WILD ANIMALS IN MALAYSIA | Facts and Details

ANIMALS IN MALAYSIA

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As one of the world's 17 recognized megadiverse countries, Malaysia's 130-million-year-old tropical rainforests and marine habitats are home an incredible array of wildlife. According to official data from the Malaysia Biodiversity Information System (MyBIS), the country is home to an estimated 742 species of birds, 306 species of mammals, 567 species of reptiles, 242 species of amphibians, and more than 2,000 combined species of freshwater and marine fish, alongside over 150,000 insect species. The species include Asian elephants, Malayan tigers, tapirs, gaurs, gibbons, and numerous monkey species. While Peninsular Malaysia is anchored by protected areas like Taman Negara National Park, the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak on Borneo harbor unique endemic species like the Bornean orangutan and the proboscis monkey; however, the critically endangered Sumatran rhinoceros is now considered functionally extinct within the country.

Borneo has more species of tree shrew than anywhere else on the world. Tree shrews are not shrews and most species do not live in trees. They are generally hyper creatures that belong to their owner order (Scandentia). The local Bahasa Indonesian word for them, “tupai”, is the same word used for squirrels. The world's longest venomous snake—an 18 foot, two-inch king cobra was captured in April 1937 in Port Dickson in the state of Nergri Sembilan in Malaysia. After it was caught sent to a zoo at England, where it grew to 18 feet, nine inches. King cobra's average about 12 to 15 feet in length.

On hunting on Borneo in the 1840s, Henry Keppel wrote in “Expedition to Borneo of H.M.S. Dido for the Suppression of Piracy”: “But, while on the subject, I may mention that of pig- shooting, which I found an amusement not to be despised, especially if you approach your game before life is extinct. The jaws are long, tusks also, and sharp as a razor; and when once wounded, the animals evince a strong inclination to return the compliment: they are active, cunning, and very fast. I shot several at different times. The natives also describe a very formidable beast, the size of a large bullock, found further to the northward, which they appear to hold in great dread. This I conceive to be a sort of bison ; and if so, the sporting in Borneo altogether is not so bad.” [Source: “The Expedition to Borneo of H.M.S. Dido For the Suppression of Piracy” by Henry Keppel and James Brooke (1847)-]

Sundaland Biological Hotspot

Sundaland barbets consevol.org

The Sundaland region, which include peninsular Malaysia, Borneo, Sumatra, Java and Bali, has been designated a biodiversity hotspot designated by Conservation International. According to the Conservation International website: “The spectacular flora and fauna of the Sundaland Hotspot are succumbing to the explosive growth of industrial forestry in these islands and to the international animal trade that claims tigers, monkeys, and turtle species for food and medicine in other countries. Populations of the orangutan, found only in this hotspot, are in dramatic decline. Some of the last refuges of two Southeast Asia rhino species are also found on the islands of Java and Sumatra. Like many tropical areas, the forests are being cleared for commercial uses. Rubber, oil palm, and pulp production are three of the most detrimental forces facing biodiversity in the Sundaland Hotspot.[Source: Conservation International website]

Data: 2) Hotspot Original Extent (km²): 1,501,063; 2) Hotspot Vegetation Remaining (km²): 100,571; 3) Endemic Plant Species: 15,000; 4) Endemic Threatened Birds: 43; 5) Endemic Threatened Mammals : 60; 6) Endemic Threatened Amphibians; 59; 7) Extinct Species: 4; 8) Human Population Density (people/km²): 153; 9) Area Protected (km²) 179,723; 10) Area Protected (km²) in Categories I-IV 77,408. [Ibid]

The Sundaland hotspot covers the western half of the Indo-Malayan archipelago, an arc of some 17,000 equatorial islands, and is dominated by two of the largest islands in the world: Borneo (725,000 km²) and Sumatra (427,300 km²). More than a million years ago, the islands of Sundaland were connected to mainland Asia. As sea levels changed during the Pleistocene, this connection periodically disappeared, eventually leading to the current isolation of the islands. The topography of the hotspot ranges from the hilly and mountainous regions of Sumatra and Borneo, where Mt. Kinabalu rises to 4,101 meters, to the fertile volcanic soils of Java and Bali, the former dominated by 23 active volcanoes. Granite and limestone mountains rising to 2,189 meters are the backbone of the Malay Peninsula. [Ibid]

