The Borneo Conservation Trust Japan (BCTJ) has released the photograph of a young orangutan crossing a “suspension bridge” made of recycled fire hoses from Japan, reports The Mainichy Daily News. The BCTJ built the suspension bridge across the Kinabatangan River in collaboration with the Sabah state government two years ago to re-connect orang utan habitats segregated by plantations.

“We had received some reports of sightings that orangutans were using the bridge, and the photograph demonstrated that the bridge is actually serving to connect their divided habitats,” BCTJ director Mariko Morii said in the report.

“We hope the animals will also use the second bridge we’ve constructed over another river.”

Here is the picture of orang utan crossing the fire hoses bridge.

WWF Travel Blog caught up with WWF’s Dan Winter who joined a recent trip to Borneo and asked him questions like his favourite animal sighting during the trip, as well as the concerns about the impact of agriculture and logging over conservations.

He cited the orang utan as his favourite animal and that while at the Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre one afternoon, “we saw a red giant flying squirrel glide between trees. The group oohed and aahed like it was a fireworks display!”

The footage below, taken at Rainforest Discovery Centre, located next to Sepilok, Sandakan, is unrelated to the trip.

Speaking of trip to Borneo, WWF is organising its USA-Borneo “Into the Heart of Borneo” tour on June 24 – July 10, 2011. Join the Borneo trip, here!

In 2004 herpetologist Indraneil Das and his Hamburg University colleague Alexander Haas discovered a tiny frog species no larger than a pea when returning from a field trip at the Kubah National Park in the Malaysian state of Sarawak on Borneo island.

A museum listed the species but misidentified them as juveniles of other frog species, Das told AP.

Asia's smallest frog... Nepenthes ampullaria

However, the frogs were later found to be adults, and were named Microhyla nepenthicola.

Das said they only found them by tracking their singing of “harsh rasping notes” at dusk and caught them by making them jump on a white cloth near the pitcher plants, hence the name nepenthicola, derived from the name of a pitcher plant species.

Here’s a recent report on why overcoming wildlife crimes is an uphill task:

Poaching and smuggling of exotic wildlife here continues unabated as these wildlife crimes are aided by a “third force”.

That “force”, which goes by the unsavoury name of corruption, is considered the main challenge in combating such crimes.

Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Masidi Manjun said, although the situation was not alarming in the state, there have been instances where, out of the blues, Borneo wildlife was recorded or photographed in other parts of the world, suggesting foul play at work.

“Suddenly, we see pictures on ‘Youtube’ or somewhere online, of some Borneo animals sitting comfortably in other parts of the world, for example wild cats.

“As far as we are concerned, it is impossible that wild cats are smuggled out (of the state) without our knowledge…it means some people have been opening doors for these people (smugglers).

“I can only say it must have cost the fellow for that door to be opened, because you don’t open doors for no reason and I can only see corruption as the main reason,” he told reporters after opening the Heart of Borneo (HoB) Wildlife Trade Regulation and Species Identification Course on Tuesday.

To address wildlife crimes, Masidi said the government had come up with three steps, namely: to ensure no poaching or illegal hunting was carried out, step up enforcement skills to detect new means of smuggling, and to keep tabs on the use of courier services to transport animals.

[Source: Bernama, June 23]

[UPDATE: Sabah government orders sand-mining to be stopped at the ecologically sensitive Kinabatangan river, with Minister Masidi Manjun saying he had ordered the Sabah Environment Protection Department to rescind its Environment Impact Assessment certificate approving dredging activities at the river, reports FMT.]

Earlier post: Sand dredging is back along the Kinabatangan River, the longest river in Sabah, the northern state on Borneo Island, and is affecting wildlife at the Borneo wildlife sanctuary, according to a report by AFP.

Activists are now concerned over the sand-dredging effect on wildlife in the 27,000ha conservation area, which is home to endangered species such as the proboscis monkey and pygmy elephant.

It’s been quite a while wasn’t it? I am now back and will be updating this blog more often. This will be my comeback entry.

The Sundaland clouded leopard, touted to be the biggest predator on Borneo Island, was recently caught on film for the first time near Deramakot forest reserve in Sabah.

The cat is previously thought to be similar to the clouded leopard of Sumatra until a 2008 study found them to be from different species.

Cats of Borneo

There are five Bornean cat species in Sabah, all of them found in Deramakot Forest Reserve — the leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis), Sundaland clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi), Bornean bay cat (Pardofelis badia), flat-headed cat (Prionailurus planiceps) and the marbled cat (Pardofelis marmorata).

A magazine advertisement on Malaysian palm oil has been banned in the United Kingdom, with UK’s Advertising Standards Agency saying claims made in the ad were “misleading and could not be substantiated.”

Below is the screenshot of the said advertisement, click on it to view the original.

The advertisement, placed by the Malaysian Palm Oil Council, among others claimed that Malaysian palm oil was “sustainable” and contributed to “the alleviation of poverty, especially amongst rural populations.”

The agency acknowledged that efforts have been made to tackle illegal deforestation associated with palm oil plantations but stressed that concerns remained about the “indirect effects” of the palm oil industry’s expansion.

Survival International, the movement for tribal people, has urged the Malaysian government to halt plantations and logging on lands owned by the Penan tribe in Sarawak.

It quoted an unnamed Penan tribe member as welcoming the ban, saying: “Our people welcome the ban on the magazine advert by the Malaysian Palm Oil Council. How come the advert claimed that palm oil helps alleviate poverty, when from the very beginning oil palm plantations have destroyed our source of livelihood and made us much poorer? A lot of people are hungry every day because our forest has been destroyed.”

What palm oil critics do not understand, says MPOC

Meanwhile, the Malaysian Palm Oil Council, in a press release titled “What the critics don’t understand” said the palm oil industry provides jobs and incomes to those who need it; satisfies consumer demand for quality cooking and food ingredients; and is powering a greener energy future across the planet.

“None of these facts is appreciated by our critics who come from wealthy developed countries and have no sense of the genuine challenges facing the developing world,” MPOC CEO Dr Yusof Basiron said.

Sarawak, a state not always known for its wildlife, is set to join the “orang utan hall of fame”.

The orang utan population in the state now stands at 2,500 and plans are afoot to increase its population through conservation and sustainable development, an official said.

State forestry director Len Talif Salleh said orang utan population had been stable for some years, which he said was a testimony to the state’s success in conservation.

“We want to increase the population to three, four or even five thousand in the years to come,” he said.

WWF Malaysia and the state government of Sabah, the Malaysian state on Borneo island, have signed an agreement to restore almost 1,000 hectares of degraded land in the Heart of Borneo as an orangutan habitat.

The five-year agreement, signed this week, is made possible with RM4.35 million (USD1.27 million) grant from the ITOCHU Corporation of Japan, WWF Malaysia said in a statement.

The area covers Ulu Segama where some orangutan populations have become isolated due to logging and other activities as well as the existence of Ulu Segama river that acts as a natural barrier.

Heart of Borneo

The memorandum is part fo the Heart of Borneo initiative to turn a huge portion of Borneo into a conservation area involving Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.

Conservation group Hutan has estimated there are less than 11,000 orangutans remain in Sabah.