Sunday, June 24, 2007

Bornean Gibbon (Owa-owa)

The Owa-owa (Hylobates muelleri) or bornean gibbon is an inhabitant of lowland rainforest. Like humans, they life in family groups, each group consisting of a male/female pairing, and their offspring. To gurantee their survival, each group maintains a vigorously defended territory. Frequent and loud calls warn other groups not to cross the territorial boundaries. The increasing loss the remaining lowland rainforest is a major threat to gibbon populations. The Sungai Wain Protection Forest near Balikpapan is one place that these gibbons are still found.

The Orangutan (Orang Utan)

The Orangutan (Pongo pygmeus) is a primate species that like most of the other wildlife needs tropical lowland forest to survive. It is only found in the wild on the islands of Sumatera and Kalimantan, Indonesia. Since 1992, the Balikpapan Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF) heve been releasing rehabilitated orangutans into the Sungai Wain forest. These orangutans have confiscated from the black market and from those illegally kept as pets. Wild orangutans are not only rare, but in real danger of extinction.

The Sun Bear (Beruang Madu)



The Sun Bear (Helarctos malayanus) is the smallest of the world's eight spesies of bear. It is only found in the tropical lowland rainforests of South East Asia, including the Sungai Wain Protection Forest, near Balikpapan in East Kalimantan. Besides eating insects and honey, this bear also likes fruit, playing an important role in fruit seed dispersal, and thus helping maintain the forest. As a result of large-scale fires and illegal logging in Kalimantan, sun berars are becoming increasingly rare and andagered.