Mount Murud or Muru ( ms, Gunung Murud) is a

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

mountain located in

Limbang Division Limbang Division is one of the twelve administrative divisions of Sarawak, Malaysia. It has a total area of 7,788.50 square kilometres, and is the fourth largest division after Kapit Division, Miri Division and Bintulu Division. Limbang Divisio ...

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the M ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

At 2,424 m (7,946 ft), it is the highest mountain in Sarawak.

Geography

Mount Murud at the elevation of 2,424 m, is the highest mountain in Sarawak, located at the boundary between

Miri ) , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_name1 = , subdivision_type2 = Division , subdivision_name2 ...

and

, in the

Kelabit Highlands The Kelabit Highlands are a mountain range located in the northernmost part of Sarawak, Malaysia in the Miri Division. It hosts the Bario village. The highest mountains in this range are Mount Murud at , Bukit Batu Buli at , and Bukit Batu Lawi at . ...

. It is a white-yellowish sandstone mountain, formed during the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

Epoch In chronology and periodization, an epoch or reference epoch is an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular calendar era. The "epoch" serves as a reference point from which time is measured. The moment of epoch is usually decided by ...

, extends for 4 km long, running in the ENE-WSW direction. Mount Murud has two highest points, with one point higher than the other by only 15 m.

History

According to a local legend, there was once a ''penghulu'' (headman) named Baya Kalong who stayed near the present-day Mount Murud area. He had a beautiful daughter named Kelawing. Kelawing was later married to another young ''penghulu'' named Tingang who came from another longhouse. However, Tingang's younger brother named Lawi became jealous of his brother and beheaded Kelawing while the couple was walking upstairs into longhouse. Tingang became angry and tried to kill his brother. Then, their father's sound came from heaven who condemn them for breaking their promise of not fighting each other. After that, a severe thunderstorm came and buried Tingang's longhouse with all its inhabitants with stones raining from the sky. The piles of stones later formed Mount Murud. The first attempt to climb Mount Murud was made in 1914 by

John Coney Moulton John Coney Moulton (1886–1926) was born in St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex, England, and died in London. He was an officer in the British Army, as well as an amateur zoologist who spent many years in South-East Asia. Career He was Curator of the S ...

, curator of

Sarawak State Museum The Sarawak State Museum ( ms, Muzium Negeri Sarawak) is the oldest museum in Borneo. It was founded in 1888 and opened in 1891 in a purpose-built building in Kuching, Sarawak. It has been said that naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace encouraged C ...

but failed due to food shortage and killings of their native guides due to a Dayak

Lun Bawang The Lun Bawang (formerly known as Trusan Murut or Southern Murut) is an ethnic group found in Central Northern Borneo. They are indigenous to the southwest of Sabah (Interior Division), and the northern region of Sarawak (Limbang Division), high ...

invasion. He made a second attempt to climb the mountain in 1920 but failed again. The first successful ascent of Mount Murud was by a Swedish zoologist who was also a curator of Sarawak State Museum,

Eric Mjöberg Eric Georg Mjöberg (6 August 1882 – 8 July 1938) was a Swedish zoologist and ethnographer who led the first Swedish scientific expeditions to Australia in the early 1900s, and worked in Indonesia. The plant ''Vaccinium mjoebergii'' J.J.Sm. was ...

in October 1922. He spent six days at the summit of the mountain and collected various animal and plant species. His collections were documented by various authors in the third volume of Sarawak Museum Journal in 1928. Following this, his footsteps were followed by other botanical collectors in the 1960s and 1990s. During Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation, a

Gurkha The Gurkhas or Gorkhas (), with endonym Gorkhali ), are soldiers native to the Indian Subcontinent, chiefly residing within Nepal and some parts of Northeast India. The Gurkha units are composed of Nepalis and Indian Gorkhas and are recruit ...

post was built at the summit. In the 1980s, a man from

Ba'kelalan Ba'kelalan is a group of nine villages at Maligan Highlands of Limbang Division, Sarawak, Malaysia about above sea level and 4 km from the border with Indonesian Kalimantan and 150 km from the nearest town of Lawas. There are nine v ...

named Agung Bangau saw a vision to build a church there. A church was later built at a plateau on the mountain and the first prayer meeting was held in July 1985, attended by 600 people from the nearby villages of Ba'kelalan and

Bario Bario is a community of 13 to 16 villages located on the Kelabit Highlands in Miri Division, Sarawak, Malaysia, lying at an altitude of 1000 m (3280 ft) above sea level. It is located close to the Sarawak-Kalimantan border, 178 k ...

