Archive for the ‘Borneo’ Category

Jun
13

Borneo’s Banteng: Elephants are in the way…

Posted by in Animal Origins & Fun Facts,Borneo,community-based conservation,Conservation,Endangered Species,Featured,Field Research

Walking further along the trail we were dismayed to see very fresh elephant tracks heading in the same direction. Our worst fears were confirmed when we heard elephants nearby. Thus we made a hasty retreat back to the car and decided to leave these for the next day. Heavy rains that afternoon caused us to retreat back to the White House and accept enough for one day.

The next morning we prepared for a full day in the field; as the roads had subsided and bridges collapsed we took both the car and two off road motorbikes for ease of access. We switched to motorbikes when we could drive no further, and headed for a ridge near the natural salt lick. Along the road we spotted banteng dung (approximately 2-3 days old) so a sample was collected. A good start to the day!

When dung is the sign of a good day, you realize how difficult tropical field work really is...

An open grassy area at the trail junction contained signs of substantial banteng activity; large tracks and lots of dung ranging in age, from approximately 3-5 days to 3-4 weeks, suggesting this area is visited regularly by banteng. A sample was collected, after which we continued on to check another two very muddy stations however my jungle shoes decided otherwise and I ended up with my toes exposed to the ground and forced to walk nimbly along the trails.

These are not Penny's feet but our partner in Orangutan research's disintegrating footwear, and a good example of what Borneo fieldwork does to your shoes. Luckily, we had a few extra camera straps with us to keep them together as we hiked back to the field station.

After checking the camera traps along this trail we stopped for lunch (rice and various tinned delights) back at the car, and the guys had a good laugh at me when the ants dined out on my backside! With full stomachs we headed over to the site that contained the elephants the previous day. Ideally we would have left this site undisturbed for another day but as the checking of camera traps was almost complete and we were leaving the following day we tried our luck again.

Only three of us went in because Sarianus lent me his (rather large) rubber boots, so stayed by the car. We walked the short distance to the artificial salt lick and continued on to the nearest station that contained a single camera trap. We were relieved not to find any fresh elephant tracks along the trail and to find the camera trap still intact and containing images. However it had been twisted around the tree, by elephants, so it was decided to move it to a neighbouring tree. The new tree was not an obvious choice for scratching elephants due to its low branching structure and trunk angle, and we had to work hard to prepare it so that the camera trap sat flush. After a quick walk test the camera trap was set up.

April 23: Banteng pair in forest

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Jun
10

Borneo’s Banteng: Cameras and Collapsing Bridges

Posted by in Borneo,community-based conservation,Conservation,Endangered Species,Featured

Clearly if this was easier, we would know the status of every cryptic species in the world…

Malua Forest Reserve is a smaller forest patch (approx. 33,000ha) adjacent to Danum Valley Forest Reserve and has been heavily logged but still contains valuable secondary forest and grassland patches essential for grazers like banteng. Whilst the large trees have all but been removed from Malua in the past decade, endangered wildlife can still be found here. The area is managed by the Sabah Forestry Department and New Forest (also my collaborators) and local research assistants are responsible for monitoring wildlife and conducting patrols to prevent illegal hunting and logging activity. During March the research assistants had sighted Sumatran rhino tracks and so I joined a team and visited Malua to implement remote camera traps for monitoring the presence of rhino and banteng.

The drive into Malua is a good three hours along dirt tracks and collapsing bridges. After arriving at the White House (the base camp: a quiet secluded spot without electricity or mobile phone signal – heaven!) we met the local research assistants and spent the evening discussing tactics and the best locations to implement our 40 camera traps. The following morning we drove out to the artificial salt lick to see the rhino tracks and to implement six camera trap stations along animal trails. A camera trap station consists of a pair of camera traps positioned perpendicular to the trail, so both sides of the animal are photographed. After implementing the six camera trap stations half the team departed Malua, whilst I and the local assistants returned to base camp to prepare for the following day’s drive up to the north of Malua. The next day was spent buying supplies and driving through deep mud to get to the northern base camp, a simpler but cosy wooden house, also without electricity.

