Unexplored forest reveals mystery

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

July 20, 1969: Neil Armstrong becomes the first human being to set foot on the moon; the Earth is shaken by this exploration of something outside our planet.

Dec. 6, 2005: A team of ecoresearchers on Earth -- in East Kalimantan -- find evidence of a possible new carnivore, sparking excitement among researchers around the world.

It may not have been earth-shattering news, but it was interesting to many, because it made us realize that even on Earth, Mother Nature never ceases to surprise its inhabitants.

The red carnivore, which looks a little like a civet, was spotted in the 1.3-million-hectare Kayan Mentarang protected rain forest, near the Lalut Birai research station, where a nine- strong team from non-governmental organization World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Ministry of Forestry was compiling a biodiversity inventory.

A camera trap installed by local WWF staffers Andris Salo and Amat Uti in April 2003 captured two pictures of a creature with small ears, brownish, dark red fur throughout, large hind legs and a long thick, bushy tail.

"First, I was confused. I have never seen such a creature before," said research team coordinator Stephan Wulffraat, who, at that time, had lived in the jungle for five years.

"Later, I grew increasingly excited," the Dutch ecologist said, sharing his feelings upon the discovery of a possible new species.

He showed the pictures to local staff and to several mammal experts from institutions like the Chicago Field Museum, U.S., where Dr. Harry Leaney, who has researched Southeast Asian mammals for 30 years, worked. He also contacted the Smithsonian, where Dr. Louise Emmons, who claims to have seen specimens of all mammals in Sabah, worked, and the Sabah Museum.

Nobody knew what kind of animal it was, Wulffraat wrote in his new book, Lalut Birai. It was definitely not a cat species, he continued.

"However, Dr. Emmons remarked that the animal was 'almost like a civet, but the tail is too weird, and there are no orange patternless civets in Borneo'," Wulffraat writes in the book, which is scheduled to be launched by early next year.

The book will be the most comprehensive flora and fauna inventory report released by the Lalut Birai research team. It contains information on thousands of flora and fauna species in the mysterious jungle.

Wulffraat said that the last carnivore found in Southeast Asia was the Borneo ferret-badger in 1895.

The possible new carnivore would not be the first new species found in the Kayan Mentarang rain forest.

"Some 361 new species have been found in Kayan Mentarang over the last 10 years," coordinator of WWF's Heart of Borneo Program Bambang Supriyanto said on Monday in Jakarta during the press conference on the possible new species.

Of the 361 confirmed and published new species, 260 were insects, 50 plants, 30 freshwater fish, seven frogs, six lizards, five crabs and a toad.

According to a WWF report titled Borneo's Lost World: Newly Discovered Species on Borneo, the discoveries are an underestimate as the discovery of many species has not yet been published in scientific literature or the press.

"In addition, whole groups of animals remain under-studied, including bats, which make up 40 percent to 50 percent of tropical mammal fauna and other small mammal groups, which are particularly difficult to survey due to their nocturnal habits, avoidance of possible predators or difficult-to-understand behavior," the report said.

Such a situation made Wulffraat's excitement at the red carnivore understandable.

After the front- and rear-view photographs in 2003, the team tried to obtain further evidence of the mysterious creature, but to no avail. Camera traps around the station could not capture any more images of this shy, nocturnal carnivore again, which led to the conclusion that the species was rare.

"We check the camera traps every week. Usually we get 15 photographs per trap. We rarely get a nocturnal carnivore. Most pictures show macaques, which like the flash and they often deliberately pass the trap," said a smiling Wulffraat, who does not feel at home in a big city like Jakarta.

A camera trap comprises a transmitter, a receiver and a camera. A beam of infra-red light runs between the transmitter and receiver, both of which are usually fixed to a tree, at a height of 20 centimeters above the ground.

Every time a creature passes by, the camera clicks and activates the flashlight. Lalut Birai staff installed 14 cameras around the station.

"I'm 90 percent sure this is a new species. To be 100 percent sure, we'd have to get a live specimen for confirmation," Wulffraat said. "We are ordering a trap from abroad and will make five more replicas here."

Whether or not humankind will get the answer to the mystery of this red carnivore is dependent, to a considerable degree, on the success of the research team.

Wulffraat was eager to return to Lalut Birai after spending a tough week answering a continuous stream of calls from reporters in Jakarta.

It will take two flights to East Kalimantan and an hour-long motorized canoe ride on the Bahau River for him to merge into the Kayan Mentarang rain forest once again.