Dewan Kosmik: Spesies kucing hutan terancam

 

Program Penanaman Pokok di Sepanjang Sungai dalam Ekosistem Sawit

Program penanaman pokok di sepanjang sungai yang terdapat di ladang sawit Stesen Penyelidikan MPOB Lahad Datu telah dijalankan pada 23 September 2020. Tujuan program ini dijalankan adalah untuk memupuk staf akan kepentingan kelestarian ekosistem di dalam ladang sawit. Di samping itu, penanaman pokok di sepanjang tepi sungai bertujuan untuk membina koridor atau laluan kepada hidupan liar untuk bergerak dari satu kawasan ke kawasan lain di dalam ekosistem sawit. Diharapkan agar program seperti ini akan berterusan untuk manfaat jangka panjang.

Gambar 1: Seramai 20 peserta yang terpilih telah terlibat dalam program ini.

Gambar 2: Penyediaan lubang pada tanah untuk menanam anak pokok.

Gambar 3: Anak-anak pokok yang telah dibeli di INFRAPRO digunakan untuk melaksanakan program ini.

Gambar 4: Perasmian program penanaman pokok di sepanjang tepi sungai dalam ekosistem sawit di peringkat Stesen Penyelidikan MPOB Lahad Datu.

Gambar 5: Setiap peserta yang terpilih perlu menanam anak pokok di plot masing-masing.

 

Pusat Luar Lembah Danum

Pusat Luar Lembah Danum (PLLD) terletak kira-kira 80 km dari bandar Lahad Datu Sabah. Untuk melawat tempat ini, anda perlu mendaftarkan diri dan juga kenderaan yang ingin digunakan di Pejabat Danum yang terletak berhampiran dengan Lapangan Terbang Lahad Datu. Di sini saya senaraikan harga-harga asas untuk memasuki Pusat Luar Lembah Danum ini.

Bajet asas:

• Kenderaan  : RM20 setiap kenderaan
• Yuran          : RM30 seorang
• Hostel         : RM120 sebilik - 2 orang
• Dapur          : RM45 tong gas
• Makanan     : RM90 sehari

Rajah 1: Lawatan sambil belajar warga MPOB Lahad Datu ke Pusat Luar Lembah Danum pada 14-15 September 2020.

Rajah 2: Aktiviti-aktiviti menarik yang boleh dibuat di PLLD.

Rajah 3: Hostel yang mempunyai 10 bilik. Terdapat juga tempat memasak di hostel yang menyediakan katil-katil saja untuk penginapan dengan harga RM50 sekatil.

Rajah 3: Titian gantung untuk memasuki hutan asli.

Rajah 4: Lawatan sambil belajar ke nurseri INFAPRO.

Rajah 5: Anda boleh membeli bibit pokok pada harga RM3-RM9.

Di Pusat Luar Lembah Danum, jika anda mengambil servis untuk Night Safari menaiki 4x4 dengan harga RM160, atau servis Night Walk dengan harga RM20 sejam pada waktu malam, anda berpeluang bertemu dengan pelbagai spesies haiwan yang aktif pada waktu malam.

Rajah 6: Kera Hantu atau Western Tarsier yang hanya terdapat di Borneo sahaja.

Rajah 7: Payau atau Sambar Deer yang banyak kelihatan pada waktu malam di kawasan hostel.