Politically, Sundaland covers a small portion of southern Thailand (provinces of Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat); nearly all of Malaysia (nearly all of Peninsular Malaysia and the East Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah in northern Borneo); Singapore at the tip of the Malay Peninsula; all of Brunei Darussalam; and all of the western half of the megadiversity country of Indonesia, including Kalimantan (the Indonesian portion of Borneo, Sumatra, Java, and Bali). The Nicobar Islands, which are under Indian jurisdiction, are also included. [Ibid]

Sundaland is bordered by three hotspots. The boundary between the Sundaland Hotspot and the Indo-Burma Hotspot to the northwest is here taken as the Kangar-Pattani Line, which crosses the Thailand-Malaysia border. Wallacea lies immediately to the east of the Sundaland Hotspot, separated by the famous Wallace’s Line, while the 7,100 islands of the Philippines Hotspot lie immediately to the northeast. [Ibid]

Lowland rainforests are dominated by the towering trees of the family Dipterocarpaceae. Sandy and rocky coastlines harbor stands of beach forest, while muddy shores are lined with mangrove forests, replaced inland by large peat swamp forests. In some places, ancient uplifted coral reefs support specialized forests tolerant of the high levels of calcium and magnesium in these soils. Infertile tertiary sandstone ridges support heath forest. Higher elevations boast montane forests thick with moss, lichens, and orchids, while further up, scrubby subalpine forests are dominated by rhododendrons. At the very tops of the highest mountain peaks, the land is mostly rocky and without much vegetation. [Ibid]

Monkeys in Malaysia

primates of Malaysia

Malaysia's monkey population is estimated at 700,000. They are mostly macaques or leaf monkeys. Malaysia is home to crab-eating macaques, long-tailed macaques and pig-tailed macaques. Children are told that if they don't pray five times a day they will turn into a monkey. In some parts of Malaysia, pig-tailed macaques have been trained to climb trees and pick coconuts for human masters.

In February 2008, AFP reported: “Malaysia has abandoned a controversial plan to capture and export monkeys found in urban areas after a majority of them were found to be infected with deadly diseases, a report said Saturday. Azmi Khalid, natural resources and environment minister, said the government decided to drop the plan after at least 80 percent of the 250,000 urban monkeys were deemed unfit for export. The long-tailed macaques were sick with diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria, hepatitis and AIDS, he told the New Straits Times newspaper said. [Source: AFP, February 2, 2008]

"After a study was conducted recently, it was found the macaques were not suitable for export because they were infected," he said. "They were supposed to fulfil the demand for exotic meat in a few countries in Asia and in the West." Malaysia in August last year lifted a 23-year ban on the export of long-tailed macaques from the peninsular, saying they had become an urban pest and were attacking people and stealing food. No permits had been issued for the export of the monkeys, the report said.

Reuters reported: In August, the government said it would end a ban on the export of long-tailed macaques after complaints that they were too aggressive and had attacked residents. Animal-rights groups objected, saying the monkeys would be sold to laboratories.The report also quoted Azmi as saying the diseases could pose a threat to human health, but it gave no idea as to how the government now planned to tackle the problem.Veterinary experts have previously called for relocation programs, reproduction controls and public education to stop residents from feeding or teasing the animals [Source: Reuters, February 1, 2008]

Coconut Monkeys

In some parts of Malaysia, pig-tailed macaques (a relatively russet, rain forest monkey native to Southeast Asia) have been trained to climb trees and pick coconuts for human masters. [Source: Randall Peffer, Smithsonian magazine]

Known locally as beroks, they can harvest 300 or 400 coconuts in a morning before they tire in the hot sun. They are connected to their human handlers by thin ropes or chains. The best monkeys can harvest 800 coconuts a day and clear a whole grove in a day by leaping 30 feet from tree to tree and tossing down coconuts like cluster bombs.

