Gently go these giants Liz Price
KINABATANGAN, SABAH
Friday, August 31, 2007
AS THE boat approached the riverbank I could see three grey boulders on top of the embankment. A large white egret flew by and distracted me, but out of the corner of my eye I saw one of the boulders moving.
Then it developed ears and a trunk and I realised I was looking at an elephant. My first sighting of wild elephants in Sabah!
From where we were sitting at water level, I could still only make out the backs of these pachyderms and I was trying to zoom in with my camera when Marina, our guide, said the boatman would take us up the bank for a closer look. I thought she was joking, but as the boatman jumped out of the boat, I hastily grabbed my camera and followed him.
It was quite a steep climb and there were deep holes hidden by the long grass. I was oblivious to the ants and sharp grass in my haste to get to the top, as I was convinced the elephants would move off due to the racket we were making.
At the top I was astounded to see not just three elephants, but a whole herd. It was a group of adults with their young I found it difficult to count the exact number as the smaller ones were hidden by the bulky parents, but I reckon there were about 12 to 15 creatures here.
They didn't seem too concerned by our presence and continued to feed on the long grass although a couple of adults were trumpeting for a while, which concerned the rest of the group who had elected to stay in the boats.
I took photos in quick succession expecting the animals to move off, but they stayed put. When I realised they were here to stay, I looked round and saw a smaller group at the far end of the grassy meadow, and yet another group walking through the nearby woods.
It all seemed a bit surreal. I half expected to see circus tents in the background.
I have only ever seen a wild elephant once in Malaysia, and that was in the National Park, when I was alone and about two days' walk from Park HQ. At the time I was terrified and turned tail and ran, without taking a single shot, an action I since regret. So to see a whole herd at close range was just amazing.
There are only two species of elephant worldwide, the African and Asian. The African is by far the bigger of the two.
These Asian elephants in Sabah seemed surprisingly small compared to the huge creatures in South Africa. With the Asian elephants, the tusks of females and young males are rarely visible, but some large males have tusks up to one metre long. Their ears are also smaller than their African cousins.
The Kinabatangan elephants were only studied a few years ago, and now named as the Borneo Elephant or Borneo Pygmy Elephant, they are found to be a subspecies of the Asian Elephant.
The elephant is not indigenous to Borneo and no one knows for sure how it got there.
There are various theories; some say they are the descendants of tributes presented to the Sultan of Brunei. Others say they were brought to Brunei by the British Borneo Company to help with the logging activities, or maybe they were introduced earlier, descending from elephants imported in the 16th to 18th centuries.
Records show the elephants have been there for at least a century, that is before Europeans settled in Sabah and well before commercial logging really started. These elephants are remarkably placid and almost tame, which suggests they could have descended from a domestic collection.
But however they got to Borneo, they are surviving and there are now more elephants in Sabah than anywhere else in Malaysia.
However, they can only survive if their habitat is left intact, and they have enough territory to live in.
Sadly, it was announced earlier this month that their numbers are already dwindling. A two-year study by the World Wildlife Fund Malaysia revealed that the number of elephants in Sabah is fewer than the 1,600 animals estimated earlier.
The elephants depend on the forests in the river valleys and lowlands, but the forests are being cleared at an alarming rate to make way for plantations and logging.
The elephants have been fitted with satellite collars to locate their whereabouts. But they can only survive if their habitat remains intact.
Let's hope these Pygmy Elephants will be able to live on and flourish in the Kinabatangan.
The Brunei Times
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Source URL:
http://www.bt.com.bn/en/en/features/2007/08/31/gently_go_these_giants
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