Beasts of the Tropical Jungle
Sumatra's wildlife is the stuff of adventure books. Huge elephants, large skulking cats and elusive rhinos inhabit dense tropical forests amidst a tangle of enormous trees, twisting lianas, and weird and wonderful flowers. Massive human-like apes and beautiful shimmering birds-glimpsed but for a moment-make Sumatra a truly exciting place for naturalists and natur-lovers.One should not expect the drive-up-and-snap ecotourism of East Africa., however. Good sightings of animal are the result of patience and a considerable investment of time. The ideal way to go about it is to wander slowly through the forest, or find a suitable spot and sit quietly and wait-or rise before dawn and go into the forest with a flashlight.
Sumatra's remarkable biological wealth is partly due to the island's great size and diversity of habitats, and partly to its periodic connections with the Southeast Asian mainland during the past few hundred thousand years. The island has no fewer than 196 different species of mammals-nearly three times the number in Great Britain-20 of which are found nowhere else. These include several species of bats, five primates, the sumatran rabbit, various squirrels and the elegant Sumatran weasel.
The wide rivers of the east coast are home to dozens of large fish, including a giant cat fish that grows to 2 meters in length, and the world's most expensive aquarium fish-the golden arowana or dragon fish. Many types of fishes may be seen in the marketplaces in the early morning. Some air-breathing. "walking" species are kept damp and sold alive.
Smaller rivers yield many more species of aquarium fish-heavily striped tiger barbs, the pink-and-brown Kuhl's loach, the orange-and-black clown loach, silver "sharks," halfbeaks, gouramis and a variety of rasbora. The guppy was introduced to the region in 1929 by an aquarist in Bandung, West Java, when he accidentally let some escape . Today the guppy is found in ditches and rice fields in most rural areas.
-Regional variation
Excavations on java, where conditions for fossil preservation are better than on Sumatra, have revealed that about 70,000 years ago the Indonesia archipelago was home to many large mammals that are now extinct. Eight species of elephant, a giant pangolin, several pigs, wild dogs, saber-toothed cats, hyenas and a hippopotamus have all left their remains in the fossil record.
Several other species have disappeared more recently-the last confirmed shooting of a Javan rhinoceros on Sumatra was in 1982. The disappearance of the leopard, which still survives in Peninsular Malaysia and Java, is more of a mystery, at it is well adapted for mountains, forests or plains-with their abundance of monkey and deer.
Sumatra's wildlife is not uniformly distributed throughout its regions. The islands of Simeulue and Enggano-respectively at the top and bottom of the island chain west of Sumatra-have very impoverished wildlife. It is possible that neither has ever been connected to the mainland. Neither island has any species of squirrel (the main island has 24), but Simeulue has distinctive forms of the long-tailed macaque and forest pig, 3 endemic snakes and 20 endemic subspecies of birds.
The massive explosion of Lake Toba in North Sumatra (see "Geography") may have had and important influence on the distribution of animals in Sumatra, because it spread a broad barrier of dry volcanic material across thousands of square kilometers, forming a kind of barrier. There are clear differences between the mammals found to the north and south of this area. To the north live white-handed gibbons, Thomas' leaf-monkeys, orangutans, the Sumatran wren babbler, Schneider's pitta and the bronze-tailed peacock pheasant. to the south live the agile gibbon, banded leaf-monkey, tarsier, tapir and blue masked leafbird.
-A forgotten eden
More than half a million years have passed since the Mentawai Islands, which lie 100 km off the coast of West Sumatra, were connected with the main island of Sumatra, This long isolation has allowed the evolution of endemic species and the survival of primitive (or relict) species in this region.
Eighty percent of the Mentawai's mammals are endemic. These special Mentawai animals include three species of monkey and a gibbon. Two of the monkeys-the joja and the simakobu-are unique among monkeys in the Old World in thet they live (as the gibbons do) in small family units comprising the mother, father and offsprings.
The people of these islands have a story which tells how humans came into being. At a conference of the bilou gibbons, it was agreed that their trees were becoming too crowded. So half the gibbons left the trees to live on the ground, and in time became people. This kind of story represents the closeness felt by the traditional people for their land and its animal inhabitants.
-'Men-of-the-forest'
There is an awesomeness and splendor about the primary forest that is difficult to describe in words. The Sumatran forests are disappearing fast, and a walk in one of them should be one every traveler's itinerary.
The easiest forest to reach for the casual visitor is the one at Bukit Lawang on the edge of the Gunung Leuser National Park in North Sumatra, a two-hour ride from Medan. Here captured orangutans (literally meaning "men-of-the-forest") are trained to return to the wild, and it is possible to see these splendid, tousled, russet-colored beasts being educated to adopt a forest lifestyle, though occasionally the forest area near the rehabilitation station is closed to visitors during the time that feeding is stopped to encourage the young animals to find their own food.
other forest areas are quite easy to reach from Bengkulu, Banda Aceh, Blangkejeren, Kabanjahe, Sidikalang, Pematangsiantar, Bukittinggi, Tebing Tinggi and Padang. the basic principle in any of these places is simply to head for the hills.
