Borneo - You probably know it for its rainforests, orangutans and world-class scuba diving. But there’s a lot more to this lush tropical island.
Did you know that its jungles provide a rich habitat for rare creatures? It’s also home to the world’s largest (and most pungent) flower, its richest monarch and the highest peak in the Southeast Asia region.
As the third-largest island on the planet, Borneo unsurprisingly offers a wealth of discovery for travelers. To help you navigate its varied wonders and inspire you to visit, here’s our expert’s list of fun and interesting facts about Borneo.
Borneo rainforests are ancient
The rainforest in Borneo is one of the oldest in the world
and is estimated to be about 130 million years old. Unfortunately 50 percent of
Borneo forests were logged or burned to the ground for oil palm plantations in
the 80s’ and 90s’, and the island is still the world’s largest producer of
timber. Half of world timber supply come from Borneo.
It has so many amazing plant
There are roughly 15,000 different plant species in Borneo, though not
all of its flowers you’d want in your garden at home.
The biggest flower - The Rafflesia arnoldii
The Rafflesia Arnoldii boasts the world’s largest flower, whose
secondary claim to fame is smelling like decaying flesh, hence its cute
nickname, ‘stinking corpse lily.’ Why does it smell the way it does? To attract
flies and other meat-eating pollinators.
The Biggest Orchid Grammatophyllum speciousm
Grammatophyllum speciosum or Giant orchid is native to Borneo and some
other near island. This ochid is the largest and heaviest among other species
of orchids. In one adult clump, giant orchids or tiger orchid can weigh more
than 1 ton and have panicle lengths of up to 3 meters with panicle diameter
around 1.5-2 cm. That is why this plant deserves the title of the largest and
heaviest orchid or giant orchid.
Super Endemic Carnivorous Plant– Nepenthes clipeata
Nepenthes clipeata has a high endemicity. The natural
habitat of this carnivorous plant is only found in Bukit Kelam, Sintang, West
Kalimantan. Some efforts to find new populations of N. clipeata outside of
Bukit Kelam have been carried out. But until now, there is no another
population of N. clipeata has been foundd outside of Bukit Kelam area.
250 Dipterocarp Species
Borneo is the world capital of dipterocarps, trees with
two-winged fruits that grow in tropical lowlands and tend to be “emergents,”
rising singly above the canopy. It has 380 of the 500 species in existence. 250
are endemic, found only on Borneo, including Shorea faguetana, the
tallest tropical tree anywhere, reaching 290 feet.
Over 100 of the animals are endemic to Borneo Rainforest
There are around 222 different species of mammal, with a colorful
variety of endemic animals, including aforementioned frogs and orangutans.
Aside from that, there are proboscis monkeys with their bulbously adorable
noses, the Sumatran rhinoceros, the clouded leopard, Sumatran tigers, palm
civets, hornbills and countless insects (scientists have found up to 1,000 different
species on a single tree in some areas). Some of this rainforest animal is
endemic to Borneo Rainforest.
Endemic means you can only find the animal in that particular place, so
for Borneo to have more than 100 of these animals is remarkable. Examples of
these animals include:
Bornean Orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus),
It is estimated there were about 54,000 orangutan in Borneo island,
both in Indonesian and Malaysian parts in 2004 (Wich et all 2008). Several
rehabilitation centers are open to the public where you can see them in their
natural habitat.
Due to habitat loss, the endemic Bornean orangutan is now on the
critically endangered list.
Among the three subspecies of Bornean orangutan, P.p. pygmaeus is the
most threatened.
Proboscis monkeys (Nasalis
larvatus),
Proboscis monkeys are one of the endemic primate to the Borneo
Rainforest. This species never straying far from the island’s rivers, coastal
mangroves, and swamps. They are a highly arboreal species and will venture onto
land only occasionally to search for food.
Bornean clouded leopards
The last great forest home of the Bornean clouded leopard is the Heart
of Borneo, a 220,000km2 wild, mountainous region — about five times the
size of Switzerland — covered with equatorial rainforest in the centre of the
island. Destruction of their habitat is the main threat they face.
Bornean Pygmy Elephant
The pygmy elephants are the smallest elephants in Asia with baby-faced
and oversized ears, plump bellies and the tails is so long they sometimes drag
on the ground as they walk. They are also more gentle-natured than their Asian elephant
counterparts.
Though you may not see one, you might hear one – just keep your ears
out for a honking sound when you’re on your jungle cruise adventure.
Hunter-gatherers (Punan Tribe)
There are still
hunter-gatherers in the heart of borneo rainforest who hunt with blowguns and
leave 100 different signs of bent branches and folded leaves for each other in
the forest. And they have 1,200 names for different trees and their
corresponding spirits and until two generations ago believed that this is only
one of nine different worlds in the cosmos.
Borneo is a haven for wildlife
For peat’s sake Peat might not sound like the most exciting thing, but
Borneo’s peat marsh swamps contribute to its rich biodiversity, providing a
home for freshwater fish, birds and monkeys. They cover the coastlines of
Borneo, with some up to 11,000 years old. Sadly, some of Borneo’s peat swamps are
being destroyed to make room for oil palm and rubber tree plantations,
releasing C02 into the atmosphere and generally very negatively impacting the
environment. (Anti-palm oil campaigns are helping spread the word about the
effects of these plantations in Southeast Asian countries).
Deforestation Threat
In 1970, 75 percent of Borneo was
covered in tropical rainforest. But in just four decades that figure has
been reduced by 30 percent, according to a new analysis published in PLoS One. Logging, oil palm
plantations and forest fires are the three biggest culprits behind the rapid
deforestation, they found. At the scientists write, "between 1980 and
2000 more round wood was harvested from Borneo than from Africa and the Amazon
combined.
The expansion of oil palm plantation happening due to the global demand
for palm oil. This oil is the most important tropical vegetable oil in the
global oils and fats industry. Within Indonesia, oil palm production
expanded from 600,000 hectares in 1985 to over 6 million hectares by 2007.
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