WildCRU
Friday, August 20, 2010
First survey underway... The Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary
To kick off our new programme we are starting with an intense camera trap survey of the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary (LKWS), a protected, but highly fragmented and degraded collection of forest patches along Sabah’s mighty Kinabatangan river. Managed by the Sabah Wildlife Department, the LKWS is one of the few remaining examples of lowland forest in Sabah, and consists of a range of lowland forest formations, including permanently inundated and seasonally flooded swamp forests, riparian and lowland Dipterocarp forest. However, much of the region’s forests have been cleared for oil palm development and the remaining forests of the LKWS are now highly fragmented.
Nevertheless, as a Wildlife Sanctuary the area is a focal point for conservation in Sabah, and contains important populations of numerous threatened species; a recent study of the potential distrbution of the flat-headed cat (Wilting et al, 2010) and some recent observations (Hearn et al, 2010) suggest that the LKWS is an important area for the conservation of this felid.
Nevertheless, as a Wildlife Sanctuary the area is a focal point for conservation in Sabah, and contains important populations of numerous threatened species; a recent study of the potential distrbution of the flat-headed cat (Wilting et al, 2010) and some recent observations (Hearn et al, 2010) suggest that the LKWS is an important area for the conservation of this felid.
Our focal aim will be to determine the density of Sunda clouded leopards in this unique habitat, but the cameras will also provide vital information regarding the other members of the Bornean felid guild, as well as other wildlife. Additional key questions that we’ll attempt to answer are: how do clouded leopard and other wild felids persist in this fragmented habitat; can they move between non-contiguous forest blocks, and how effective are the existing riparian corridors at facilitating the movement of animals? Following our model that we’ve developed over the last four years, we will spend approximately six months surveying the region’s forests patches, cutting trails and setting camera at a total of 70 sites.
Our team have now arrived at our new home from home, the Danau Girang Field Centre, which is located in the Lot 6 of the LKWS. The centre is jointly managed by Cardiff University and the Sabah Wildlife Department, both of whom are providing us with exceptional logistical support. Wish us luck!!
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1 comments:
Dear Sir,
Good day, as we found a photo from your website about Kinabatangan River which is quite useful to be put in our educational book. Therefore, would like to get your permission in using it. May you contact us through at chiehjou.goh@gmail.com for further discussion.
Thanks
Jou