One handler told Smithsonian, "the big males are best for picking from tall trees, where the work is hard. But the males can be difficult to manage; they are strong and have large canines. Young beroks are easier to work with but are not always as productive."

Humans are sometimes faster than beroks on a single tree but monkeys have more endurance, they can sometimes leap from tree to tree, and they aren't bothered as much by stinging ants, scorpions and poisonous snakes that often inhabit the top of coconut palms.

Proboscis Monkeys

Proboscis monkeys are named for their long bulbous noses. They are found in forests along rivers and in swamps and coastal lowlands of Borneo. Indonesians call them "Belanda," which means "white man."[Source: Tim Laman, National Geographic, August 2002] About 8,000 proboscis monkeys are estimated o be living in the wild. They need relatively large areas to live in to collected all the food need. Proboscis monkeys have had their numbers reduced by poaching and loss of habitat resulting from clearing of the rain forest. Particularly damaging for them has been the drainage of swamps and shrimp farming in coastal habitats.

Proboscis monkeys are one of Asia’s largest monkeys. Adult males can reach lengths of two feet, excluding their tail, and weigh 50 pounds. Females are about half the size. They have long tails which are not used for gripping but may provide balance when then the monkeys fly through the air. They also have very long limbs, ideal for swinging in branches and moving from tree to tree. Infants have dark fur and bluish faces. Twins are rare.

Males have the largest noses. They are long, bulbous and drop downward below the chin. When males grunt their nose jerk upwards. Female noses are significantly smaller and turned up and look like the noses on clowns. Youngsters have short, turned-up button nose. The large male noses are believed to be help them attract females and possible dissipate excess heat.

Proboscis monkeys are great leapers. They can leap great distances from one branch to branch and tree to tree. They push off with their powerful hind legs and fly through the air with their arms extended over their heads, ready to grasp a branch. Mothers leap with their offspring clinging to their stomachs.

Proboscis monkeys have chamber stomachs like ruminants such as cows. They eat large quantities of leaves and rely on bacteria in their stomachs to break down the cellulose in the leaves. These monkeys often spend several hours eating and several hours relaxing while food in their stomachs digests. Proboscis monkeys eat seeds and green fruits as well as leaves. The have a permanent pot belly, which encloses a large chambered stomach necessary to process all the fibrous food they eat. They avoid sweet fruits which could cause deadly bloating from rapid fermentation. Male proboscis monkeys sometimes move their noses out of the way when they eat.

Lizards, Amphibians, Crocodiles and Fish in Malaysia

Flying lizards are a common site in the jungles of Malaysia. Four-foot-long monitor lizards found in northern Peninsular Malaysia are good swimmers and are known locally as iguanas. The great anglehead lizard of Malaysia can change color from brilliant green to jet black in minutes. In 1970, scientists observed 10,000 frogs engage in a week-long frenzy and them suddenly stop and started tearing each other apart. More than half the of 266 species of exclusively freshwater fish found in peninsular Malaysia are now extinct or near extinct in the region. In the Borneo rainforest you can dig a hole in the ground and water and fish will appear.

Crocodiles are gone in peninsular Malaysia but are still found in Borneo. In the early 2000s, a 10-year-old boy was grabbed by a crocodile while he was taking a bath in a river in Batu Niah squatter colony in eastern Sarawak. The boy’s mother tried to pull the boy form the crocodile’s jaw. “I jumped in and manage to grab the tail of the crocodile. It spinned. I was overpowered and lost grip. In another attack in Sarawak, a couple of months later, a 4½-meter-long crocodile attacked a man and his two-year-old son while they were bathing in a river in Batang Lupar southwest of Kuching. The boy was pulled to safety. The man was dragged away and killed by the crocodile.

About 85 percent of Southeast Asia’s coral reefs in Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam are severely threatened by human activities such as pollution and overfishing. Nearly all the reefs around the Philippines, Borneo and Indonesia show a high rate of damage. The island nations in the western Pacific boast the richest coral reefs in the world. They have the world's warmest waters and are near breeding ground for El Niño. There are around 450 coral species in the Pacific and Indian Oceans around Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea and Australia, compared to 67 coral species in the Caribbean Sea.