The following day the team implemented camera traps at four mud wallows however there was a notable absence of fresh banteng and elephant tracks, and no evidence of rhino signs but internal grass openings indicated suitable banteng habitat. Upon returning to the White House that afternoon the team discussed random locations for the remainder camera traps to be implemented the following day. The areas selected included a large natural salt lick, ridges, skid trails (old trails that were used to drag out logs) and mud wallows. Camera traps were positioned at these spots and left in situ for two weeks, after which we would return to replace batteries and memory cards. Before departing the next morning the team established the last camera trap station along a trail leading to a large grassy opening, where the rangers had previously observed small herds of banteng during the day. Heavy rains during the night had caused a main bridge to collapse and meant we were forced to backtrack and then make a long detour up through the north of Malua to a main road.

Two weeks later I found myself back in Malua preparing to check the cameras and change batteries and SD cards. Thankfully the broken bridge that prevented us exiting via the main road the last trip had been repaired however some of the others were in a sorry state.

We arrived at the White House only to be informed that the north of Malua was flooded by high water from the Kinabatangan River and unfortunately we would not be able to check the cameras in this area. We had 30 cameras in the surrounding area so decided to start checking these cameras that afternoon and replace SD cards and batteries. Unfortunately elephant activity (rubbing against trees and pulling up our stakes) at the first station had knocked our camera out of alignment and the second was completely destroyed, with both cameras broken and irreparable. Not a good start…

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Jun
09

Borneo’s Wild Cattle: The Banteng

Posted by in Borneo,community-based conservation,Conservation,Endangered Species,Field Research

People in North America are not very familiar with the cattle outside of our general livestock but there are a number of species of Wild Cattle in Southeast Asia which are all in decline. Many of you have probably heard of the Yak, but who knows what a Gaur, Kouprey or Banteng are? How about Anoa, Saola, or Tamaraw? So when working with our partners in Borneo on Orangutan and Elephant conservation efforts, an opportunity to support a project focused on the population dynamics of a little known species of Wild Cattle – the Banteng – was quickly seized upon.

Researcher (2nd from left), mud, humidity, leeches, and research assistants. Not necessarily in that order

This week, our reports come from lead field researcher Penny Gardner who is working on her PhD through Danau Girang Field Centre with an affiliation to Cardiff University on determining the population status and habitat needs of this species.

In February, after months of planning, I was finally ready to leave for Sabah and get stuck into some field work. The heat and humidity of Sabah was a welcome relief after months of snow in the U.K. The following two weeks were spent in the capital city, Kota Kinabalu, settling into the office and meeting my supervisor, Dr Benoit Goossens, and staff at the Sabah Wildlife Department after which I went to Tabin Wildlife Reserve for to visit the field site. Tabin’s manager Rashid kindly showed me the accessible parts of Tabin, which is the largest (approximately 120,000ha) of my two study sites and contains a wealth of different habitat types and biodiversity, including all the endangered large charismatic mammals Borneo is famous for. The reserve is quite remote; 1.5hrs off road driving to get to the western border, thus a 4×4 is essential for getting around.

April 2011: First images on camera traps from this project

The next few weeks I spent getting organised and making daily trips out along the forest border to establish where the banteng were emerging. Another researcher had conducted camera trapping of Clouded Leopard in Tabin the previous year and had managed to photograph banteng so I tried to revisit these locations, however the dense jungle made access a slow and difficult process and myself and a ranger managed to cut a trail 500m long however it took us 2 hours! I also spent many days looking for banteng dung along the roads and collecting samples for DNA analysis; banteng generally emerge from the forest at night and during the early hours to feed on nutritional grasses not prevalent inside the forest, and they appear to defecate whilst grazing. DNA from dung samples is generally of low quality and deteriorates quickly in UV exposure and rain thus it’s best to collect samples from fresh dung, however finding dung isn’t an easy task especially inside the forest where the undergrowth is thick, the atmosphere is wet and there are numerous animal trails to follow.

Penny sampling Banteng dung in Tabin Wildlife reserve for DNA analysis

On each occasion when I find dung or fresh tracks I take a GPS point so I build up an overview of where the banteng are active. This is an ongoing process and I eventually hope to map the occupancy and habitat use of banteng in Tabin, and also do the same in my second study site Malua Forest Reserve.

