2018 – The Habitat Foundation

Project Pteropus – Dr Sheema Abdul Aziz of Rimba

Rong — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 22:19:00 +0000

Project Pteropus is a research initiative by Rimba Research to fill the gaps in our understanding of old-world fruit bats such as flying foxes (Pteropus spp., Acerodon spp.) which are known to be important ecosystem service providers, pollinating flowers and dispersing seeds over long distances.

Once widespread, fruitbats in Malaysia (Pteropus hypomelanus and Pteropus vampyrus) have now been classified as ‘Endangered’ on the Red List of Mammals for Peninsular Malaysia.

Once a common sight in certain parts of Malaysia, these remarkable flying mammals are a rare sight as numbers have declined with hunting and persecution. Project Pteropus aims is seeking a deeper understanding of bat ecosystem services and conflict situations with humans as an important first step to developing effective conservation solutions.

Dr Sheema Abdul Aziz of the NGO Rimba is the lead researcher of Project Pteropus and the recipient of a 2018 Habitat Foundation research grant. She has been studying the ecology of fruit-visiting bats since 2013. In seeking insights into the ecosystem services they provide, she hopes to develop an effective conservation strategy to advocate for these misunderstood animals.

We’ll be traversing the length and breadth of Peninsular Malaysia looking for Pteropus roosts and caves frequented by cave nectar bats (Eonycteris spelaea), and also talking to local people and orchard owners. This will allow us to assess the status of these pollinating fruit bats across the landscape, understand local people’s experiences and perceptions of fruit bats, and also identify potential sites for future studies on durian pollination and farmer-bat conflict. We hope to start engaging fruit farmers constructively as equal partners to explore collaborative solutions. – Rimba

Conservation challenges confronting fruitbats

Caught on camera! However, things are not as they would seem. Fruitbats are not pests but pollinators.

Long reviled as pests, numbers of fruitbats or flying foxes, have declined steadily in recent years. They are hunted or chased off by farmers seeking to protect their crop of mangoes and durians. However, findings from research into the ecology of fruitbats has provided some fascinating information.

The main food of fruit bats is the fruit of wild fig trees and they play an important ecological role as dispersers of seeds.
Camera trap footage reveals that fruitbats do not actually eat durian flowers. They only feed on their nectar without damaging them. Flying foxes also play a central role in durian pollination.

These observations have the potential to change the way farmers and local people view them and could provide a strategy to mitigate conflict and ensure the conservation of this species (and ensure the future supply of delicious durians!)

Rimba’s Project Pteropus will focus on the following actions:-

establishing contact with fruit farmers
collected baseline data on bat roosts and populations
identifying suitable sites in Peninsular Malaysia for further research
collecting social data on orchard management practices and farmers’ experiences with wildlife
conducting outreach and awareness-raising activities

The team will collect data on flying fox movement ecology and durian pollination networks. Findings on the economic evaluation of bat pollination of durian in Peninsular Malaysia will also be shared with industry, policymakers, and the general public.

Visit Rimba’s facebook page and website for more information on this study. You can also read about Rimba’s research in an article published in The Guardian in February 2018. “World’s most controversial fruit may depend on giant bats for pollination.“

Night Spotting Project – Priscillia Miard

Rong — Sat, 03 Nov 2018 07:04:00 +0000

Night Spotting Project is a research and conservation outreach initiative led by Priscillia Miard who has been studying nocturnal mammals for the past six years, a journey that has taken her from her native France, to the jungles of Brunei and Sabah.

She is now based in Penang and has been documenting the distribution of nocturnal species in the forests of Penang and other locations in the Peninsula and on the island of Langkawi. This work will be used towards her PhD at the School of Biological Sciences at Universiti Sains Malaysia.

Priscillia’s research is making an important contribution by providing important data on the distribution and density of populations of nocturnal mammals including species that are considered to be vulnerable and endangered such as the Sunda slow loris (Nycticebus coucang) and the Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica). Many nocturnal species play important ecological roles as seed dispersers and assisting in pollination. This work will enhance our understanding of the challenges facing these species and help guide effective strategies to ensure their conservation and their continued role in maintaining healthy forest habitats.

In order to conduct this research, aside from assuming a nocturnal lifestyle herself, Priscillia has also armed herself with new wildlife sensing technology which includes a thermal camera and ultrasound recorders. To view these creatures more closely, she used red light torches that do not bother nocturnal mammals and enable her to study their behaviour as they move around naturally.

During the Penang Hill BioBlitz 2017, Priscillia made an interesting observation when teamed up with bat researchers from USM – she found that the Sunda colugo uses ultrasound to communicate, a behaviour that has not previously been documented. This finding has been published in the academic journal Bioacoustics and featured in the online magazine Mongabay and the September 2018 issue of Penang Monthly.

Night Spotting Project is also committed to enhancing awareness and appreciation of these species among schoolchildren and the general public. She encourages people to accompany her on her night surveys to experience forest habitats at night. You can find out more about these nocturnal species by clicking on the images below.

Buffy Fish Owl

Collared Scops Owl

Common Palm Civet

Fruit Bat

Horsfield’s Flying Squirrel

Sunda Colugo

Lesser Mousedeer

Leopard Cat

Sunda Slow Loris

Sunda Pangolin

If you would like to learn more about Night Spotting Project and participate in their activities, do follow them on Facebook or Instagram or visit their website.

Priscilla Miard and Night Spotting Project received a 2018 Habitat Foundation Research Grant to continue this important research and outreach work.

Langur Project Penang – Jo Leen Yap

Rong — Sat, 03 Nov 2018 11:43:00 +0000

Langur Project Penang is an innovative citizen science project led by Jo Leen Yap, a promising young primatologist from Penang. The project is helping to educate the public to understand the challenges facing Penang’s captivating dusky langurs.

Trachypithecus obscurus has many names. They are called lotong or lutong in Malay, and also called dusky leaf monkeys and spectacled langurs.

Langur Project Penang has been studying the ecology and behaviour of dusky langurs in Penang since 2016. Dusky langurs spend most of their time feeding and sheltering on tall trees but they need to cross the road from the forest to the coast to forage for plants that are important to their diet.

Langurs mainly cross by leaping from tree to tree (63%).
However, if there is no tree connectivity, they will move along cable wires (34%) or run across the road (2.6%).
Langur casualties occur when they accidentally fall when crossing on cable wires or get hit by fast-moving vehicles.

Bridging the gap

In order to help langurs adapt to living in human-impacted landscapes, LPP is spearheading a project to install canopy bridges in strategic locations to enable arboreal wildlife to cross safely. This pilot project will provide valuable information to advocate for sustainable road development not just in Penang but elsewhere in Malaysia.

Living together

The education and awareness campaign supported by The Habitat Foundation is a way to help the public understand the challenges faced by wildlife in urban settings and promote empathy and support for these species. In 2018, Jo Leen was recognised as one of the world’s 30 Under 30 by the North American Association for Environmental Education for her contributions.

Jo Leen posing with the NAAEE Award in Washington DC with other honourees from Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Jo Leen Yap running an education programme for children. Jo Leen is working toward completing her PhD at the School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia.

Visit Langur Project Penang’s facebook page for more information on their activities and programmes.