Fewer pygmy jumbos now

KOTA KINABALU: Satellite tracking of Sabah’s endangered Borneo pygmy elephants has confirmed that their numbers are dwindling because of forest clearing to make way for plantations and logging. 

A two-year study by WWF-Malaysia revealed that the number of elephants in Sabah is fewer than the 1,600 animals estimated earlier. 

“The data gathered reveals there are probably not more than 1,000 pygmy elephants left in Sabah,” said WWF-Malaysia Borneo Species programme head Raymond Alfred. 

He said satellite tracking of five elephants showed their dependence on the forests in the flat lowland and river valleys. 

Animal protection: This photo made available by the World Wildlife Fund shows A.Christy Williams, (right), coordinator for WWF's Asian elephants programme, strapping aleather transmitter collar around an elephant's neck in Taliwas forest in Sabah in a June21, 2005 file photo. A study has found that the endangered animals are under threat dueto logging and commercial plantations encroaching on their habitat. — AP

But this is also the type of terrain preferred for commercial plantations. 

“The areas these elephants need to survive in are the same forests where the most intensive logging in Sabah has taken place, because flat lands and valleys incur the lowest cost when extracting timber,” Alfred added. 

In the last four decades, 40% of Sabah's forest cover had been lost to logging, plantations and human settlement. 

“However, the Malaysian government’s commitment to retain extensive forest habitat under the ‘Heart of Borneo’ agreement should ensure that the herds have a home,” Alfred added.  

The study, the largest using satellite collars on five Borneo pygmy elephants, suggests that they prefer lowland forests because there is more food of better quality on fertile lowland soils.  

The elephants were outfitted with collars which sent GPS locations to a WWF-Malaysia computer via satellite daily.  

This was the first long-term study done of Borneo Pygmy elephants.