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Jun
02

Borneo Elephant Project blog #3

Posted by in Animal Origins & Fun Facts,Borneo,community-based conservation,Conservation,Elephant,Endangered Species,Field Research

During times that we did not observe any elephant, but found fresh dung, we will take measurement of the dung’s diameter. This measurement will be used to estimate the age of the elephant in Lower Kinabatangan. Some studies has shown that the dung’s diameter, foot circumference and shoulder height has relation the elephant growth hence its age.

We are hoping after two to three years we will able to visualize the age structure for the elephant population in Lower Kinabatangan.

More great elephant stories will come from Sabah, but for now it is the best time to enjoy the giant prawn in Kinabatangan, so good bye for now!!

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Jun
01

Borneo Elephant Project Blog #2

Posted by in Animal Origins & Fun Facts,Borneo,community-based conservation,Conservation,Elephant,Endangered Species,Featured,Field Research

Usually when we find a group of elephants, I will take note of the group’s composition and their general activities. Other information such as the GPS location, time and date were also taken. Fendi one of the ECU’s staff will take pictures for individual identification while we are waiting for elephant to habituate to our presence and usually this will take 10 to 15 minutes. Once the elephants are calm, I will start to take the behavioral data to check for its association and interactions. This data will be used to analyze the elephant’s social structure as part of my Doctoral study.

April: Benoit Goossens (right) and Baharudin Resake (left) setting up the satellite collar on Aqeela’s neck.

However, sometimes we are forced to work extra hard to find the elephant, just like now when most of forest part is covered with water. The elephant like to spend their time deep in the forest where we cannot access them during flooding season. We believe the reason they avoid being near the river is because the water is plenty inside the forest thus they can avoid human presence and disturbance by being in the forest.

Following elephants in the forest waist deep in water

Through our experience and after a long observation, we found out that the group size during the flooding season is also smaller compared to the dry season. Not much feeding signs and foot prints along the fresh tracks and it seems the elephant were continuously moving without stopping for feeding. We assume due the small number of individuals in the group, the elephants have less protection and this drives them to avoid the places that are not safe for them.

May 23rd: Aqeela and Liun, two adult elephant females which were collared on 3 October 2010 and 15 April 2011 respectively, are now together in Lot 3 of the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary

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May
31

Borneo Elephant Project blog #1

Posted by in Animal Origins & Fun Facts,Borneo,community-based conservation,Conservation,Elephant,Endangered Species,Field Research

Bornean Elephant, Kinabtangan River

This week we will begin featuring updates from two very important projects on the island of Borneo focusing on Bornean elephants and a wild species of cattle called Banteng. These two species along with the Rhinoceros are the three largest animals on the island and act as “landscape architects” for the forest and surrounding wetlands.

The Houston Zoo has worked with the Danau Girang Field Centre in Sabah (Borneo), Malaysia since 2009 in support of a program to determine the social structure, migration corridors and habitat use of the Bornean Elephant. The field researcher, Nurzhafarina (“Farina”) follows radio collared elephants and their herds as part of the effort and this week, we follow Farina:

Farina radiotracking along the river corridor

Warm greetings from Sabah, Malaysia.

Usually my working hour will start at 7am, depending on the elephant location and sighting from the previous day. If the elephant are in Abai that is 33 km or 45 minutes from Sukau, we will go for an expedition where we will camp along the river to save some travelling time and fuel. We will use the latest position from the satellite to find out the elephant’s position and we will start tracking them from there. I would say the chances of finding the elephant in the forest is 70% except if they decided to go into swampy area or behind the oxbow lake. There are two females that are collared for now, Aqeela and Liun. We are still identifying Aqeela’s group and for Liun, we are sure that she has a juvenile female and a sub-adult male that always move along with her.

It is flooding in most parts of Lower Kinabatangan this time. Villages such as at Pengkalan Bukit Garam that is situated upriver Kinabatangan is the most heavily flooded part and many have been evacuated from their homes as the water has reached a dangereous level. Although Sukau is not as bad, it is still affected by the flooding and most part of the forest is covered with water. So, this means another wet week for my friends from Elephant Conservation Unit (ECU) and myself.

