First Expedition to the Rungan Forests Complete!
A total of 30 people were living at the camp in the forest, supported by a dedicated team from Mungku Baru village. The international team included Indonesian and foreign university students, lecturers, research staff and the vital kitchen team who kept everyone well fed. We were living together in this very simple forest camp for […]
Welcoming a new wild orangutan baby to the world!
As we celebrate International Orangutan Day 2016, Jali (OuTrop Field Assistant) brings us some very exciting news from the Sabangau Forest. Last month, Cara (OuTrop’s Gibbon and Red Langur Scientist) and I were on the lookout for red langur monkey or gibbon groups to habituate (become accustomed to human observers). We ended up finding the […]
Prevention is better than cure: Managing habitats now to stop forest fires in the future
Our work to prevent forest fires never stops. The fight never stops. Our efforts does not only involve extinguishing the flames, but also stopping the flames ever catching alight. Our Conservation Manager, Pau Brugues Sintes, talks about exactly what this involves! In undisturbed conditions, peat-swamp forests are fire resistant. Even during the dry season the […]
Part 2: How do orangutans communicate?
After nearly a year with OuTrop, it is time for us to wave goodbye to our Orangutan Research Assistant, Joey Markx. In our latest blog Joey, who specialises in gestural communication, shares his research findings and his experiences in the forests of Borneo. It’s here, the sad time to leave the project has come again. […]
Amazing forest species recorded on our Mungku Baru Expedition
Following on from our meeting with the Rector of the Muhammadiyah University of Palangka Raya (UMP), our Mungku Baru Education Forest research expedition began last month. Due to the site’s remoteness, communications are difficult, but we have received reports that a number of important findings have been made and important forest and wildlife species documented. […]
Mungku Baru Expedition gains support from local university
As an initial step in our Rungan River Orangutan Conservation Programme, the Borneo Nature Foundation began a collaborative research expedition with the Muhammadiyah University of Palangka Raya (UMP) this month. This expedition is being conducted in the Mungku Baru Education Forest, which is managed by UMP, and our multi-national team includes BNF scientists and volunteers, […]
Welcome to Borneo Nature Foundation!
We are delighted to announce the creation of the Borneo Nature Foundation, a new Indonesian conservation organisation dedicated to the protection of biodiversity throughout Borneo. BNF is being created by the directors and staff of the Orangutan Tropical Peatland Project (OuTrop) to expand our range of projects throughout a wider range of habitat types and […]
Borneo’s wild cats – new assessment for the IUCN Red List
Borneo Nature Foundation Co-director Dr Susan Cheyne has been working with colleagues from across Borneo and South East Asia to evaluate the conservation status of Borneo’s cat species. The updated species accounts on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species bring together new knowledge and distribution data to give a comprehensive picture of how these […]
Bornean orangutan declared ‘Critically Endangered’ as forests shrink
The IUCN – the International Union for Conservation of Nature – has upgraded the Red List status of the Bornean Orangutan to Critically Endangered, their highest category of extinction risk, in a grave and serious statement of the potential fate of this magnificent creature. Scientists have estimated that the population will decline by 86% between […]
A call from the wild: Studying long calls in male Bornean and Sumatran orangutans
James Askew, a PhD student from the University of Southern California, has spent the past two years trying to understand the long call of the male orangutan. He recently arrived in the Sabangau Forest for his final field season. Here he shares his story. For the past two years I’ve been lucky enough to study […]