.

The oriental blue clearwing (Heterosphecia tawonoides) was seen “mud-puddling” – collecting salts and minerals from damp areas with its tongue-like proboscis – on the banks of a river in Malaysia’s lowland rainforest, one of the most wildlife-rich – and threatened – regions on Earth.

Four individuals of the rare moth, which shines strikingly blue in sunshine, were collected for genetic analysis and examination of their genitalia, which confirmed that the specimens belonged to this “lost species”.

The 1887 specimen was collected in Indonesia but Marta Skowron Volponi of the University of Gdańsk rediscovered the species when she saw a flash of brilliant blue on the banks of unpolluted rivers flowing through lowland rainforest on the Peninsula Malaysia.

On three field trips in 2013, 2016 and 2017, Skowron Volponi and her co-author and husband, filmmaker Paolo Volponi, observed and filmed just 12 individuals, suggesting the elusive moth is extremely rare.

In a paper for Tropical Conservation Science, Skowron Volponi described how the oriental blue clearwing was the only moth or butterfly seen mud-puddling among the bees it mimicked.

Read on  

New species discovered in Malaysian rainforest during unprecedented, top-to-bottom survey

Date:  December 6, 2017

Source:  California Academy of Sciences

Summary:

This fall, the California Academy of Sciences partnered with The Habitat Penang Hill and colleagues to conduct a rainforest survey on Malaysia's island state of Penang. A 117-member team documented flora and fauna from the tops of trees to the dark reaches of caves and discovered several species previously unknown to science living just miles from a major metropolis. Survey results will contribute to this ancient rainforest's nomination as a UNESCO biosphere reserve.

Over the course of two weeks the international team discovered several species previously unknown to science -- including a new species of scorpion and likely new species of fly, water bear, and bacterium -- living just miles from a major metropolis. The expedition also tallied new regional sightings: birds, bats, orchids, mammals, flies, ants, mosquitoes, spiders, and frogs never known to occur in Penang were documented for the first time. Survey results (which included the canopy and not just the forest floor) will advance the understanding of this little-explored rainforest and contribute to its future nomination as a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) biosphere reserve. 

Continued 

One of Malaysia's Last Sumatran Rhinos Dies

By Stephanie Pappas, Live Science Contributor | June 6, 2017 01:22pm ET


One of the last three Sumatran rhinoceroses in Malaysia has died, the Borneo Rhino Alliance has announced.

The rhino, named Puntung, was about 20 years old. Her keepers at Malaysia's Tabin Wildlife Reserve in Sabah euthanized her on June 4, eight days after discovering that the critically endangered animal had squamous cell cancer. The cancer had spread rapidly, and intensive treatment would have bought Puntung only a few more months of life penned in an indoor enclosure, the Borneo Rhino Alliance reported on its Facebook page.

"Sumatran rhinos wallow in mud for at least six hours daily and become increasingly stressed if kept in clean, closed facilities," the post read. "A stress-free life for Puntung was simply not going to be possible. And so we made the very difficult choice of ending her suffering and giving her peace." 
 

Dwindling rhinos
Sumatran rhinoceroses (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) are the smallest of all rhino species. They're also the most endangered, according to the International Rhino Foundation (IRF). With Puntung's death, there are only two individuals left in Malaysia: Tam, a middle-age male; and Iman, a female. Both are kept at the Borneo Rhino Sanctuary in the Tabin Wildlife Reserve. The Sumatran rhino is now extinct in the wild in Malaysia. In Indonesia, fewer than 100 Sumatran rhinos survive in the wild. Poaching has sliced the population in half over the past 20 years, according to the IRF.

Puntung was likely a survivor of poaching herself. She was missing her front left foot, probably because it was caught in a poacher's snare when she was a baby. As an adult, she weighed about 1,150 lbs. (520 kilograms) and was known at the wildlife sanctuary for her gentle disposition. She was captured in the wild in 2011 and was brought to the sanctuary for her own protection and as a part of a failed attempt to establish a captive breeding program.

In early April of this year, Puntung developed an abscess on her jaw and was bleeding from her nostrils. After a crowdfunding effort, specialists were flown in from around the world, and Puntung had successful dental surgery on April 19, in which three infected and damaged molars were removed.

 

continued 

Most species-rich coral reefs are not necessarily protected

Date: November 22, 2016

Source: Leiden, Universiteit

Coral reefs throughout the world are under threat. After studying the reefs in Malaysia, Zarinah Waheed concluded that there is room for improvement in coral reef conservation.

One-third of the corals of the Great Barrier Reef are dead. This was the sombre conclusion drawn by Australian scientists six months ago. Pollution, shipping and climate change are destroying the world's largest continuous reef, and other coral reefs seem to be facing the same fate.

Home country

PhD candidate Zarinah Waheed studied coral reefs in her home country Malaysia over recent years. She looked specifically at the coral diversity of these reefs and also at the connectivity between the reef locations. She found that the areas with the highest numbers of coral species are not necessarily protected.

94 species

During her research, Waheed examined how many species of three coral families -- Fungiidae, Agariciidae and Euphylliidae -- occur in different reefs spread throughout Malaysia. She made a number of diving trips in the region, together with her co-supervisor and coral expert Dr Bert W. Hoeksema of Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden. Before the diving trips, she first examined all specimens of the target species in the extensive coral collection held by Naturalis.

Continued  

Malaysia's unique freshwater mussels in danger

Date: September 21, 2016

Source: The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus

Researchers in Malaysia revealed that Peninsular Malaysia hosts at least three rare mussel species, one of which (Hyriopsis bialata) is not found anywhere else on the planet. Another species (Ensidens ingallsianus) may have already gone extinct.

In a ground-breaking study path-breaking for the Southeast Asian region, a research group led by The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC) revealed that Peninsular Malaysia hosts at least three rare mussel species, one of which (Hyriopsis bialata) is not found anywhere else on the planet. Another species (Ensidens ingallsianus) may have already gone extinct. Most native species are severely threatened by ongoing nutrient pollution and acidification of freshwater habitats caused by atmospheric pollution, deforestation, oil-palm plantations and a lack of functioning wastewater treatment particularly in rural areas. As mussels are efficient filter-feeders and provide habitat for smaller organisms such as insect larvae, their loss can lead to algal blooms and further loss of aquatic biodiversity.

An international group of scientists; Dr John-James Wilson and Pei-Yin Ng from University of Malaya; Samuel Walton from Universiti Malaysia Terengganu; Dr Khairul Adha A. Rahim from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak; Dr Elsa Froufe and Manuel Lopes-Lima, Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, Portugal; Professor Ronaldo Sousa from University of Minho, Portugal; Dr Arthur E. Bogan from North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences (USA); Dr Suzanne McGowan from The University of Nottingham UK and Dr Alexandra Zieritz from The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, who is leading this research, surveyed 155 localities across all states of Peninsular Malaysia for mussels and recorded their environmental requirements. The team spent a total of 30 days in the field, scouring the sandy and muddy beds of Malaysia's rivers and lakes for mussels simply using their hands. Environmental conditions at each location, such as water pH and oxygen concentration, were also recorded. The findings of this study, worth USD 9,262 (RM 38269.19) and funded by The Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund , are published in Science of the Total Environment, an international scientific journal.

Read on