Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Malaysia

"Surveying Species for Survival"

As part of the WCS global network, the Wildlife Conservation Society in Malaysia tackles the hazards of the jungle with a team of dedicated conservationists to study and save endangered animals in Borneo and Peninsular Malaysia. Wildlife studies are difficult tasks.

Trying to estimate the number of Malayan tigers or the distribution of orangutans requires trekking in tough conditions to search for a tiger paw print or observe treetop nests.

Habitat loss due to agriculture and plantations, unsustainable hunting and poaching threaten wildlife populations. Shrinking forests and small pockets of protected areas choke off animal species that need large connected areas to remain healthy.

Exotic animals are illegally captured to serve in clandestine wild meat restaurants. And wildlife managers try to prevent human-wildlife conflicts as people encroach upon forested habitats.

Go To WCS Malaysia

Wildlife Conservation Society: Malaysia Projects

• Working with the Government to estimate the true size of Malaysia's elephant population;
• Training environmental educators to communicate with local people in areas with tigers about tiger ecology and their role in natural ecosystems;
• Working with the Johor State government to increase tiger numbers by 50 percent over the next 10 years;
• Gathering data on orangutan nests in Batang Ai National Park and Lanjak-Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary to assess orangutan abundance and distribution
• Investigating the population size of one of the world's rarest monkeys, the red banded langur, in Sarawak;
• Monitoring wildlife in a production forest in the interior of Borneo to improve logging methods and forestry practices

Wildlife Conservation Society: Malaysia Endangered Species

Elephants

WCS is involved in a major survey of elephant populations in West Malaysia, using recently-developed techniques for estimating population size based on elephant dung counts. (Yes, that kind of dung. How else can you follow an elephant?)

The overall goal is to assist the federal authorities to conserve wild elephant populations in Taman Negara and elsewhere under the CITES Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) programme and develop a holistic Asian elephant plan for West Malaysia to balance development and wildlife conservation.

Orangutans

In Sarawak, 90% of the orangutans are found in the protected areas of Batang Ai National Park and Lanjak Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary. Together with a nature reserve across the border in Kalimantan, these parks form the largest protected area where the Bornean species of orangutan occur. Surveys conducted over four decades estimate the population for orangutans in Sarawak to be around 1,300.

Despite living in remote areas, orangutans still face potential extinction. Overall threats are severe and less than 10% of Borneo's total orangutan population is expected to survive by 2020.

Tigers

Camera traps used in Endau-Rompin National Park snapped photos of tigers, elephants, golden cat, sambar deer, muntjac, wild pigs, bearded pigs and tapirs. Why click all of these jungle animal snapshots? To determine both the predator and prey species.

Also, searching for fresh signs (footprints or faeces) of the main species preyed on by tigers helps to quantify the food supply. To increase tigers in the park, these population estimates provide a good starting point to monitor future animal numbers.

Wildlife Conservation Society: Contacts