Tag: Sumatra

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Sumatra is finding that building bridges over roads is much cheaper than elsewhere

This seems a very cheap and simple solution to roads, at least for primates. A standard motorway bridge in the UK can cost well over $1million (estimates suggest at least £890,000). This compares to a canopy bridge costing $5000 if even that much.

Each male Sumatran Orangutan needs 15 square miles, while females need at least 3 square miles. Therefore in order to have a significant population in an area of say 1000 individuals, you are talking about needing almost 10,000 square miles of rainforest that is connected. It is highly likely, in a 100 by 100 square mile block that there will be some roads crossing it. Therefore, these simple methods for connecting forest blocks could become more and more important.

It should be noted, that while this works for primates in areas like this, it will not help the Sumatran elephants, or rhino or tigers, which share some of these forests. Still, it might mean that larger bridges for other animals to cross could be less common, while still allowing primates to cross with ease?

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Might the solution to deforestation be education? probably not everywhere, but clearly here in Sumatra

Camp Granit – Sumatran rainforest (not the same place)

There is a variety of different causes for deforestation. However, the majority of the work is usually done by individuals – often for subsistence farming, though often the land is only fertile for a short period of time, requiring more rainforest to be cut down.

However, if people on the ground know that cutting down the rainforest will make life worse, then they will not do it.

Efron Simanjuntak (click here to see a photo in a new window) was once a successful logger (illegally) in Sumatra. In 2017 he was caught, and in 2018 he was imprisoned for 2 years. In these two years, he had a lot of time to think, and realized the damage that he was doing.

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Norway pension fund has disinvested from a British firm Jardines of destructive plans for the Tapanuli orangutan habitat

Tapanuli Orangutan

With an estimated historical habitat of this species 95% destroyed already, only leaving a small patch of rainforest with an estimated 800 Tapanuli orangutan, it would seem obvious that this small patch of rainforest should be protected, no matter what. however this opinion is not shared by everyone.

Having said this, thankfully, it is shared by an increasing number of organisations, and at current count, a total of 29 financiers have excluded Jardines and all subsidies from financing (according to the Financial Exclusions Tracker).

What is worse, is that the Martabe mining concession lies in a portion of the orangutan habitat called the Batang Toru forest, which has the largest orangutan population, and not only is this the area that has the highest chance of survival, but without this block of orangutan population, the future of the whole species is put at risk.

While this is a great move, one does wonder why it took 7 years to come to this decision. We have known about the Tapanuli Orangutan since 2017, and how precarious its survival is.

At the current time, there is an effort to expand the mine. While owners of the mine have said initially, this would just mean boreholes which do not disturb to too great a degree, recent studies have shown a correlation between this type of drilling and a reduction in Orangutan density, which proves these former assumptions to be incorrect.

It seems obvious that this area needs protecting, but perhaps for some people the earning potential is too great.

Clouded leopard and Sunda clouded leopard

Clouded leopard and sunda clouded leopard

Clouded leopards are actually one of the most ancient cat species, however due to their inability to roar or purr, they cannot officially be considered a big cat (roar) or a small cat (purr) due to their definition, which puts them in an odd category. They are most closely related to snow leopards, and are in the same family as the big cats from genetic research. It has recently been confirmed that there are 2 different clouded leopard species, one on the mainland, and the other on the islands (the sunda clouded leopard.

Both species are considered vulnerable. The mainland clouded leopard is thought to number between 3700 and 5580, while the sunda clouded leopard is thought to number around 4500 3800 in Borneo and 730 on Sumatra.

Clouded leopards are found in the forests of South East Asia. Both Poaching and habitat loss threaten their future survival is not easy to see, it makes it is hard for it to be clear what its current range is. However, if you simply compare extinct to all possible remaining habitat, you can see the best possibiltiy is that range has reduced by around 50%


The clouded leopard has been split into two species – the Clouded leopard found on mainland Asia (big picture at the top), and the Sunda clouded leopard (picture above) found on Borneo and Sumatra (these Sunda Clouded leopards have not interbred for a very long time so are considered 2 subspecies). 

 

This is a further image of a clouded leopard though taken in a US zoo, which allows an easier time of getting a good view of the head.

The map above shows the former and current range for these two species. As we start to link with places on the ground, we are likely to create separate pages for each of these clouded leopard species. Below is a video of each species of clouded leopard.

We look to work with people on the ground. Do get in touch if you live or work in the area, and can help people see these incredible animals click here

[TS_Video_Gallery id="5"]

Flat-headed cat

Flat-headed cat

Found on the Malay peninsular, as well as Borneo and Sumatra, the flat-headed cat is (like so many cats on this list) threatened with extinction, mostly as a result of habitat, which is being turned into farmland, palm oil plantations and human settlements.

Little is known about the wild behaviour of this cat – while it is thought to be nocturnal, in captivity it proved to be crepescular (that is active in early morning and late afternoon.

Fishing cat

fishing cat phot by Kelinahandbasket

Fishing cat

The current range of the Fishing cat

The fishing cat has been classed as vulnerable since 2016.

 It is a midsized cat he fishing cat lives foremost in the vicinity of wetlands, along rivers, streams, oxbow lakes, in swamps and mangroves. One of the alarming things to look at, is that the majority of this range is likely to be hit hard if sea levels do rise significantly over the last few decades.

Asiatic Golden Cat

An Asian Golden cat Photo credit Karen Stoll Wiki Commons

Asiatic golden cat

It is closely related to the Borneo bay cat, and the Marbled cat

Below here is a video of the species, and below that is a list of all blog articles which include mention of this species.

Below that we will include any links that will allow you to see this species in the wild (it is rarely seen, so even being in the right place does not guarantee you a sighting). Never-the-less, visiting the area, will help save this species, and there is always a chance that you might spot it.

 

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The worlds top sovereign fund is cutting ties with a dam which will likely lead to the extinction of the Tapanuli Orangutan

In most countries, if a dam was to cause so much destruction to the last habitat of a species, the dam would likely not get permission to be built.

It is true that the dam will only take about 20% of the land in question, directly. It will also split the population in half.

It is not surprising that the Norwegian sovereign fund has pulled out of this dam

Given that only around 800 Tapanuli Orangutans survive in the wild, the loss of just a handful is bad. A loss of 20% of the remaining population could quite rapidly push the population towards extinction, particularly as it will split the few remaining Orangutans into separate populations which cannot interbreed.

Norway has a huge sovereign fund, into which it pours the countries earnings from fossil fuel extraction. Perhaps recognizing that this has a shelf life which is not far from ending, Norway has made sure that for the most part its sovereign fund is good for the natural world (alongside giving good returns)

Generally rules on financing should have ruled this project out in the past, so it is good that this decision has been eventually made.

Will the dam still get built? We will have to wait and see.

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A haven for the critically endangered Sumatran Tiger – Tambling nature conservation

https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2023/04/04/mission-tiger-sumatra-tambling-1-hnk-spc-intl.cnn

Above is a link to a short but fascinating video which CNN did about an ex hunter who is trying to atone for his former behaviour.

It is under 6 minutes and well worth a watch. It is not brand new, but I hope it is of interest.

This is a reserve of about 480 square km on the southern end of Sumatra

While not vast, this small reserve has the capacity to support above 10% of the current remaining Sumatran tiger population.

I hope to be able to link to this destination in the near future

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