A couple of years ago I did a post on Borneo Pygmy Elephants on my now defunct communityzero blog. At the time it was Bobby who told me about these cute bijou creatures (known to be more docile than their larger family members) that have a place on the island we call home.
Years later Bobby comes home from work and tells me another story about the north Borneo pachyderms. And it's a rather swell story.
Apparently there is no archaeological proof that elephants have been around our parts for thousands of years. A Reuters report on the Borneo Pygmy Elephants say:
The WWF said DNA tests in 2003 had ruled out the possibility the Borneo elephants were from Sumatra or mainland Asia, home of the other Asian subspecies, leaving either Borneo or Java as the most probable source.
New research discovers that the elephants come from Java. Although the species are now extinct on the Indonesian island, Malaysian Forester Mr Shim Phyau Soon says that "Elephants were shipped from place to place across Asia many hundreds of years ago, usually as gifts between rulers", so it is possible that the Borneo Pygmy Elephants trundling about in the Sabahan rainforests came from a Javanese pair of pygmy elephants that was a present to the Sultan of the day. This made me think of that elephant that was trundling about some empty houses in surburban Jerudong. The story goes that the King of Siam gifted it to our King some years ago, so apparently that custom is still going on strong.
Its nice to know we now have about 1,000 little elephants on Borneo. Just like the Clouded Leopards, a conservation of Borneo Pygmy Elephants ties in nicely with our Green Heart Of Borneo endeavours don't you think? A shrinking habitat would threaten the existence of these wondrous creatures.
How to see a Borneo Pgymy Elephant up close? Apparently there have been sightings of them at the Tabin Wildlife Sanctuary in Sabah and the Kinabatangan area. You can fly from Kota Kinabalu to Lahad Datu to get to Tabin Wildlife Reserve or from Brunei, you can also go by road. Royal Brunei Airlines flies daily to Kota Kinabalu, and since the Borneo Pygmy Elephant have a special place in our hearts, Bobby and I are making plans for a trip.
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