Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Mammals Of Borneo Goes On-line
Kota Samarahan Sarawak (Malaysia), 30 October: Compilation of a list of mammals of Borneo has come a very long way. This on-line checklist owed to many pervious European travelers, traders, colonial officers, museum collectors, curators and biologists describing those species that are known to us today. It was only in 1960s that pioneering local biologists, namely Dr. Lim Boo Liat of the Institute Medical Research and Professor H.S. Yong of the University Malaya, entered the scene by publication of survey and genetic research on mammals respectively. The establishment of the University Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) has encouraged local scientists to explore the hinterland of Borneo and provided more research findings on new distribution records of mammals in Borneo.
Historical records of European association with Borneo and its fauna were compiled by Lord Medway that was published in 1977 by the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.
Briefly, the earliest known European travel account was by A. Pigafetta where on 15th July 1521, he landed in Brunei and saw some domesticated elephants. Olivier van Noort was the first Dutch to arrive in Brunei on 20th December 1600. In 1603 the Dutch East India Company established a footing at Banjermasin, followed by the British and Portuguese at Martapura. Later for about 200 years, there was spice trading and massive European colonists’ massacres and repression on the local people. In 1714, Daniel Beeckman noted about the fauna of large mammals such as deer, goats, buffaloes and “monkies” in the area.
From 1817 and 1818, the Dutch colonists claimed sovereignty over Banjermasin and appointed commissioner to administer the region. In 1836, Commissioner S. Müller and other colleagues collected some specimens around Banjermasin and lower reaches of the Barito River. Müller’s nominal lists were published in 1838 and 1839-40 became the basis of scientific research on mammals in Borneo.
In northwestern part of Borneo, James Brooke who was an avid collector, seized power in Sarawak in 1842 and welcomed British collectors to be his official guests. H. Low collected specimens in Sarawak in 1845-48 and published 61 species of Bornean mammals.
William T. Hornaday, an American collector and hunter, wrote in 1885 on his many hunting expeditions in Sebuyau and Simujan, Sarawak where he killed a total of 43 orang-hutans. In 1888, Rajah Brooke established the Sarawak Museum in his effort for the preservation and conservation of the cultural heritage and natural history of Borneo. In 1893, Charles Hose who was a curator of Sarawak Museum published an account on the mammals of Borneo based on the museum collections and observations.
In the famous travelog by Alfred Russel Wallace published in 1896, called The Malay Archipelago, he wrote about his facination on hunting of Orang Hutan around the Kuching area. Earlier, Wallace wrote the precursor to the theory of evolution called the “Sarawak Law” based on his field work and observation at Mount Santubong.
From 1923 to 1932, F.N Chasen had published a monograph and contributed immensely on our knowledge of the taxonomy and distribution of mammals in the Malaysian region. In 1949, Edward Banks, published the first twentieth century species account called Bornean Mammals. Davis (1962) published on the mammals collected from the Murud-Kelabit highland in Sarawak. Between 1938 to1974, Tom Harrison and J.E Hill contributed considerable knowledge on the taxonomy, distribution and ecology of mammals of Borneo. John L. Harrison wrote a book titled An Introduction to the Mammals of Sabah in 1964 that was published by the Sabah Society. Later, Lord Medway 1977 presented the most complete list of mammals in Borneo and in 1985 Dr. John Payne, Dr. Charles M. Francis and Karen Phillipps made further revisions of Medway’s work in the publication A field guide to the mammals of Borneo.
Over the last 21 years since Dr. Payne’s publication, there were numerous articles being published on mammals of Borneo in local and international journals. Collation of information continued by Sarawak Museum and Sarawak Forestry Department. With the establishment of UNIMAS in 1993 many scientific expeditions into many interior parts of Sarawak has been carried out by members of the Animal Resource Science and Management (now known as Department of Zoology), IBEC and students. These expeditions were supported by various internal and external grants. Numerous new records and distributional list of mammals especially bats have been recorded for the state of Sarawak and Kalimantan.
