Malaysia has fairly strong environmental laws that prescribe harsh penalties for wildlife trafficking and other nefarious crimes against the environment. Yet these activities, including wildlife trafficking, continue to persist around the nation. Why is that? For one thing, laws are routinely left unenforced and culprits are let off the hook…
Three construction workers were at work on a building site in the Indragiri Hilir district of the Sumatran province of Riau when they noticed a tiger lurking around. They decided to wait for the animal to leave, but when they thought it was safe to leave they chanced upon the…
A plant that was last seen in the forests of Sarawak a century and a half is lost no more. Ladies and gentlemen (drumroll please!) here comes the “fairy lantern”! The plant Thismia neptunis has been dubbed as such thanks to its extravagantly rococo-style flower, which makes it resemble a…
Picture yourself as a researcher setting out to save some of the world’s most iconic carnivores: lions in Zimbabwe, clouded leopards in Malaysia, swift foxes in Canada. Before you head off on your quest from London’s Heathrow Airport, though, you’ll have to familiarize yourself with your selected terrain and its…
Proboscis monkeys are most famous, just as their name suggests, for their bulbous noses. The critically endangered primates are endemic to Borneo, where locals have long marveled at their protuberant facial appendages, which can grow to as much as 14cm in some of the males and which make the monkey…
Two years after a moratorium on all bauxite mining was imposed in Pahang, local stockpiles have still not been cleared. Some 10 tons of bauxite still remains. In other words, the clear-up has been manifestly sluggish, even by local standards, to say the least. And so it goes. What seemed…
First came news of a wild elephant showing up one morning in a canteen at a school in Sabah. Now comes news of a wild boar showing up in a mosque in Selangor. The boar entered Sungai Plong Mosque in Sungai Buloh on a recent evening. Probably alarmed at the…
A skyscraper from wood? Sounds fanciful, but that’s what a Japanese company is planning to construct. Sumitomo Forestry, which was founded in 1691, says it will build the world’s tallest wooden skyscraper for the Tokyo-based company’s 350th anniversary in 2041. The 350m tower, called W350, will contain 10% steel with…
The tiger had been lurking in nearby forests and locals in the village of Mandailing Natal in North Sumatra took it to be an evil spirit. Intrigued by the animal, the villagers gathered for a look-see one day. In response, the tiger attacked them, seriously injuring two villagers. So the…
Come Earth Hour on March 24 you can do a bit something for the environment, even if symbolically. For starters, you can turn off all your lights and electric appliances for an hour as millions around the planet and Malaysia do each year during Earth Hour. And, if you’re in…
Big cats are among the planet’s most beloved and most majestic creatures. They’re among its most endangered too. Across the world. from South America to Southeast Asia, several species of big cat are facing the threat of extinction in the wild. “These charismatic creatures are universally revered for their grace…
It’s many a wildlife-loving child’s dream: an elephant coming to school to enliven the daily tedium of classes. In one school in Sabah that dream came true on a recent morning when a wild elephant suddenly showed up in school and walked through the canteen. Then again, the sight of…
We all love our daily cups of tea. Well, many of us do. But what we may not realize is that many of those cups of tea may not be all that good for the environment. And it isn’t just because tea cultivation may be done in environmentally harmful ways….
The East Coast Rail Line (ECRL), which will connect Port Klang in Selangor with parts of the east coast, will be a boon to commuters by cutting lengthy journeys down to a matter of hours. On the downside, however, the new 688km high-speed rail line will fragment several already fragmented…
Pygmy elephants are placid creatures but they can turn violent if they feel threatened. If that happens, they can become a danger to themselves and people. And so it was recently in some villages in the Telupid district of Sabah where three wild Bornean pygmy elephants, which belonged to a…
It seems that for many pythons in Malaysia it tends to be a case of “kill or be killed” whenever they come into contact with people. To wit: a man in the Kuala Langat district of Selangor was recently strangled to death by a 3.5m python. The serpent did not…