The Pulong Tau National Park ( ms, Taman Negara Pulong Tau) is a national park in

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 . ...

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 ...

and

Miri Division Miri Division is one of the twelve administrative divisions of Sarawak, Malaysia. It has a total area of 26,777.1 square kilometres, and is the second largest division after Kapit Division. The seat of this division is the city of Miri. The pop ...

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 ...

Etymology

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 ...

and Kelabit dialects, ''Pulong Tau'' means "our forests", which signifies the pride of the indigenous people on their forests heritage.

History

The concept of a national park in this region was started as a community initiative in the 1970s. In 1984, Sarawak's National Parks & Wildlife Office submitted a formal proposal together with a petition letter from the local community to the Sarawak state government. The proposal called for a 164,500-hectare park that included

Mount Murud Mount Murud or Muru ( ms, Gunung Murud) is a sandstone mountain located in Limbang Division, Sarawak, Malaysia 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 ...

(Sarawak's highest peak), the twin peaks of

Bukit Batu Lawi Batu Lawi is a twin-peaked mountain in the Kelabit Highlands of Sarawak, Malaysia (Borneo) that has played important roles in both ancient mythology and modern history. The taller 'male' peak is 2046 metres above sea level, while the female summi ...

, the Tama Abu mountain range, including the water catchment area of the entire northern Sarawak. Between 1984 and 1987, the Sarawak cabinet approved the proposal but the boundaries need to be redrawn to avoid conflicts with areas designated for land development. In 1986, a population of eastern Sumatran rhinoceros (''Dicerorhinus sumatrensis'') was discovered. It was previously thought that such rhinoceros population would have extinct in Sarawak. During this survey, the importance of

Laurel forest Laurel forest, also called laurisilva or laurissilva, is a type of subtropical forest found in areas with high humidity and relatively stable, mild temperatures. The forest is characterized by broadleaf tree species with evergreen, glossy and elo ...

in maintaining

bornean bearded pig The Bornean bearded pig (''Sus barbatus''), also known as the Sunda bearded pig or simply bearded pig, is a species in the pig genus, '' Sus''. It can be recognized by its prominent beard. It also sometimes has tassels on its tail. It is found ...

population was recognised. Rafflesia flowers was also found at the base of Mount Murud.

Orang utan Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genu ...

was found to enter the park occasionally. Therefore, a second proposal in 1987 argued that these areas should be included within the boundaries of the park. By 1998, when the proclamation to create the park was passed, the proposed area has been reduced to 63,700 hectares and did not include either Batu Lawi, or the area where the rhinoceros was found. When the national park was gazetted in 2005, the total protected areas was reduced to 59,917 hectares which extends from western side of Kelabit highlands to Tama Abu range of mountains in the south and Mount Murud in the north.

Geography

The

is thought to developed from the

rift In geology, a rift is a linear zone where the lithosphere is being pulled apart and is an example of extensional tectonics. Typical rift features are a central linear downfaulted depression, called a graben, or more commonly a half-grabe ...

continental crust Continental crust is the layer of igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks that forms the geological continents and the areas of shallow seabed close to their shores, known as continental shelves. This layer is sometimes called ''sial'' be ...

where water sediments were deposited before Borneo was separated from the mainland

Eurasian plate The Eurasian Plate is a tectonic plate that includes most of the continent of Eurasia (a landmass consisting of the traditional continents of Europe and Asia), with the notable exceptions of the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent and ...

. This is evidenced by the presence of

evaporite An evaporite () is a water-soluble sedimentary mineral deposit that results from concentration and crystallization by evaporation from an aqueous solution. There are two types of evaporite deposits: marine, which can also be described as ocea ...

and

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

found in the area. Evidence of

folding Fold, folding or foldable may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Fold'' (album), the debut release by Australian rock band Epicure * Fold (poker), in the game of poker, to discard one's hand and forfeit interest in the current pot *Abov ...

and

faulting In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...

along the NE-SW axis is also found in this area. The types of stones changes from oxidised iron and coal-bearing sandstones in the east of Kelabit highlands, to mudstone and limestone of the Kelabit highlands, and grey sandstones westwards in the Mount Murud region. Pulong Tau National Park covers the water catchment area of Baram, Belait, Limbang, Tutong, Trusan, and Padas rivers.

Biodiversity

The national park's vegetation varies with soil type, altitude and topography. It includes upper mixed dipterocarp forest, oak-laurel forest, heath forest (

kerangas The Sundaland heath forest, also known as ''Kerangas'' forest, is a type of tropical moist forest found on the island of Borneo, which is divided between Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia, as well as on the Indonesian islands of Belitung and Bangk ...

), mossy elfin forest rich in ''

Rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; from Ancient Greek ''rhódon'' "rose" and ''déndron'' "tree") is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are nati ...

'' species. The boundaries of these vegetation types are not distinct but there is certain degree of overlapping between them. There are many species of

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

s and ''

Nepenthes ''Nepenthes'' () is a genus of carnivorous plants, also known as tropical pitcher plants, or monkey cups, in the monotypic family Nepenthaceae. The genus includes about 170 species, and numerous natural and many cultivated hybrids. They are mos ...

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 ...

s. During an expedition in 1998, a total of 67 species of birds from 29 families, of which 13 species (19.4%) are

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 Borneo was recorded. Examples were Mountain Imperial Pigeons, Chestnut Crested Yuhina, and Blacknest Swifelet. Meanwhile, bird species found at the peaks of Mount Murud and Batu Lawi were Ochraceous Bulbul, and Mountain Blackeye. Besides, 28 species of mammals, 12 of which are endemic to Borneo was also recorded. Examples were: Mountain Giant Rat (''Sundamys infraluteus''), Summit Rat (''Rattus baluensis''), and Civet. In addition to that, 18 species of frogs and four species of snakes discovered. Examples were: Wagler's Pit Viper (''Trimeresurus wagleri''), and Golden legged bush frog (''Philautus aurantium''). Insects such as Trilobite beetles ('' Platerodrilus''), fruit flies (''

Drosophila ''Drosophila'' () is a genus of flies, belonging to the family Drosophilidae, whose members are often called "small fruit flies" or (less frequently) pomace flies, vinegar flies, or wine flies, a reference to the characteristic of many species ...

''), and

weevil Weevils are beetles belonging to the Taxonomic rank, superfamily Curculionoidea, known for their elongated snouts. They are usually small, less than in length, and Herbivore, herbivorous. Approximately 97,000 species of weevils are known. They b ...

s can also be found in this region.

References

External links