Insects in Malaysia

Finding beetles for Japanese beetle collecting market is quite lucrative. Suppliers find them in Sabah, Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia. During hot spells, the town of Lebu get overwhelmed by swarms of butterflies.

Borneo crab spiders imitate the color of bird doping which their favorite insect prey feed upon. Many ants tend aphids and mealybugs and feed on their sweet excrement. The migrating herdsman ants of Malaysia can not live without their mealybug slaves. The ants place the mealybugs on leaves to feed and watch over them like shepherds. When the food supplies are depleted the ants and their herd of mealybugs move on to new food sources like human nomads with their flocks. Herdsman ant nests are temporary. They consist of 10,000 or more interlocked bodies with the queen, young ants, mealybugs and their young inside.

Jonathan Kent of the BBC wrote: “Buddhism forbids devotees from harming any living creature. So the monks are looking for a creative and non-violent solution to deal with the insects, which are biting worshippers. The monks at the Ang Hock Si Temple, also known as the Hong Hock See temple, in Georgetown on Penang Island have had to learn to live with nature.Some years ago they shared their temple compound with a cobra. The chief monk, the Venerable Boon Keng, told the BBC that they had become used to meditating alongside the snake but eventually decided to catch it and take it away to a nearby forest. Now he says the cobra's place has been taken by a colony of fire ants. [Source: Jonathan Kent, BBC, March 12, 2007]

But the ants are dropping from the temple's sacred bodhi tree onto people meditating below - and when they bite it causes painful swelling. The Venerable Boon Keng practises what he calls "letting go" meditation - so he "lets go" of the pain. But out of consideration for worshippers less far along the path to enlightenment the monks are looking for ways to persuade the ants to go. An attempt to remove them using a vacuum cleaner failed, so the Buddhist community is appealing for help. They cannot encourage anyone to harm the ants, but the chief monk says that if someone turns up unbidden and deals with them without the monks' involvement then that is the will of the universe.

Giant Leaf Insects of Malaysia

The Giant Leaf Insect (Phyllium giganteum) is one of the largest and most remarkable leaf-mimicking insects in the world. Native to the tropical rainforests of Malaysia, the insect can grow to about 10 centimeters in length and has evolved an extraordinary form of camouflage that allows it to resemble a living leaf. Its flattened green body, complete with leaf-like veins, brown spots, and ragged edges, closely imitates the appearance of foliage in the forest. Even its legs have broad extensions that look like leaf blades, helping the insect blend almost perfectly into surrounding vegetation. [Source: keepinginsects.com]

The insect’s body structure is specially adapted for concealment. Most of its internal organs are compressed into a narrow ridge underneath the body, allowing the rest of the insect to remain thin and leaf-shaped. To make the disguise even more convincing, the Giant Leaf Insect often sways gently back and forth while resting on branches, mimicking the movement of leaves in the wind. During the day it remains almost motionless, relying on camouflage to avoid predators, while at night it becomes active and feeds on leaves.

Like many stick and leaf insects, Phyllium giganteum is a calm and docile species. Young nymphs are more active after hatching, but adults tend to move very little and will often remain still even when handled. The species feeds mainly on the leaves of bramble, oak, and rose plants. In captivity, keepers usually provide older, darker leaves because softer young leaves are less suitable, especially for developing insects.

One of the most unusual features of the Giant Leaf Insect is its reproduction. Almost all known individuals are female, and the species reproduces mainly through parthenogenesis, a form of cloning in which females lay unfertilized eggs that hatch into genetically identical females. Although a few preserved male specimens have been found in museum collections, live males are extremely rare and their role in reproduction remains uncertain. Adult females begin laying small black eggs about a month after reaching maturity, dropping them onto the forest floor or cage substrate.

The eggs can take between six and nine months to hatch under warm and humid conditions. The species thrives in tropical temperatures of about 25°C to 30°C with high humidity and good ventilation. Because they are sensitive to mold and environmental changes, Giant Leaf Insects can be difficult to rear successfully. Their extraordinary appearance and behavior, however, have made them one of the most fascinating insects among entomologists, photographers, and insect enthusiasts around the world.

