WILDLIFE OF MALAYSIA

Mammals

A Malayan Tiger in the National Zoo of Malaysia

Friends there are about 210 mammal species in Malaysia. Peninsular Malaysia holds four big cats: the Indochinese tiger, the Malayan tiger, the Indochinese leopard and also the clouded leopard. Another major predator is the sunbear. Large prey exists, such as the Sumatran rhinoceros, the Malayan tapir, mouse deer, barking deer, sambar deer, wild boar, and Bornean bearded pigs.
Gaurs and Asian elephants can also be found. Lowland animals such as these also can be found at higher altitudes, along with animals specialised for mountain living, such as siamang gibbons, red squirrels, and lesser moon rats. East Malaysia lacks the tigers of the Peninsula, leaving clouded leopards, sunbears, and Sunda otter civets as the primary predators. Rhinoceroses and elephants are also found there, along with Bornean orangutans, Mueller's gibbons, macaques, proboscis monkeys, silvered leaf monkeys, langurs, and slow lorises.
Kinabalu ferret-badgers, Kinabalu black shrews, Hose's palm civets, and Brooke's tree squirrels are all endemic to the mountains of Borneo. Other small mammals include mongooses and giant rats. 11,300 orangutans are found in East Malaysia.Other ape species include the white-handed gibbon and the siamang.Malaysia has 10 monkey species, divided between langurs and macaques.Proboscis monkeys, the world's largest monkey,are a langur species endemic to Borneo.Macaque species include the crab-eating macaque and the pig-tailed macaque.
The Malayan tiger, a close relative to the Indochinese tiger, is endemic to the Malay peninsula with a remaining population of about 500. Small cats such as the bay cat and various civet cats are also found.Furthermore, 1200 Asian elephants exist on the Peninsula,with another population existing in East Malaysia. The world's largest cattle species, the seladang, is found in Malaysia.Fruit bats are also found throughout the country, with a high concentration in the Mulu Caves.

Birds

Over 620 species of birds have been recorded just on the Peninsular.Many are endemic to the mountains of the Peninsular, such as the crested argus. Bornean forests show high levels of endemism among bird species, with 38 species found nowhere else.Black-browed babblers and white-crowned shamas are found only in these forests. Large numbers of hornbills, woodpeckers, and pittas such as the mangrove pitta are also present.
Other species are found isolated on mountains, such as golden-naped barbets, spot-necked bulbuls, and mountain serpent-eagles.Bulbuls, starlings, and house swifts can be found in urban areas. Crested serpent-eagles and kingfishers can be found. There are nine species of hornbill in Malaysia, the most common of which is the Oriental pied hornbill. At 1.5 metres (5 ft) from head to tail is the largest hornbill, the great hornbill, followed closely in size by the rhinoceros hornbill of Borneo.Then, the fish eagle and brahminy kite are the most common birds of prey. Storm's stork and the Oriental darter can be found in wetlands.

Reptiles

Hemidactylus frenatus

Guys in Malaysia 250 reptile species have been recorded, with about 150 species of snakesand 80 species of lizards. Only 16 of the land snakes are venomous.Notable among these are the Malayan pit viper, king cobras, Dumeril's monitors, Malay water monitors, and estuarine crocodiles.The king cobra is the deadliest snake found, but it is rarely encountered.The reticulated python is said to grow up to 10 metres (33 ft) in length. Monitor lizards, almost 2 metres (7 ft) in length, are found in both halves of the country.
Other snake species include the paradise tree snake and Wagler's pit viper. Estuarine crocodiles can grow up to 2.5 metres (8.2 ft) in length. Its smaller relative, the Malayan false gharial, can also be found.Flying lizards can also be found. There are about 150 species of frog in Malaysia. Freshwater fish include the rare Asian arawana, along with marbled gobys, harlequins, and tiger barbs.

Insects

For your kind information Malaysia has thousands of insect species, with more being discovered every year. Butterfly species include Rajah Brooke's birdwing, while moth species include the Atlas moth. The largest beetle found is the rhinoceros beetle. Other large insects include the giant stick insect, which can grow as long as a human forearm, the empress cicada, with a wingspan of 30 centimetres (12 in), and the 4 centimetres (2 in) long giant ant. Other insects include banded hornets, fire ants, giant honey bees, and weaver ants. Many scorpions can also be found.

