KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is planting favoured native grasses across wildlife sanctuaries to keep wild Borneo elephants from straying into oil palm plantations and villages.
The Sabah Wildlife Department has teamed up with the Borneo Rhino Alliance (Bora) to plant grasses inside the Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, giving the elephants an alternative food source within their natural habitat.
The two grass species being planted are among the elephants’ preferred food sources – non-invasive Napier grass and native barau grass, a non-sweet relative of sugarcane, according to a statement by Bora.
The initiative builds on efforts launched in 2024 by the Responsible Elephant Conservation Trust (Respect), which began planting elephant grasses on private land and riparian reserves near Bilit in the Kinabatangan district.
Under the latest collaboration, grass planting will be expanded across the wildlife sanctuary, with plans to increase the acreage over the coming year, particularly along the Kinabatangan River, ahead of possible El Nino-induced dry conditions.
Sabah Wildlife Department director Mohd Soffian Abu Bakar said the move was based on long-established scientific findings that grasses and palms make up the bulk of the natural diet of Malaysian elephants.
Mohd Soffian added that the department was keen to expand the extent and productivity of grasslands to provide elephants with a viable alternative food source and reduce their dependence on oil palm plantations.
According to Bora chief executive officer Datuk Dr John Payne, environmental efforts over recent decades have focused heavily on tree planting, including in open areas within forest reserves, wildlife sanctuaries and along riverbanks.
While well-intentioned, he said such activities may have unintentionally reduced the availability of feeding areas preferred by elephants.
Payne estimated that at least 100 million naturally occurring seedlings of common tree species were already growing across wildlife sanctuaries, riparian zones and titled land in the Kinabatangan region.
“I see no merit in planting more tree seedlings in open areas. Instead, such treeless areas must be planted with elephant food,” he said.
The initiative is expected to support elephant conservation while helping to minimise human-elephant conflict by improving food availability within natural habitats.