-Mountains and parks
As one climbs a Sumatran mountain, the environment becomes cooler and more exposed. The trees and their leaves become smaller, the boughs and branches become covered in moss. Colorful rhododendrons and other familiar temperate zone plants grace the upper slopes. These plants are found only at the higher elevations, and some bird and other animal species are found only here too.
More adventurous and independent travelers could explore the mountains of Gunung Leuser National Park. Allow at least four days to climb Mt. Kemiri, one of the more accessible peaks, and plan your ascent well. Surprisingly, you will need a number of helpers, and do not forget that temperatures at the peak are only a degree or two above freezing at night.
The mountains are the place where you are most likely to see signs of rhinos and tigers. A world of warning-in this tiger country do not squat down at night to perform your ablutions; women are particularly vulnerable to attacks at night.
The clearance of large areas of lowland forest in recent years has led to conflicts between people and large forest animals such as pigs, long-tailed macaques, bears and elephants. Elephants, which cause the most local damage, have been confined to smaller and smaller areas of the forest as agricultural development and new roads have advanced. These roads often cross traditional elephant migration routes to and from areas with mineral-rich soils. Some populations of elephants are now living at higher densities in Sumatra than anywhere else in the world.
Elephants may be seen in spectacular concentrations in the Way Kambas National Park in Lampung province, and in the Air Sugihan Reserve. The reason for this is that elephant drives have been conducted-using helicopters blaring loud rock music, guns firing blank ammunition, and hordes of willing villagers-to persuade the elephants to move from agricultural areas into the reserves. these reserves consists largely of secondary forest, scrub and grasslands which elephants prefer, because their food plants are more abundant there.
The plight of the elephants symbolizes the plight facing much of Sumatra's wildlife-how to survive when even the forest areas set aside for conservation area facing constant attrition? An attempted solution to the elephant's plight is to take young elephants into "training schools" and to teach them to be economically productive. The oldest of the schools is in the Way Kambas National Park.
-Stinking giants
Among the records Sumatra can boast of is the possession of the largest and the tallest flowers in the world. The largest is the peculiar rafflesia, and its size is by no means its only unique feature. It is in fact a parasitic plant that has no leaves, no stem and no roots. It grows on the stump and roots of a particular climbing vine, and apart from the flower it consists only of a few strands of tissue inside the vine. Flower buds, looking like small red cabbages, emerge on the stem but develop slowly-a bud 10 cm in diameter will take about 5 months to open.
When the flower does eventually open there is a powerful smell of rotting meat. Singularly unpleasant to humans, the smell attracts flies and beetles that pollinate the flowers. Since the male and the female flowers may grow some distance apart and remain open for only a week, the odds are clearly stacked against successful pollination. After flowering they decompose and the very small, ripe fruit has to accidentally get caught in the feet of small forest animals so that some of the seeds may happen to be dropped on a vine stem where they can grow. Again, the odds are not exactly in its favor!
The small reserve of Batang Palupuh just outside Bukittinggi in West Sumatra is one of the best places to see this plant. While it is a seasonal plant, it is probably worth visiting at anytime of year-you may never get a chance to see even a Rafflesia bud again!
Another enormous flower with an impressive name is Amorphophallus titanum, a type of giant arum lily, of which generally only the leaves are seen. These leaves feed an underground tuber that, when large enough, produces a flower stalk as tall as a man. As with all other lilies, the blossoms are small and packed together on a central spathe.
Like the Rafflesia, the flowers smell of rotting meat and are pollinated by beetles and flies. You have to be lucky to see this plant in full flower, but chances are best in the forests around Mt. Kerinci. The local name is bunga bangkai, "corpse flower"-a name that is applied to the Raflesia arnoldi as well on account of the overpowering stench.
-And what of tomorrow?
In the forests of Sumatra, the echoing sounds of timber being chopped down at an amazing speed are now as common as the "ku-ow" calls of the Argus Pheasant or the drumming of the coucal. The shouts of timbermen are immediately followed by the rustling of a thousand leaves tearing through the forest canopy, and then the ground shudders as the trunk of a centuries-old tree slams to the ground, while the animals shriek with fear. Minor forest products such as rattan, tree gums, etc., are taken away with scant regard to replanting or to future harvests. Tigers, Sumatran rhinos and other game are still shot to provide pleasure for a few hunters, and to appease local villagers. The remaining patches of forest are dwindling fast.
So get out there and explore-climb the mountains, tramp the hills, and enjoy what remains. Take care not to add to the damage, and encourage others to do the same. Sumatra's wildlife is grand and very special, even though time, a certain determination, and a little bit of luck are required to see it. If you are patient and persistent, the rewards are great. But even if all that you can see is the blurred shapes of monkeys crashing through the canopy above you, you will have witnessed at least something of Sumatra's fast-disappearing wildlife.
