Mohammad Sabri feeding another wild visitor, an oriental pied hornbill.
There is a right way to make proboscis monkey calls, and a ranger in Sabah had to learn and practise for a couple of weeks before mastering it.
Mohammad Sabri Laleling, 28, said he received instruction from a more senior ranger, to be able to call the proboscis monkey (si bayau to Sabahans) for meals at Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary in Sandakan.
He told Bernama that when he started calling, not a single monkey showed up, until some time in the second week.
Proboscis monkeys at the sanctuary in Sandakan.
“I got excited when they appeared,” he said of the wild arboreal creatures that inhabit a mangrove forest within an oil palm plantation, and are fed at the sanctuary’s observation platform.
The 202ha sanctuary is one of the state’s unique attractions offering a rare opportunity to watch wildlife up close.
Sanctuary assistant manager Ahmad Dinsa Sasang, 54, said the idea to start the sanctuary came to his employer in 2000 after noticing the presence of the monkeys.
A close-up of ‘si bayau’, the unique primate with a large pendulous nose which can be found in Borneo. — Photos: Bernama-- fotoBERNAMA (2025) HAK CIPTA TERPELIHARA
“Our late employer started feeding them and they kept coming back.”
He said the monkeys were fed sugar-free pancakes and cucumbers at a cost of about RM2,000 per month.
Several other species of monkeys like the silvery lutung, long-tailed and pig-tailed macaques swing by too, while the sanctuary also sees visitors like hornbills.