Red palm weevil a pest to palm species

By Farah Nadiah Rosli, Nurul Wahida Othman & Dzulhelmi Nasir

Red Palm Weevil (RPW) Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, a concealed tissue borer is a lethal pest of palms and is reported to attack 17 palm species worldwide. It is a large insect about >25 mm long, polyphagous and attacks a broad range of palm species, causing severe damage to the affected crop. It is quite easy to distinguish RPW from other insects as it has a distinct dark red color with black spots appear on its thorax. It also has wings with strong flight ability that reaches up to 50 km in distance within 24 hours of a time range. This ability further contributes to the RPW widespread in palm plantations. Male and female RPW can be differentiated based on the physiological appearance of its rostrum in which male has slightly crooked and hairy rostrum compared to female RPW. Meanwhile, female RPW is equipped with straight and longer rostrum that enable it to poke a hole in palm trees to oviposit. RPW were able to lay approximately 270-396 eggs per female. The number of eggs laid would decrease day by day over a period of 11 weeks. After the 11^th weeks, female RPW could not lay any more eggs until death although the male still mates with the female. After 2-5 days, an average 43.5%-75.9% eggs would successfully hatch. The larvae then bore into the interior part of the palm and feed on the soft succulent tissues of the palm. Then, the larvae would develop into a non-feeding prepupal larvae stage. At this stage, the prepupal larvae construct an oval-shaped cocoon made of fibre and pupate inside the cocoon, developing into adults. The life cycle range from 82-139 days depending on the different geographical region of the world. There are about 3 to 4 generations of RPW throughout the year.

Figure 1: Red Palm Weevil

Geographical distribution of RPW includes most countries in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, particularly coastal areas due to the availability of its favourite diet which is coconut trees. Originating from the Middle East, a mass outbreak of RPW infestation was first reported at the United Arab Emirates in 1986 and slowly started to spread to other continents via transportation of infected palm trees to outside of the country. These transported palm trees serve for the purpose of ornamental value or as logs for the manufacturing industry. RPW is considered more as a threatening pest in the Middle East and Southeast Asia compared to Europe due to these two reasons, which are RPW prefer a country with hotter climate over the alternate seasonal country and palm trees are a vital source of economy for some countries in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. This includes the date palm tree in Saudi Arabia and oil palm tree in Malaysia. Based on the Malaysia Department of Agriculture, RPW was first introduced to Malaysia from Thailand via illegal transportation of infested logs. These logs escaped clarification by the Royal Malaysian Customs Department and further spread RPW infestation to Malaysia as a result of some industrial corporates’ negligence.

In Malaysia, RPW is the key pest of coconut, Cocos nucifera. This pest was first detected by the Department of Agriculture in 2007 in all seven districts in Terengganu. In 2016, RPW has been reported to hit five other states including Perlis, Kedah, Pulau Pinang, Terengganu, and Kelantan. RPW has been reported to mostly attack young palms i.e. age below 20 years. There are three ways that RPW attack the coconut palms (1) through the shoot and straight to the cabbage of the coconut (2) adult make a hole through the trunk or use holes that are made by other insects (3) adult RPW digs the soil and tunnelled into the coconut palm root system. In coconut, damage due to the Rhinoceros beetle Oryctes spp. and the diseases of frond rot and bud rot may predispose the RPW females to oviposit into the palm. Although RPW’s preference of diet is now mainly focused on coconut trees, there is a high probability that it will switch to the more economically significant oil palm tree in the near future due to its polyphagous feeding habit. Therefore, it is very crucial for the Malaysia government to tackle this issue before it worsens. The major components of the RPW-IPM programme currently being used in coconut are monitoring, palm and field sanitation, trapping of adults using food baits, preventive chemical treatments of wounds, treatment of palms infected with bud rot disease or infested with Oryctes to prevent attraction of RPW adults, filling fronts axils of young palms with a mixture of insecticide and sand, curative treatment of infested palms in the early stages of attack, eradicating severely infested palms, cutting fronds if required at a distance of 1 m from the frond base, and educating and training farmers and agricultural officers.

