Bornean Elephant by Jordan

Bornean Elephant

Author: Jordan

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Borneo's elephants (Elephas maximus sumatrensis) (Payne et. al. 1985) represent an island population on the perimeter of the distributional range for Asian elephants in Southeast Asia. Their distribution corresponds to the Northeast Borneo Ecoregion of WWF classifications. They are thus likely to be genetically distinct, and may have developed other adaptations from the populations on the mainland and within the central areas of the species' range. Elephants only occur between the Sugut River in north-eastern Sabah and Sembakung River in northern East Kalimantan. Distinct anatomical differences from mainland elephants have prompted some taxonomists to give the Bornean elephant subspecies status (Davies, 1962; Payne et. al. 1985). Despite these differences, often rumoured but never studied, stories persist that Borneo's elephant population may have originated from domesticated elephants released by either the Sultan of Brunei or the Sultan of Sulu, and add a special twist to the mystique of these elephants. The peculiarly restricted distribution on Borneo, the lack of truly fossilised remains and the lack of indigenous names for the species elsewhere on the island, lend credence to this theory but do not confirm it.

Surveys in the early 1990s indicated that Borneo may then have had 1000+ elephants (Dawson, et al., 1996). Recent opportunistic reports indicate that today's population may be higher. There are indications that over the last 15-25 years the elephant population in Sabah has dramatically increased in some localities. Possible reasons are the squeezing and concentration of remaining elephant populations into smaller forest patches due to land use change, and the conversion of primary to secondary forest through commercial harvest of timber, with concomitant alterations of food supply and habitat conditions. However, Borneo's elephants are now coming under very strong extinction pressure. Large-scale conversion of secondary forests to oil palm plantations has begun, and is expected to dramatically increase in the next few years. While elephants do not necessarily require forest to be undisturbed, they do require large tracts of land with plenty of food sources. They readily feed in all kinds of agricultural areas and can cause significant conflicts in areas where their range is fragmented by agriculture. In Sabah, elephants still range over a large connected forest area. Only a few herds are isolated in fragmented, yet still relatively large, forest patches. However, there is a very real danger that the current forest fragments will soon be too small to contain viable populations, and that the large connected forest area will soon be fragmented as planned plantation schemes are carried out. In Sabah, most elephant herds on the border of existing plantation schemes at this time cause little conflict, perhaps indicating that these forest patches are still large enough to supply all the elephants' resource needs. However, the Lower Kinabatangan River, and the Deramakot Forest Reserve much further to the west, are currently developing into major conflict sites. Elephant herd size in this combined area may be up to 500 elephants. The riverine forests of the Lower Kinabatangan, the area's premier remaining elephant habitat, is rapidly being converted to oil palm plantations. The threat of completely disrupting the movements of the resident elephants is very real as the last open habitat "bottle necks" are rapidly being bought up and fenced in by plantations. There are occasional but persistent reports of killings of conflict elephants in the area.

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Updated 2010-10-30

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