Strolling by means of the Borneo rainforest, you catch simply glimpses of its wildlife. A hornbill hovering over a forest opening. A pair of otters darting alongside a riverbank. Maybe only a rustling bush and patch of fur.
However lots of the charismatic creatures right here stay out of sight. It’s not the Serengeti, the place massive beasts parade in massive herds within the open, simply filmed for nature documentaries. In Indonesian Borneo, the charismatic wildlife exists in low densities, however in excessive variety.
I’ve simply spent a number of days on this rainforest with workers from Arhaus, a furnishings model that’s supporting Yayasan Konservasi Alam Nusantara (YKAN), The Nature Conservancy’s important associate in Indonesia, in serving to preserve important rainforest habitat in East Kalimantan.
A key part of rainforest conservation is monitoring if it’s working for wildlife. However how do you monitor elusive and cryptic wildlife you can’t readily observe? Happily, conservation analysis makes use of strategies like bioacoustics, which information sounds of the rainforest, and digicam traps, that enable researchers to observe wildlife.
Throughout our journey, we visited the Wehea Safety Forest, consisting of 29,000 acres of protected by the Dayak Wehea Group with help by YKAN, a nationwide basis that took over TNC’s operations and conservation packages in Indonesia in 2020.
The forest at Wehea is awe-inspiring. So are the creatures roaming simply out of sight. Listed below are among the animals captured by way of digicam lure at Wehea.
Orangutans are a serious focus of YKAN’s conservation work in Borneo; Kalimantan is a stronghold for the species. However greater than 78 p.c of orangutans in Kalimantan are discovered exterior protected areas.
Whereas orangutans dwell primarily within the bushes, they’re able to transferring round on the bottom, as digicam lure photos attest. In actual fact, researchers at Wehea have captured so many nice orangutan photos and video we included them in a separate weblog.
A bear within the rainforest? The solar bear is the world’s smallest, and arguably least identified, bear. They want intact forests and, in lots of locations, are closely poached. They’re additionally notoriously troublesome to see, however digicam traps in Wehea have recorded quite a few solar bears.
This bear’s tongue can lengthen 17 inches – the higher to snarf up termites and honey in deep tree holes. Researchers have noticed them cracking coconuts on rocks. Current research have discovered that the bears have surprisingly human traits, like the power to imitate facial expressions. Learn extra concerning the fascinating habits of solar bears.
What’s probably the most difficult-to-see huge cat? Mountain lion? Snow leopard? These could be thought-about straightforward in comparison with the clouded leopard, the biggest cat species in Borneo.
Poaching has made the clouded leopard skittish and infrequently discovered removed from everlasting human settlements. Even within the digicam lure photos, the clouded leopard usually seems as extra of a blur.
Apparently, analysis has discovered that clouded leopards densities could also be twice as excessive in logged areas versus major forest. It’s because logged forests entice prey species like sambar deer and bearded pig. Sustainable logging is a vital part of forest conservation in Borneo, and using science timber harvest will be performed in a approach that minimizes impacts on biodiversity.
Digicam lure photos of this primate, Miller’s grizzled langur, are notably thrilling. My Borneo area guides don’t even embrace them. Till 2012, the species was presumed extinct and was identified solely from museum specimens. Then a staff of researchers discovered Miller’s langur in Wehea Forest.
Lately, the Miller’s langur has been captured on digicam lure photos, proof that the species continues to outlive within the Wehea Safety Forest. Wehea is dwelling to at the very least 9 primates.
Kalimantan’s forests are dwelling to a beautiful variety of birds, and to my thoughts, none extra spectacular than the nice argus. It is a massive and elusive pheasant species, and like a number of different species featured right here, extra more likely to be heard than seen.
A telltale signal of their presence is a cleared patch of forest. The male pheasant has a lek, or show space, to draw females. It retains this space cleared of leaf litter and different particles. In the course of the breeding season, nicely, you possibly can see the present on this digicam lure video.
The sambar is a big deer and has a variety throughout Asia, the place it’s present in habitats starting from grassland to alpine woodland. It’s additionally a comparatively widespread species of Borneo’s intact tropical forest, and present up often on digicam traps.
The sambar has a spot on its neck that exudes a milky hormone. The sambar rubs this excretion on bushes, particularly throughout the breeding season. The animals can rub so onerous the neck bleeds, and lots of name this the sambar’s “sore spot.”
The sambar is so adaptable that it has been launched to the Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, South Africa and the USA. Whereas it may be overexploited in native habitat, its transplanted populations can turn out to be invasive.
It is a fascinating little deer; you usually tend to hear a muntjac’s shrill barks echoing within the forest than see one. They’ve tiny antlers and distinct massive pits by their eyes, that are used for scent marking.
Maybe probably the most attention-grabbing attribute is that these deer seem to have fangs, really massive canines utilized by the males for preventing. They’re naturally unfastened within the mouth, to allow them to make a rattling noise.
