Our first stop today was at the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Center, a rescue and rehabilitation facility. The Sun Bear is the world’s smallest bear, found only in Southeast Asia.
In the wild, sun bears control the forest’s destructive population of termites. They also eat fruit and are particularly fond of honey. They have a crazy long tongue to reach into trees and bee hives.
The bears are threatened by forest degradation, illegal hunting for bear parts and poaching to obtain young cubs for the pet trade.
The center currently has 43 rescued ex-captive bears. They have all endured trauma in their lives and it is unlikely that they will be able to be released into the wild.
The Sun Bear wears a golden ‘necklace’ of fur around their neck, the pattern of which is individual to each bear.
Wild long-tailed macaques often show up at feeding time. They are called the ‘gangsters of the forest’ and tend to terrorize the tourists! Humans are not to make eye contact or smile at them; baring of teeth is a sign of aggression. The mischievous macaques will try to steal sunglasses, cameras, backpacks. When the very aggressive alpha male comes around, even the staff get nervous and leave the area!
Our visit happened to coincide with International Sun Bear Day. We filled out a word search and a fill-in-the-blank research form to win a Sun Bear bandana. The volunteers made a big deal out of the ‘contest’; they are very proud of their conservation work.
At dusk we walked through The Rainforest Discovery Center to find more nocturnal creatures.
On the canopy walk we watched the giant flying squirrels ‘fly’ from their perches to neighbouring trees.
The highlight of the night was finding the two smallest and rarest of Borneo’s primates, the Slow Loris and the Western Tarsier.
We followed our park ranger about 200 feet off the path into the trees and underbrush to find the Tarsier hanging out on a branch. We probably still have bits of tree in our hair!
Vendon dropped us back off at the hotel and we bid him farewell. Tomorrow we are off to a lodge on the Kinabatangan River.
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