The severely infested coconut palms showed signs of wilting, drooping of dried leaves like an umbrella-shaped, skirting-shaped leaves or collapsed crown. Other symptoms for heavily infested coconut tree are the presence of borer hole and brown discoloration at the junction of coconut frond and stem. Besides that, the RPW infested tree also shows audible symptoms which is the sound of crunching and sucking noise made by RPW larvae eating away the tree’s inner stem. Oftentimes, it is already too late to save the coconut tree when one of the symptoms is detected. This is due to its hidden tissue borer nature that cannot be seen from outside. Although the RPW-IPM programme has taken place in Malaysia for several years now, the progressive effects of its action are yet to be seen as more coconut trees are being infected. A more intensive and specific RPW eradication method should take place in order to outmatch the fast-growing RPW pest infestation. Many groups of scientists have suggested a few eradication techniques specifically for RPW, however its application to the field is not yet popularized. One of the many techniques suggested was acoustic signal detection of RPW larvae boring inside tree trunks by using off-the-shelf recording devices. The device applied mathematical algorithms method such as Gaussian mixture modelling in order to accurately separate RPW larvae boring sounds from background noises. The idea was made to detect early phase RPW infestation in which the coconut trees have not fully damaged yet and thus enabling its salvation. Aside from this device, a biological control method with specific target against RPW has also been suggested by a few entomologists. One of them is the use of nematode (Steinernema carpocapsae) against all stages of RPW with efficacies up to 80% and above. While biological control agent has long been used in integrated pest management, a more peculiar suggestion is the use of dogs in Red Palm Weevil detection by a team of scientist from Middle East country. They claimed that high olfactory sensory level in dogs would enable them to smell the unique signatures of chemical compounds produced by plant-feeding insects. This theory has already been proven in the use of German Shepherds to locate gypsy moth and yet to be explored in their ability to detect RPW pest infestation.      

Aside from being palm trees pest, RPW larvae are also known for being a scrumptious delicacy in some Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, Eastern of Indonesia, Malaysian Borneo, and Papua New Guinea. The chubby larvae are also called as sago worms and often prepared with sago flour, fish sauce, porridge, salad, or sticky rice. The taste of RPW larvae was described as creamy and juicy when eaten raw and meat-like when roasted. Here in Malaysia, RPW larvae are known as ‘butod’ by Sabahan people and can be sell as much as RM40 to RM 45 per kilogram. Although insects particularly pest was constantly associated with hygiene issue, it is not quite true for ‘butod’ as it is only known to feed on and live inside the sago palm pith since it hatched. Besides that, it is also considered an important source of protein for the people in the South of New Guinea where the food source is scarce.

Dr Lim Boo Liat: Perintis Zoologi meninggal dunia pada usia 94 tahun

Dr Lim Boo Liat merupakan seorang perintis dalam dunia zoologi yang telah menceburi bidang ini selama lebih 40 tahun. Beliau mempunyai kepakaran yang meluas dalam taxa mamalia, amfibia dan reptilia. Diharapkan agar semangat beliau mampu dipupuk kepada generasi baru untuk menceburi bidang zoologi ini.

Gambarajah 1: Berita dipetik daripada Freemalaysiatoday pada 11 Julai 2020.

https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2020/07/11/conservationist-and-zoology-icon-lim-boo-liat-dies-at-94/

Gambarajah 2: Berita dipetik daripada The Star pada 12 Julai 2020.

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2020/07/12/malaysian-zoology-pioneer-dr-lim-boo-liat-dies-at-94

Gambarajah 3: Saya berkesempatan untuk berjumpa dengan beliau pada tahun 2013.

Kaedah Inventori Hidupan Liar

Dalam inventori fauna, hidupan liar perlu ditangkap untuk pengecaman spesies. Pelbagai kaedah dan perangkap yang boleh digunakan untuk melaksanakan inventori fauna. Oleh kerana hidupan liar adalah benda hidup, maka sifat cermat, kasih sayang dan bertanggungjawab dalam mengendalikannya adalah sangat penting. Berikut merupakan perangkap asas dalam menangkap hidupan liar.

Rajah 1: Mist-net untuk menangkap burung.

Rajah 2: Jala untuk menangkap ikan.

Rajah 3: Mist-net untuk menangkap kelawar.

Rajah 4: Sweep-net untuk menangkap serangga.