These explorations resulted in providing information to managers and carry message of conservation throughout Borneo. Such information is essential as a first step to understanding the potential threats and conservation status of many mammalian species in this region. Wildlife protection is not similar within all the countries and states in Borneo.
The current provisional list of Mammals of Borneo is the collection of all those lists and recent publications, including conflicting or unconfirmed records, is now being uploaded on-line by using http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammals_of_Borneo.
(ResearchSEA)
Historical records of European association with Borneo and its fauna were compiled by Lord Medway that was published in 1977 by the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.
Briefly, the earliest known European travel account was by A. Pigafetta where on 15th July 1521, he landed in Brunei and saw some domesticated elephants. Olivier van Noort was the first Dutch to arrive in Brunei on 20th December 1600. In 1603 the Dutch East India Company established a footing at Banjermasin, followed by the British and Portuguese at Martapura. Later for about 200 years, there was spice trading and massive European colonists’ massacres and repression on the local people. In 1714, Daniel Beeckman noted about the fauna of large mammals such as deer, goats, buffaloes and “monkies” in the area.
From 1817 and 1818, the Dutch colonists claimed sovereignty over Banjermasin and appointed commissioner to administer the region. In 1836, Commissioner S. Müller and other colleagues collected some specimens around Banjermasin and lower reaches of the Barito River. Müller’s nominal lists were published in 1838 and 1839-40 became the basis of scientific research on mammals in Borneo.
In northwestern part of Borneo, James Brooke who was an avid collector, seized power in Sarawak in 1842 and welcomed British collectors to be his official guests. H. Low collected specimens in Sarawak in 1845-48 and published 61 species of Bornean mammals.
William T. Hornaday, an American collector and hunter, wrote in 1885 on his many hunting expeditions in Sebuyau and Simujan, Sarawak where he killed a total of 43 orang-hutans. In 1888, Rajah Brooke established the Sarawak Museum in his effort for the preservation and conservation of the cultural heritage and natural history of Borneo. In 1893, Charles Hose who was a curator of Sarawak Museum published an account on the mammals of Borneo based on the museum collections and observations.
In the famous travelog by Alfred Russel Wallace published in 1896, called The Malay Archipelago, he wrote about his facination on hunting of Orang Hutan around the Kuching area. Earlier, Wallace wrote the precursor to the theory of evolution called the “Sarawak Law” based on his field work and observation at Mount Santubong.
From 1923 to 1932, F.N Chasen had published a monograph and contributed immensely on our knowledge of the taxonomy and distribution of mammals in the Malaysian region. In 1949, Edward Banks, published the first twentieth century species account called Bornean Mammals. Davis (1962) published on the mammals collected from the Murud-Kelabit highland in Sarawak. Between 1938 to1974, Tom Harrison and J.E Hill contributed considerable knowledge on the taxonomy, distribution and ecology of mammals of Borneo. John L. Harrison wrote a book titled An Introduction to the Mammals of Sabah in 1964 that was published by the Sabah Society. Later, Lord Medway 1977 presented the most complete list of mammals in Borneo and in 1985 Dr. John Payne, Dr. Charles M. Francis and Karen Phillipps made further revisions of Medway’s work in the publication A field guide to the mammals of Borneo.
Over the last 21 years since Dr. Payne’s publication, there were numerous articles being published on mammals of Borneo in local and international journals. Collation of information continued by Sarawak Museum and Sarawak Forestry Department. With the establishment of UNIMAS in 1993 many scientific expeditions into many interior parts of Sarawak has been carried out by members of the Animal Resource Science and Management (now known as Department of Zoology), IBEC and students. These expeditions were supported by various internal and external grants. Numerous new records and distributional list of mammals especially bats have been recorded for the state of Sarawak and Kalimantan.
These explorations resulted in providing information to managers and carry message of conservation throughout Borneo. Such information is essential as a first step to understanding the potential threats and conservation status of many mammalian species in this region. Wildlife protection is not similar within all the countries and states in Borneo.
The current provisional list of Mammals of Borneo is the collection of all those lists and recent publications, including conflicting or unconfirmed records, is now being uploaded on-line by using http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammals_of_Borneo.
(ResearchSEA)
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