Cardiff University biology students on study tour

KINABATANGAN:  The wild in Sabah played host to 21 second-year biology students who embarked on a field course at the Sabah Wildlife Department’s (SWD) Lower Kinabatangan floodplain area, here, recently.This is the third batch of Cardiff University students who came to do their study tour here since the centre opened its doors in July 2008.

Throughout the two-week field course, they had the opportunity to get up close and personal with the  primate communities, bird ringing, butterfly ecology, amphibian and small mammal diversity, as well as the forest ecology.

“DanauGirang is the first field centre set up by the Sabah Wildlife Department, with the support from Cardiff University, and it starts to attract more attention from overseas academic institutions,” said SWD director Dr Laurentius Ambu.

One of the highlights of the field course was the bird ringing activity led by Dr Ian Vaughan, a lecturer and ornithologist at Cardiff University.

Since 2008, 167 understorey birds were captured and 131 individuals from 30 different species were ringed.

“The main aim is to reveal the assemblage of bird species that use the forest floor and understorey, and to provide some information about their relative densities and movements within the forest,” said Vaughan.

According to the DanauGirang Field Centre (DGFC) director Dr Benoit Goossens, the participants also had the chance to design their own project and worked in pairs or trios in the forest, looking at butterfly density, comparing density of small mammals in riparian forest, semi-inundated forest and oil palm plantation, looking at abundance and species richness of lizards and amphibians in riparian and semi-inundated forest, and investigation distribution of primates along the river in relation to the proximity of oil palm plantations.

Goossens, who is also one of the lecturers involved in the field course, said: “A troop of 50-60 elephants which stayed in the vicinity of the field centre for several days was the cherry on the cake for the students.”

Cardiff University student and volunteer at DGFC,  Jennifer Shepperson, described the participants as “so lucky” to be visiting DanauGirang as part of their degree course.

“They loved all the different activities on offer: bird ringing, primate survey, frogging, even facing their fears on the new canopy viewing platform. They were treated with many incredible wildlife sightings, from tarsiers to elephants, and I thoroughly enjoyed showing off this amazing place to them,” said Shepperson.

The students went back to Europe with plenty of wonderful souvenirs and their head full of images of the rich biodiversity that Sabah harbours in its forests.

“My expectations were massively exceeded … just goes to show how incredible this place really is,” quoted one of them in the souvenir book.

Some also wrote: “Memories that will last a lifetime…amazing place, amazing people”; “The landscape is breathtaking, the experience one-of-a-kind, and the people have been wonderful and extremely friendly”; “From baby elephants to a tarsier, I am very lucky to have experienced this wonderful place” and “A truly inspirational two weeks. I have seen so much wildlife and have learnt so many new things and just generally had so much fun!”.

“These field courses aim at providing yearly assessment on biodiversity present in the highly degraded forests of the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary and help the SWD to manage it,” Goossens explained.