Terrestrial flora

Dawn in the Bornean Rainforests

About two thirds of Malaysia is covered in forest which is believed to be 130 million years old. It is composed of a variety of types, although they are mainly dipterocarp forests. Dipterocarps can grow to about 50 metres (164 ft) tall. Lowland forest occurs below 760 metres (2,493 ft),and formerly East Malaysia was covered in such rainforest,which is supported by its hot wet climate. There are around 14,500 species of flowering plants and trees.
Besides rainforests, there are over 1,425 square kilometres (550 sq mi) of mangroves in Malaysia, and a large amount of peat forest. Coastal land of the Peninsular is fringed by mangroves, which cause sediment build up resulting in peat bogs. These provide a base for plants that can tolerate the conditions. The peat forests of coastal Malaysia provide an important habitat for waterbirds and fish. The dipterocarps that occur in the peat forest obscure the ground, limiting ground vegetation. At higher altitudes, oaks, chestnuts, and rhododendrons replace dipterocarps.
There are an estimated 8,500 species of vascular plants in Peninsular Malaysia, with another 15,000 in the East. The forests of East Malaysia are estimated to be the habitat of around 2,000 tree species, and are one of the most biodiverse areas in the world, with 240 different species of trees every hectare. Further inland, heath forests are present. These forests host many members of the Rafflesia genus, the largest flowers in the world, with a maximum diameter of 1 metre (3 ft).They also contain large numbers of carnivorous plants, such as pitcher plants, bladderworts, sundews, and ant-house plants.
Some parts of the forest have shown promise for use in medicine. In 1990 a stand of trees showed promise to be able to be used to stop the spread of a strain of Human Immunodeficiency Virus, but was cut down before more samples could be taken. Promise has been shown in fighting Malaria.

Marine life

Hypselodoris bullocki off Sipadan

Malaysia's exclusive economic zone is 1.5 times larger than its land area,and some of its waters are in the Coral Triangle, a biodiversity hotspot. The waters around Sipadan island are the most biodiverse in the world.Bordering East Malaysia, the Sulu Sea is a biodiversity hotspot, with around 600 coral species and 1200 fish species. Five species of sea turtles inhabit the area,along with 20 species of sea snake.The dugong is found around Sabah and in the Strait of Johor.Sharks present include whale sharks, hammerhead sharks, and reef sharks. Game fish such as the Blue marlin and tuna are often found, along with reef fish such as barracuda, bigeye trevally, bump-head parrotfish, garupas, and scorpion fish. Manta rays can be found.


Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildlife_of_Malaysia 

RARE SPECIES OF ANIMALS IN MALAYSIA

Friends Malaysia inhabits over a thousand species of birds, mammals, snakes and insects. It is possible to spot rare animal species during traveling through Malaysia. For instance, elephants, orangutans, tigers, panthers, monkeys, rhino's, Malaysian sun bears, crocodiles, and tapirs occur in Malaysia. However, as a tourist you should better not expect really seeing rare species in the wild. For that, you really would have to go deep into the inlands. By the way, it is actually not that bad if you do not 'spot' a rare animal species during a jungle tour. It is often a good sign when you do not just bump into them, for this means they still have enough free space, untouched and uninfluenced by human beings.

The Sumatran rhino is now considered extinct in the wild in the Southeast Asian country of Malaysia, according to a new study.
No wild Sumatran rhinos (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) have been found on the Malaysian peninsula since 2007, and what are thought to be the last two female rhinos in Malaysian Borneo were caught and placed in captive breeding programs in 2011 and 2014.
Now, fewer than 100 of the species remain in the wild, researchers estimate, distributed among three wild populations on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. [See Photos of All 5 Rhino Species]
In order to save the Sumatran rhino from extinction, it will be necessary to designate the regions where rhinos breed as protected areas, called intensive management zones (IMZs), and to consolidate other, isolated rhinos into these zones to maximize their chances of reproducing, the researchers said. While Asian governments approved the IMZ strategy (along with several others) in 2013, they have yet to be implemented, the scientists wrote in the study.
"We've reached a point of no return," said study lead author Rasmus Havmøller, a graduate student at the Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate at the Natural History Museum of Denmark (affiliated with the University of Copenhagen)."[Sumatran rhino] densities are so low. What we need to do is go out, find out where the rhinos are, firstly, bring them together, secondly, … and then ensure their protection within these areas."
Sumatran rhinos once ranged across most of Southeast Asia, but now Indonesia is the only nation where they breed in the wild.
The rhino's major decline, from both poachingand logging, took place in the 1980s, Havmøller said. Now, the problem is that so few rhinos live in the wild that males and females rarely meet in their native habitats.
"Thus they just spiral into extinction by themselves," Havmøller told Live Science. "After being heavily poached and getting into low numbers, it's been the lack of breeding that's the primary cause for their extinction."
A compounding problem is that when female rhinos go for too long without being pregnant, they tend to develop cysts and tumors in their ovaries that may prevent them from carrying a pregnancy if and when they do mate, the researchers said.


