Borneo's pygmy elephants threatened by oil palm, timber, rubber plantations - AP

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Borneo's pygmy elephants threatened by oil palm, timber, rubber plantations

The Associated Press
Published: August 8, 2007

GENEVA: The chubby little pygmy elephants of Borneo —
known for their gentle nature and penchant for greedily
swallowing fruits whole — are under threat from shrinking,
fragmented forests, conservationists said Thursday.

A rare new study by the World Wide Fund for Nature suggests
there are probably no more than 1,000 left — far fewer than
the previous estimate of 1,600 for the pygmies, which are
up to 1 meter (2 to 3 feet) shorter than other Asian elephants.

Satellite tracking showed that the remaining herds of the
elephants — which only exist on north east tip of the island
of Borneo — thrive best in jungles on flat lowlands and in
river valleys, the same terrain preferred by loggers and oil
palm plantations.

About 40 percent of forest cover in the Malaysian state of
Sabah, where most Pygmy elephants live, has been lost to
logging, plantations and human settlement over the last four
decades, said the Gland, Switzerland-based WWF.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/09/europe/EU-GEN-WWF-Pygmy-Elephant.php

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Source: Reuters

Borneo planters, loggers a threat to elephants: WWF
Wed Aug 8, 2007 8:01PM EDT

By Clarence Fernandez

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters Life!) - Pygmy elephants living in dense
jungles on Borneo island face a growing threat to survival as
their homes get cut down for timber or plantations, pushing the
animals into conflicts with humans, experts said on Thursday.

The warning is a result of Asia's largest project for the
satellite tracking of elephants, in which wildlife researchers
fitted five animals with radio-transmitting collars to record
their wanderings, the World Wide Fund for Nature said.

There are fewer than 1,500 pygmy elephants on Borneo, and
they are threatened by the loss of forests in the Malaysian
state of Sabah because their huge size requires large feeding
grounds and viable breeding populations, researchers said.

"The conversion of forests to plantations remains the biggest
threat to Sabah's elephants, because no plantation can provide
the types and amounts of foods necessary to sustain breeding
populations," they said in a report published on Thursday.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL08146282