Sea Turtles in Malaysia

The leatherback, Olive Ridley, the green and the hawksbill turtles are found in Malaysia. They are listed as endangered or threatened with extinction, mostly because of poaching by fishermen in the sea. But pollution of the sea and the beaches is also to blame, said Kiernan, pointing out that an average of 18,000 pieces of plastics litter every square kilometer (half mile) of every ocean in the world. Most of it is dumped by ships and cruisers, and some comes from cities, flushed by rivers into the sea. [Source: Vijay Joshi, Associated Press, September 19, 2005]

Resort owners have helped to preserve sea turtles by paying local people $20,000 a year for the rights to all turtle eggs that the local people otherwise might eat. Ian Kiernan, an Australian yachtsman who started the community-based project in 1989 by cleaning up the Sydney Harbor with 40,000 volunteers, said a smart way to clean up the beaches is to involve hotels and resorts, because cleaner sand means more tourists. "It's a solid business reason to go green."

India, Malaysia, Pakistan and Thailand are angered by a United States rule that prevents them from exporting shrimp to the U.S. because their shrimp fishermen don't use nets that allows turtles to escape.

Tons of turtles from five different species are shipped by from Malaysia to China. Chinese believe that eating turtles is supposed to make one live longer.

Leatherback turtles nest in Malaysia. Rantau Abang in northeast Peninsular Malaysia is one of only six beaches in the world to be visited by the giant leatherback turtles. Nesting beaches used by leatherback turtles have much fewer turtles than they did in years past. Mohammed Razali bin Che Ali, a local activist, said when he first came to the area in 1975, the beach used to be filled with up to 50 nesting sea turtles. Only 33 came the whole of last year, he said. "They would be crawling over each other but now nothing," he said.

Malaysian Schoolchildren Pick Up Trash at Turtle Nesting Beaches

Reporting from Rantau Abang, Malaysia, Vijay Joshi of Associated Press wrote: “Schoolchildren and volunteers removed loads of rubbish from the nesting grounds of endangered sea turtles along eastern Malaysia's beaches as part of a global environmental cleanup that draws millions of participants annually. "The clean up is not the answer to the whole problem but it is a very good start," said Kiernan."What is important is the behavioral change among people that it brings," said Kiernan, whose initiative to rid the Sydney harbor of mounds of underwear, plastic buckets, toothpaste tubes and even diapers became a worldwide effort. [Source: Vijay Joshi, Associated Press, September 19, 2005]

Thousands of schoolchildren in Malaysia's eastern state of Terengganu gathered soon after dawn in several coastal villages, ate breakfast in the open and marched in with plastic bags to collect garbage littering the fine yellow sandy beaches on a 10-kilometer (6-mile) stretch. Scurrying around in white T-shirts, they worked at a furious pace before the rising sun became unbearably hot. When they were done, the beaches looked pristine. In two hours, piles of plastic bottles, lunch boxes and ice coolers made of plastic foam, plastic bags, gasoline cans, fishing nets, fizzy drink cans, discarded footwear and other rubbish had been piled up neatly in corners.

Organizers had invited 2,000 volunteers but 3,400 showed up, said Rantau Abang village headman Atan Mohammed Nor. "I enjoyed it because we worked in a group with my school friends ... I have seen the beach when it is dirty and it was so uncomfortable to play and swim," said Awanis Izni, 11, who came with her parents to the Rantau Abang beach.

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: “Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 5: East/Southeast Asia:” edited by Paul Hockings; 1993; New York Times; Washington Post; Los Angeles Times; Smithsonian magazine; Encyclopedia.com; National Geographic; Live Science; Malaysia Tourism websites; Malaysia government websites; UNESCO; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Natural History magazine; Times of London; Library of Congress; The Conversation; The New Yorker; Time; BBC; CNN; Reuters; Associated Press; AFP; Lonely Planet Guides; Google AI; Wikipedia; The Guardian and various websites; books and other publications.

Last updated May 2026