In April 2013, at the Sumatran Rhino Crisis Summit in Singapore, rhino experts outlined four strategies for protecting the region's remaining rhinos, which the governments of Indonesia, Malaysia, Bhutan, India, and Nepal agreed upon in the Bandar Lampung Declaration that same year. The new study reviews these strategies, which, the authors argue, must be put into practice to prevent the Sumatran rhino's total extinction.
The first strategy is to manage the remaining Sumatran rhinos not as three separate populations but as one "meta-population." A related goal is to create intensive management zones, the researchers said. Key to the success of these protected areas, Havmøller said, is the ability to capture wild rhinos outside the IMZs, bring them in, move animals from one area to another — to prevent inbreeding, for example — and perhaps, as assisted reproductive technologies in rhinos become more feasible, transport eggs and sperm from one region to another. The animals also need to be able to cross international borders, the researchers added.The summit attendees also recommended establishing Rhino Protection Units — teams of people, usually including armed park rangers, charged with monitoring the animals, looking for signs of rhinos, and scouting for and arresting poachers — at rhino breeding sites. These units have been established already, but they need to be fortified, by adding more people, running more frequent patrols, and better training unit members, Havmøller said.
The last strategy is to improve captive breeding programs, which currently include nine rhinos. Attempts to breed rhinos in captivity began in 1985; from then until 2001, 45 rhinos in captivity at different breeding sites produced no offspring. Since 2001, four Sumatran rhinos have been born in captivity from two breeding pairs through traditional mating. Scientists are working to add assisted reproductive technologies, such as artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization, to their toolkit in hopes of increasing captive breeding success, the researchers said.
"The political will to actually make this happen is definitely what's the greatest barrier," to putting these strategies into practice, Havmøller said. Managing the remaining Sumatran rhinos as a meta-population would require countries to establish policies for rhino capture and transport among management zones and across international borders he added. Funding is another limitation, the researchers said.
But saving the Sumatran rhino will require governments and other parties involved to make changes quickly because, as the researchers wrote in the study,"the current conservation actions for the Sumatran rhinoceros may not be adequate to prevent the species extinction.
The research was published online August 3 in Oryx, the International Journal of Conservation.




Sources:


http://www.wonderfulmalaysia.com/malaysia-flora-and-fauna.htm 

http://www.livescience.com/51965-sumatran-rhino-extinct-in-malaysia.html

FLORA AND FAUNA IN MALAYSIA

The tropical circumstances and the extensive rainforests have led to a huge diversity of plant and animal species. Surveys identified that there are 8,000 species of flowering plants which inclusive of 2,000 tree species, 800 types of orchid and 200 types of palm besides being home to more than 200 species of mammals, 600 different bird varieties, 140 species of snakes, 80 types of lizard, 300 species of fresh water fishes and thousands of insects making their home in the rainforest. A well-known plant only found in Southeast Asia is the Rafflesia. To be specific; it occurs only in the rainforests of Sumatra and Borneo. This is the plant with the largest flower in the world, and can reach a weight of 10 kg. This plant is the symbol of the province Sabah on the island Borneo, although it has a strong odor of decaying flesh.

Sources:

http://www.wonderfulmalaysia.com/malaysia-flora-and-fauna.htm 

I Think Map

So friends this is my second assignment for computer science.I was given a task to do a research about 8 types of Thinking Maps.I have to create 3 or more Thinking Maps for the Topic 2:Computer System.After several obstacles I able to finish my lab assignment in given time.I used Microsoft Powerpoint to do create my Thinking Maps.The Thinking Maps that I used for my lab activity are Tree Map,Circle Map,Bubble Map and Brace map.I used Tree Map to describe the components of a computer software which is system software and application software.Then I used Bubble Map to describe the functions of computer.Furthermore,I used Circle Map to explore the storage capacity.Last but not least,I used Brace Map to describe the Logic Gates which are AND Gate,OR Gate and NOT Gate.I hopefully think that my Thinking Maps are impressive.You can give your comments about my Thinking Maps.

Brochure about Information Technology

My first lab activity was to create a brochure based on Topic 1:Information Techology.I had successfully finished my first assignment for computer science in given time.The brochure is mainly about the advantages and also disadvantages of Information Technnology in our daily life.The brochure also contains the application of Information Technology in our daily life.Friends Information Technology is essential for this modern age but we should consider the advantages and disadvantages of Information Technology.

INTRODUCTION

Hello Guys,
I am Megavharman.I am 18 years old and living in Rawang Selangor.I am currently studying in Kolej Matrikulasi Selangor after successfully completing my studies in SMK TAMAN DESA secondary school.I have created a blog about FLORA AND FAUNA IN MALAYSIA to fulfill my computer science lab activity.My main idea of creating this blog is not just to post about my lab activities but also to explore the amazing and wonderful rare species of  flora and fauna that can be found in Malaysia.I hope all of you will like my blog.You are welcomed and can give your comments on my site.