Siberut National Park comprises 1,905 km² (47%) of the island of

Siberut Siberut is the largest and northernmost of the Mentawai Islands, located 150 kilometres west of Sumatra in the Indian Ocean. It covers an area of 3,838.25 km2 including smaller offshore islands, and had a population of 35,091 at the 2010 Cens ...

in the

Mentawai Islands Mentawai may refer to: * Mentawai Islands * Mentawai Strait * Mentawai people * Mentawai language The Mentawai language is an Austronesian language, spoken by the Mentawai people of the Mentawai Islands, West Sumatra, Indonesia. Dialects Acco ...

West Sumatra West Sumatra ( id, Sumatra Barat) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. It is located on the west coast of the island of Sumatra and includes the Mentawai Islands off that coast. The province has an area of , with a population of 5, ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. The whole island including the national park is part of the

World Network of Biosphere Reserves The UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR) covers internationally designated protected areas, known as biosphere reserves, which are meant to demonstrate a balanced relationship between people and nature (e.g. encourage sustainable dev ...

.UNESCO
Biosphere Reserves: Siberut
July 2011 The notable aspects of the park are its endemic fauna, flora, and indigenous inhabitants, the Mentawai, who still live according to hunter-gather traditions. The

are thought to have been isolated from mainland of

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

for over 500,000 years, thereby producing unique ecosystems.

Flora and fauna

The dominant ecosystem type is

Dipterocarpaceae Dipterocarpaceae is a family of 16 genera and about 695 known species of mainly tropical lowland rainforest trees. The family name, from the type genus ''Dipterocarpus'', is derived from Greek (''di'' = two, ''pteron'' = wing and ''karpos'' = fru ...

rainforest, but the park comprises also four other ecosystems: mixed

primary forest An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological featur ...

, swamp forest, coastal forest and mangrove forest.Ministry of Forestry of Indonesia
"Siberut National Park"
, retrieved 16 December 2013 A total of 864 plant species have been recorded in the park. The park protects four endangered endemic primate species:

Kloss's gibbon Kloss's gibbon (''Hylobates klossii''), also known as the Mentawai gibbon, the bilou or dwarf siamang, is an endangered primate in the gibbon family, Hylobatidae. It is identifiable in that it is all black, resembling the siamang with its blac ...

(''Hylobates klossii''), Siberut macaque (''Macaca siberu''),

Siberut langur The Siberut langur (''Presbytis siberu'') is a species of monkey in the family Cercopithecidae. It was formerly considered a subspecies of the Mentawai langur, ''Presbytis potenziani'' (as ''Presbytis potenziani siberu'') but genetic analysis r ...

(''Presbytis potenziani ssp. siberu'') and

pig-tailed langur The pig-tailed langur (''Simias concolor''), monotypic in genus ''Simias'', is a large Old World monkey, endemic to several small islands off the coast of Sumatra in Indonesia. Its face is black, its fur is black-brown and it has a relatively sho ...

(''Simias concolor ssp. siberu''). Among the 31 species of mammals in the park there are four endemic species of squirrel. The park also protects 134 species of bird of which 19 are endemic, including the

Mentawai scops owl The Mentawai scops owl (''Otus mentawi'') is endemic to larger islands of Mentawai, off west Sumatra, Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific ...

Conservation and threats

Protection of the island's environment started in 1976 with the creation of the 6,500 ha Teitei Batti Wildlife Refuge. In 1979 this has been expanded to 56,500 ha and upgraded to Nature Reserve status. In 1981 the whole island has been declared a

biosphere reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...

. In 1993 the 190,500 ha large Siberut National Park has been declared. Logging concessions threaten 70% of the forests outside the national park, and thus endanger the entire ecosystem of the island.UNESCO
"Siberut Biosphere Reserve: Management and conservation challenges"
retrieved 16 December 2013

References

External links

* {{authority control National parks of Indonesia Mentawai Islands Regency Geography of West Sumatra Protected areas of Sumatra Protected areas established in 1992 1992 establishments in Indonesia Tourist attractions in West Sumatra

Flora and fauna

Conservation and threats

See also

References

External links