Albinism is a genetic disorder characterized by a lack or complete absence of pigmentation in the skin, fur and eyes. As a side-effect, albinos are sensitive to light and sunshine. In orangutans it’s a very rare condition so it has become global news that a rare albino orangutan with pale blonde hair and…
Borneo is an island of natural wonders with one of the world’s highest levels of biodiversity. This a well-known fact and it hardly needs restating. Or maybe it does indeed need to be stated and restated constantly, considering the existential threats that many of the island’s natural habitats and their inhabitants have come to…
As often, science can come to the rescue. This time for determining whether pygmy elephant tusks seized a few days ago in North Kalimantan, Indonesia, belonged to two male pachyderms that were recently killed in Sabah. Indonesian officials stopped a woman who was carrying five elephant tusks in Nunukan in North Kalimantan last week, and Malaysian officials…
Among the big cats of the world, it isn’t just tigers that are in serious trouble. Cheetahs, those iconic speedy predators, are “sprinting towards the edge of extinction,” according to a team of experts from the Zoological Society of London, the Wildlife Conservation Society and the conservationist group Panthera. The team’s study shows that only…
Last August a Bornean pygmy elephant made headlines globally thanks to its tusks, which had been growing downwards and backwards, giving the jumbo a sabre-toothed look. Nicknamed “Sabre” by local officials, the adult male elephant helped highlight the wondrous diversity of Sabah’s wildlife. A few months on, Sabre is dead, having been killed by…
First we destroy their habitats, then we invite them into our homes. All right, “invite” might not be the proper term; let’s say “entice.” In recent years conflicts between humans and wild animals have been increasing across Malaysia as more and more animals from monkeys to snakes to wild elephants…
If you thought Malaysia’s tigers have had it hard, you might want to spare a thought for leopards. They’ve had it just as hard, if not worse. Here comes a new study, published in the journal Biological Conservation, that confirms just that. Indochinese leopards (Panthera pardus delacouri), which are a…
We keep hearing a lot about deforestation in Malaysia. Jungles are being cut down to make way for oil palm plantations. Loggers carry on decimating prime forests for timber. Relentless development keeps encroaching on woods around the country. And once the trees are gone, they are gone forever, right? Not…
Monkeys, foxes, squirrels, wild boars, snakes. These animals make for quite a menagerie of wildlife. You may not want to see them in your backyard, though. Yet all these animals are showing up near the houses of people living in the Klang Valley in the larger Kuala Lumpur area. And…
Illegal logging is, well, illegal in Sarawak, yet the practice seems to remain so common that you may not even have to search for evidence – you can literally stumble across it. Sarawak Forestry Corporation officials recently did just that when they ran into several large pile of illegally-felled trees. The…