. Today, a village is built around the church completed with public amenities; receiving visitors around the world. It is regarded as a

sacred mountain Sacred mountains are central to certain religions, and are usually the subjects of many legends. For many, the most symbolic aspect of a mountain is the peak because it is believed that it is closest to heaven or other religious realms. Many rel ...

where smoking and alcoholic drinks are prohibited. Prayer meetings are held every two years by the Mount Murud Prayer Ministry. In 1995,

Universiti Malaysia Sarawak Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS; en, University of Malaysia Sarawak) is a Malaysian public university located in Kota Samarahan, Sarawak. UNIMAS was officially incorporated on 24 December 1992. Recently, UNIMAS has been ranked among top 20 ...

(UNIMAS) organised an expedition to Mount Murud. During the expedition, a species of Vanilla orchid named ''Vanilla kinabaluensis'', ''

Rafflesia pricei ''Rafflesia pricei'' is a parasitic flowering plant endemic to Borneo. It is named after amateur botanist William Price, who discovered the species on Mount Kinabalu Mount Kinabalu ( ms, Gunung Kinabalu, Dusun language, Dusun: ''Gayo Ngaran ...

'', and slipper orchid ''

Paphiopedilum ''Paphiopedilum'', often called the Venus slipper, is a genus of the lady slipper orchid subfamily ''Cypripedioideae'' of the flowering plant family Orchidaceae. The genus comprises some 80 accepted taxa including several natural hybrids. The ge ...

'' were discovered. A total of 70 samples were collected by the UNIMAS expedition team.

Biodiversity

The UNIMAS expedition team defined the animal and plant species collected from 1,500 m to 1,800 m range above sea level as species originating from the Mount Murud; because specimens collected below this level can originate from the mountain surroundings. Mjöberg noted in 1925 that nine species of birds that were previously known as originated from

Mount Kinabalu Mount Kinabalu ( ms, Gunung Kinabalu, Dusun language, Dusun: ''Gayo Ngaran or Nulu Nabalu'') is the highest mountain in Borneo and Malaysia. With an elevation of , it is List of islands by highest point, third-highest peak of an island on Eart ...

are also found at Mount Murud. This is supported by another evidence that 77% of

Pteridophyte A pteridophyte is a vascular plant (with xylem and phloem) that disperses spores. Because pteridophytes produce neither flowers nor seeds, they are sometimes referred to as "cryptogams", meaning that their means of reproduction is hidden. Ferns, ...

and 75% of orchids are common in both mountains. However, despite the close proximity of Mount Murud with

Mount Mulu Mount Mulu ( ms, Gunung Mulu) is a sandstone and shale mountain. At 2376 m, it is the second highest mountain in the state of Sarawak, after Mount Murud. It is located within the boundaries of Gunung Mulu National Park, which is named after i ...

(65 km WSW of Mount Murud), both mountains have different summit flora. As of 1995, a total of 35

pteridophyte A pteridophyte is a vascular plant (with xylem and phloem) that disperses spores. Because pteridophytes produce neither flowers nor seeds, they are sometimes referred to as "cryptogams", meaning that their means of reproduction is hidden. Ferns, ...

s, 7

gymnosperm The gymnosperms ( lit. revealed seeds) are a group of seed-producing plants that includes conifers, cycads, ''Ginkgo'', and gnetophytes, forming the clade Gymnospermae. The term ''gymnosperm'' comes from the composite word in el, γυμνό� ...

s, 96

monocotyledon Monocotyledons (), commonly referred to as monocots, (Lilianae ''sensu'' Chase & Reveal) are grass and grass-like flowering plants (angiosperms), the seeds of which typically contain only one embryonic leaf, or cotyledon. They constitute one of ...

s, and 207

dicotyledon The dicotyledons, also known as dicots (or, more rarely, dicotyls), are one of the two groups into which all the flowering plants (angiosperms) were formerly divided. The name refers to one of the typical characteristics of the group: namely, t ...

s were listed as summit flora of Mount Murud. The tropical

pitcher plant Pitcher plants are several different carnivorous plants which have modified leaves known as pitfall traps—a prey-trapping mechanism featuring a deep cavity filled with digestive liquid. The traps of what are considered to be "true" pitcher p ...

species ''

Nepenthes murudensis ''Nepenthes murudensis'' , or the Murud pitcher-plant,Phillipps, A. & A. Lamb 1996. ''Pitcher-Plants of Borneo''. Natural History Publications (Borneo), Kota Kinabalu. is a tropical pitcher plant endemic to Mount Murud in Borneo, after which it i ...

'' is named after the mountain and is thought to be

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to its summit area.Jebb, M.H.P. & M.R. Cheek 1997. A skeletal revision of ''Nepenthes'' (Nepenthaceae). ''Blumea'' 42(1): 1–106.De Witte, J. 1996. ''

Carnivorous Plant Newsletter The ''Carnivorous Plant Newsletter'' is the official publication of the International Carnivorous Plant Society (ICPS), the largest such organization in the world. It is headquartered in Walnut Creek, California. History and editorship The newsle ...

'' 25(2): 41–45. Also Murud black slender toad '' Ansonia vidua'' is only known from this mountain.

References

---- {{commons category, Mount Murud Murud Murud