Species: Eonycteris spelaea (Mammalia : Chiroptera)
Known Range: Southeast Asia
Size: (Adult) 40-70 millimeter, length of a forearm
Interviewed: Zubaid Akbar Mukhtar Ahmad, bat scientist (zubaid.akbar[at]gmail.com)
(Photo: Eonycteris spelaea by Juliana Senawi)
“DO YOU like durians? Do you like petai?” These are the questions Zubaid asks when he’s trying to win some supporters for bats.
Continue reading Dawn Bat (Eonycteris spelaea)On Sept 25, the court heard an injunction application to stop private entities from logging and farming in Temiar customary land in Kelantan. This is the latest hearing related to the first legal action taken by the Malaysian federal government on behalf of Orang Asli regarding land rights. SL Wong and Darshana Dinesh Kumar report.
CAN YOU imagine having to barricade your home to prevent its destruction? That is what forest-based indigenous communities in Sabah and Sarawak have had to resort to for almost 40 years.
In Peninsular Malaysia, the Temiar Orang Asli community were forced to do so for the first time in 2012. The Gua Musang, Kelantan, communities started setting up barricades after repeatedly failing to resolve land use conflicts with the state government, federal agencies and companies.
(Photo: The Pos Simpor community at the July Kota Bharu High Court hearing of the Kelantan state government’s application to strike out the AG’s suit. Courtesy of Siti Kasim)
Continue reading In Defence of Orang Asli RightsSpecies: Opisthostoma vermiculum (Gastropoda: Diplommanitidae)
Known Range: Gunung Rapat limestone hill, Malaysia
Size: (Adult) 1.0 – 1.5 millimeters
Interviewed: Foon Junn Kitt, malacologist
(Photo: Opisthostoma vermiculum by Foon Junn Kitt)
HOW IS this a snail, and not just a tiny, whitish, swirly plastic tube? Even its species name, vermiculum, means ‘wormy’ in Latin, which aptly describes the snail’s shell.
Continue reading Minute Land Snail (Opisthostoma vermiculum)ON 15 AUGUST 2019, Malaysia’s Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) released a press statement announcing that they had renewed for 6 months the operating license of rare earths producer Lynas Malaysia. This renewal carries three conditions.
Each time Lynas’ license comes up for, or is renewed, it is a political hot potato. Supporters for and against renewals have protested on the streets to voice their environmental and economic concerns.
And it has become a sticking point as to whether or not the Pakatan Harapan government is keeping its pre-election promises.
To help you better understand the terms and context of this licence renewal, Macaranga dug into the licensing board’s statement as well as previous reports and documents related to Lynas.
(Photo: Lynas Advanced Material Plant, Kuantan, 15 Dec 2018. Credit: Save Malaysia Stop Lynas; Read AELB’s full statement here. Documents cited in this article are listed at the end of the article.)
Continue reading The Lynas License Renewal: What Does It Mean?In July, more than 1,300 conservationists met in Kuala Lumpur for the first time. This was one of the most important conservation gatherings in the world: the International Congress for Conservation Biology. What did it do for conservation in Malaysia?
IT WAS extraordinary to see them on the stage. Roslan Carang, Param bin Pura and Hadi bin Mes were addressing international conservationists in a huge plenary hall. The three Orang Asli men hail from Malaysia’s largest forest complex, the Belum-Temenggor.
It was extraordinary because this was the International Congress for Conservation Biology (ICCB) 2019, one of the largest meetings of conservation practitioners and students in the world.
(Photo: Roslan Carang, Param bin Pura and Hadi bin Mes presenting at the panel on ‘Indigenous Perspectives on Conservation Biology and Community Development’. Credit: SL Wong)
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Continue reading Opportunities Seized and MissedSpecies: Pycnoscelus striatus (Insecta: Blattodea)
Known Range: Malaysia, Sumatra, the Philippines
Size: (Adult) 15 mm long , ~diameter of 10-sen coin
Interviewed: Dr Lim Teck Wyn, biologist
(Photo: Shaharin Yussof )
“CUTE” IS how Teck Wyn describes the cave cockroach, Pycnoscelus striatus. “The nymphs”—the juvenile stage of cockroaches—“are adorable, scurrying sort of things.”
Continue reading Cave Cockroach (Pycnoscelus striatus)WHILE he was undergoing a check-up, marine biologist Dr Yusof Shuaib Ibrahim had a question for his doctor: “Can you observe plastic in the human gut?”
The latter, consultant gastroenterologist Dr Lee Yeong Yeh, said no, but he had also been wondering about this. The two soon started a research project to look into this.
(Photo: What will Malaysian researchers find when they finish looking at the effects of microplastics on the human gut? Credit: Lee Yeong Yeh & Yusof Shuaib Ibrahim; annotated by Macaranga)
Continue reading When Plastic Hits You In the Gut[ICCB 2019] TWO CORPORATE executives and two conservationists walked into a room. They initially appeared to cross swords. “If we continue with chemical components in our plastic, we will endanger our health,” declared Fabien Cousteau, ocean activist and filmmaker.
But is biodegradable plastic “the magic bullet?” countered Wee Ching Yun, Chairperson, sustainability sub-committee of the Malaysian Plastics Manufacturers Association. “Will it eliminate all the pollution?”
(Photo: How can different segments of society tackle the plastic pollution crisis that is devastating marine wildlife? Credit: SL Wong)
Continue reading Plastic Solutions: It’s Complicated[ICCB 2019] Gibbon adults in Merapoh, Pahang, are at “fairly good” levels, reveals the latest survey of these small apes. The status of juvenile gibbons however, is still unknown.
That gap in gibbon data causes concern, especially with deforestation in the area, says Adilah Suhailin binti Kamaruzaman, graduate student researcher at Universiti Sains Malaysia and leader of the Merapoh gibbon survey. Adilah presented her findings on 25 July at the International Congress for Conservation Biology, Kuala Lumpur.
(Photo: A Lar gibbon, also called white-handed gibbon, is one of the three species of gibbons found in Peninsular Malaysia. Credit: Gibbon Protection Society Malaysia/Infinim Creative Productions)
Continue reading Gibbons Still Sing In Merapoh[ICCB 2019] For newly hatched green turtles, life starts in the dark. Nine weeks ago, a turtle’s mother would have climbed onshore, dug a hole 50 cm deep, laid more than a hundred eggs inside, then sealed it with sand. Now, the hatchlings must escape from their buried nest and dash to sea.
But does it matter what type of sand hatchlings have to power through to make it to the surface?
(Photo: A green turtle hatchling peeks from inside its shell. Hatchlings have an attached yolk (red) which they absorb over the course of a week. Credit: Lyvia Chong/SEATRU)
Continue reading How Do Turtles Like Their Sand?