Rajah 5: Cage-trap untuk menangkap tikus.

Rajah 6: Camera-trap untuk foto hidupan liar yang berkeliaran di atas tanah.

Sandakan Crocodile Adventure Land

Sandakan Crocodile Adventure Land is located at Sandakan city in Sabah. Although most crocodiles here were bred, there were few crocodiles that were captured, and transferred to this place. This is due reported on crocodile 'attacking' and 'eating' the local people in several areas. Beside crocodiles, other animals such as Otters, Civet cat, Ostrich, Birds, Fishes and Rabbits are also kept here for display.

Fig.1: Entrance fee are RM20 per person for local visitors.

Fig.2: Walkway above crocodiles lair.

Fig.3: Crocodiles' feeding time is at 12 noon.

Fig.4: Fishes can be fed with the fish food sold at RM1 per packet.

Fig.5: Rabbits can be pet and fed with the provided food sold at RM1 per packet.

Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre

Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre is located at the city of Sandakan, Sabah. 

Fig.1: The Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre is located on the opposite of Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre.

Fig.2: Information about the Sun Bear are displayed along the walkway.

Fig.3: Visitors are able to observe the Sun Bear in their natural habitat from above the walkway.

Fig.4: Visitors can also watch the video about the Sun Bear at the information centre.

For more information, please visit the website; https://www.bsbcc.org.my/

POSTER: Malaysian Tarantula / Tarantula Malaysia

Pusat Pemulihan Orang Utan Sepilok

Pusat Pemulihan Orang Utan Sepilok terletak di bahagian Sandakan, Sabah. Objektif penubuhan pusat pemulihan ini adalah untuk memulihara Orang Utan yang telah diselamatkan daripada pemburu haram, mahupun yang dipelihara oleh manusia secara tidak sah. Anak-anak Orang Utan ini akan diasuh dan dididik untuk hidup di habitat semulajadinya.

Gambarajah 1: Pameran mengenai Orang Utan.

Gambarajah 2: Waktu makan Orang Utan adalah pada jam 10 pagi dan 3 petang.

Gambarajah 3: Anak-anak Orang Utan yang berjaya diselamatkan akan diasuh di tempat ini.

Gambarajah 4: Terdapat tempat duduk di dalam bangunan untuk melihat Orang Utan bermain.

Taruakan Hill, Pulau Sakar, Lahad Datu, Sabah

Taruakan Hill terletak di Pulau Sakar, Lahad Datu, Sabah. Untuk sampai ke destinasi ini, anda perlu mempunyai pakej kumpulan 10 orang dengan bayaran RM20 seorang untuk kos bot dan pemandu pelancong. Jika anda ingin pakej kumpulan yang menyediakan makanan warga tempatan, anda boleh meminta pakej kumpula 10 orang dengan bayaran RM35 seorang. Pemandu pelancong anda adalah orang tempatan Pulau Sakar itu sendiri. 

Untuk keterangan lanjut, sila hubungi Fazriani 017-8378939.

Rajah 1: Menaiki bot di jeti 15-20 minit untuk sampai ke Pulau Sakar.

Rajah 2: Penempatan orang-orang tempatan di Pulau Sakar.

Rajah 3: Kemuncak bukit Taruakan adalah pada ketinggian 500 meter.

Rajah 4: Terdapat menara yang dibina untuk pelancong melihat pemandangan dari Pulau Sakar.

Rajah 5: Makanan yang dihidangkan oleh orang tempatan Pulau Sakar

Pakalangan Bay, Semporna

Pakalangan Bay is a small bay located at Semporna, Sabah. It is a place for families and friends to spend time together. This peace and quiet place has a beautiful scenery.

Fig.1: Entrance fee to enter this area is RM2.

Fig.2: BBQ event can be held at this bay.

Fig.3: Swimming at the beach.

Fig.4: Spending leisure and quality time with families.

Fig.5: Visitors can feed the fishes.