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Feb
21

Borneo’s Sun Bear Champion

Posted by in Borneo,community-based conservation,Conservation,Field Research

International Save the Bears Day is February 21st so we are highlighting the Borneo Sun Bear. First – to view a super cute Sun Bear video:

What in the world is a Sun Bear Champion? I would actually call him one of the most dedicated and inspiring conservationists on the planet, but I digress..

Conservation success is about individuals and their committment to a species or project. In Borneo, a person who exemplifies this success is Siew Te Wong, a true champion for the Sun Bear.  His interest in Sun Bears began  in 1994 when he first started planning a study on the species in Malaysia.

Siew Te Wong is a Malaysian wildlife biologist and sun bear expert. For the last 13 years, Wong has been studying and working on the ecological conservation of the sun bear. He is one of the few Malaysian wildlife biologists trained in a western country. He did both his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science at the University of Montana in Missoula, and is continuing for his doctorate degree there. His pioneering studies of sun bear ecology in the Borneo rainforest revealed the elusive life history of the sun bear in the dense jungle.

13+ years and a great deal of never-ending work, public relations, research and fundraising later, his dream of the Borneo Sun Bear Conservation Center was realized with its opening on March of 2010.

To read more about Siew Te Wong and Borneo’s Sun Bears:

http://wongsiewte.blogspot.com/ or http://wongsiewte.blogspot.com/

Borneo Sun Bear Photo Danau Girang Field Centre

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Feb
17

Houston Zoo Wildlife Conservation is on Facebook!

Posted by in Africa,amphibians,Attwater's Prairie Chicken,Black bears,Borneo,Carnivores,Chimpanzee,community-based conservation,Conservation,Elephant,Endangered Species,Field Research,Galapagos,Going Green,Gorilla,orangutan,Painted Dog,Panama,Rhino,Travel

 

Booming chickens on prairies and adventures to find bear hair in the Big Thicket. Leech infested forests? Monsoons? Leg swallowing mud and Sea Gull poo? Wild Orangutans that use bridges and toads with implants.  Confused? Don’t be. Join us and interact with local and global conservation on our new Houston Zoo Conservation Facebook page. Keep up with the conservation department and our partners in the field, and don’t forget to comment along the way!

Link here and follow along: http://www.facebook.com/#!/houstonzooconservation

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Jan
06

Borneo Field Research Part 3

Posted by in Borneo,Carnivores,community-based conservation,Conservation,Endangered Species,Field Research

There are 25 species of Carnivores on the island of Borneo but little is known of their habitat, ecology or distribution. These include 5 species of wild cats, Sun Bear, and a variety of civets, otters, linsang, malay skunk badgers and weasels.

A new program to identify the assemblage of carnivores within the Kinabatangan floodplain began in late 2010 and will run through 2012 with a focus on one of the protected areas of the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary (LKWS)  in Malaysian Borneo. Of the 25 Bornean carnivores, 20 have previously been recorded in the LKWS, of which half are considered threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

We will update you with reports and photos throughout the year as they become available.

Sun Bear - Borneo

 

Leopard Cat - Borneo

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Jan
05

Borneo Field Research Part 2

Posted by in Borneo,Endangered Species,Field Research

Banteng (Bos javanicus lowi) are one of the rarer endangered large mammals in Sabah (Malaysia, Borneo) yet very little is known of their ecology or exact population size. An accurate assessment of the global population has not been conducted but  estimates suggest the population is unlikely to be no more than 8,000 worldwide and is quite possibly less than 5,000 individuals with potentially no more than 500 living in Sabah.

Working out of Danau Girang Field Centre in  Borneo on a new research project is PhD student Penny Gardner. During her PhD, she will work on the population ecology and social organization of the banteng, an endangered species of wild cattle in Sabah. She will use satellite telemetry, remote camera trapping and molecular analysis. Penny’s work is supported by the Houston Zoo Wildlife Conservation Program.

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