Maludam National Park ( ms, Taman Negara Maludam) is a national park in

Betong Division Betong Division, formed on 26 March 2002, is one of the twelve administrative divisions in Sarawak, Malaysia. Formerly part of Sri Aman Division, Betong is in the Saribas area. It has a total area of 4,180.8 square kilometres, and is the smal ...

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a 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 Malaysian state of Sabah to the northeast, ...

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 ...

on the island of

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

. It is located in the Maludam Peninsula and consists entirely of low-lying, flat

peat swamp forest Peat swamp forests are tropical moist forests where waterlogged soil prevents dead leaves and wood from fully decomposing. Over time, this creates a thick layer of acidic peat. Large areas of these forests are being logged at high rates. Peat ...

. Such forests cover about 10% of the total land area of Sarawak, but have mostly been exploited for timber and plantation agriculture. The Maludam National Park encompasses the largest single patch of peat swamp forest remaining in Sarawak and

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely surrounded by t ...

. The park covers an area of and was founded in 2000. It is the second largest park in Sarawak, and there are proposals to extend its area yet further. The Park currently has no facilities and is not open to visitors.

Fauna

Maludam National Park also has the only viable population of the red banded langur (''Presbytis chrysomelas cruciger'') remaining in the world today. This species is one of the world's most beautiful monkeys, and is

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 else ...

only to Borneo. Its current range is restricted entirely to the peat swamp forests of the Sri Aman Division and

Sarikei Division Sarikei Division is one of the twelve administrative divisions in Sarawak, Malaysia. Formerly part of the Third Division, which included Sibu and Kapit, Sarikei Division has a total area of , and is the second smallest of the administrative div ...

of Sarawak. Maludam National Park also has one of only about five viable populations of proboscis monkey (''Nasalis larvatus'') in Sarawak. There is also a significant population of

silvery lutung The silvery lutung (''Trachypithecus cristatus''), also known as the silvered leaf monkey or the silvery langur, is an Old World monkey. It is arboreal, living in coastal, mangrove, and riverine forests in Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, and Borne ...

(''Trachypithecus cristata''). Diversity of other mammals is low, but there are numerous birds in the park, including

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...

, Oriental pied and

rhinoceros hornbill The rhinoceros hornbill (''Buceros rhinoceros'') is a large species of forest hornbill (Bucerotidae). In captivity it can live for up to 35 years. It is found in lowland and montane, tropical and subtropical climates and in mountain rain forests ...

s, blue-eared and

stork-billed kingfisher The stork-billed kingfisher (''Pelargopsis capensis''), is a tree kingfisher which is widely but sparsely distributed in the tropical Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India to Indonesia. This kingfisher is resident throughout its ran ...

green imperial pigeon The green imperial pigeon (''Ducula aenea'') is a large forest pigeon. The large range extends from Nepal, southern India and Sri Lanka eastwards to southern China, Indonesia and the Philippines. Taxonomy In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Ja ...

, slender-billed crow,

greater racket-tailed drongo The greater racket-tailed drongo (''Dicrurus paradiseus'') is a medium-sized Asian bird which is distinctive in having elongated outer tail feathers with webbing restricted to the tips. They are placed along with other drongos in the family Dic ...

and, occasionally, the rare Storm's stork.

References

External links

Sarawak Forestry
{{authority control Protected areas established in 2000 2000 establishments in Malaysia National parks of Sarawak

Fauna

See also

References

External links