Animals in Borneo

This February I went to Borneo and visited the following places:

• Mulu National Park
• Kuching
• Bako National Park
• Koto Kinibalu
• Mt Kinibalu

And these are some of the animals I saw…(to see pictures larger, just click on them)

Monkeys and Apes

Proboscis monkey, Bako

Proboscis monkey, Bako

Macaque monkey, Bako

Macaques were really unpopular with a lot of people due to their habit of stealing food and phones (not sure what they were doing with the phones, evolving into tech savvy creatures maybe). However, like with all the primates, their tenderness with one another and the expressiveness of their faces made me feel very fond of them.

Macaque monkeys, Bako

Silverleaf monkey, Bako

Orangutans, Semenggoh Nature Reserve

Orangutan

Orangutan, Semenggoh Nature Reserve

Semenggoh Nature Reserve has a number of semi-wild orangutans, mostly they forage for their own food, but some food is also provided. Their deep red coats are thought to act as camouflage, partly because in peat swamps the water is a reddy orange, also because the dense green canopy of the forest reflects green light, so that red is darker. Orangutans (and gibbons below) are apes and therefore more closely related to humans (also apes) than they are to monkeys. Although orangutans are roughly the same height as humans, their shoulders are very broad with extremely strong muscles and the ones I saw effortlessly hung from the ropes like gymnasts.

Gibbon, Lok Kawi Wildlife Park

Birds

At Mount Kinibalu

At Mount Kinibalu

In Koto Kinibalu

Some kind of wild turkey, Lok Kawi Wildlife Park

Hornbill, Lok Kawi Wildlife Park

Reptiles and Amphibians

Pit viper, Bako

Lizard, Mulu

Monitor lizard, Lok Kawi Wildlife Park

Mudskipper, Bako

Mudskippers are fish with legs, fish going their own way.

Mammals

Flying lemur, Bako

Deer Cave bats, Mulu,

Deer Cave bats, Mulu

At about six o’clock every evening millions of bats fly out of Deer cave in a weaving ribbon.

Arthropods

Hammerhead worm, Mulu

In Mulu

White cotton bug (I think), Mulu

This bug (above) was about 6mm across, I saw a few similar bugs while I was in Mulu, each formed a slightly different shape but all looked like crimped pieces of cotton.

Stick insect, Mulu

Haaniella stick insect, Bako

The stick insect (above) was about 15cm long, the abdomen of the centipede below was about 5cm.

Scutigeromorpha, centipede, Bako

At Mount Kinibalu

Spider with egg sac, Bako

Dragonfly, Mulu

Crab, Bako

Rolled leaf moth, Mulu

Rolled leaf moth, Mulu

The moth above I saw clinging to the grid covering the window in the bathroom of my hostel. I had to climb on the sink to get photos of it so the quality is not ideal. I’d never seen a moth with wings curled round like that before, but further online searching suggests that moths with curled wings, to mimic leaves, are not so rare.

The video below is of a Bird of Paradise performing dance, not sure if it was a warning or a mating ritual. This film was taken in a Lok Kawi Wildlife Park which was essentially a zoo, I don’t really like zoos but didn’t realise until I got there, so I apologise for the bars.