Tree Animals of Borneo

       Borneo is an island of forests and rivers. Its great trees with tangled vines and bushes at their base form a dense jungle; and during the rainy season, much of the country turns to soggy swamp. It is not surprising, therefore, that many of Borneo's mammals should live almost entirely in the trees - deserting the damp ground for dry and sunny tree tops.

Four interesting tree animals of Borneo, left to right, are the Bornean gibbon, the proboscis monkey,
the Bornean slow lorises and the tarsier. All of these animals belong to the primate group

       The gibbon is placed by scientists in that class of primates which includes the chimpanzee, gorilla and orang-utan. A glimpse of its long legs and arms, slender body and grasping fingers and toes, will show you how well fitted it is for its tree life. In moving from branch to branch and tree to tree, it swings itself along by its arms, grasping the branches above its head just as an acrobat at the circus grasps his trapeze. It can move along, hand over hand, so rapidly that it is said to look as if it were flying. It is probable that the gibbon eats almost anything it can find in the trees: fruit, leaves, insects, birds, bird-eggs, lizards and spiders. Its most famous quality is its voice. During the twilight hours of early morning and late evening, the whole forest resounds with the calls of hundreds of gibbons. Indeed, this habit has given the animal its native name and the one adopted by many travelers in the islands. It is called the "Wah-wah."
       The proboscis monkey has the strangest face of all the monkeys. A proboscis is a long snout or nose; and this monkey is gifted with one large enough for an animal three times its size. When a proboscis monkey is young, it has a saucy upturned or "pug'' nose. As the animal grows older, its nose grows longer and in old monkeys, it sometimes hangs below the chin. In addition to long arms and legs, proboscis monkeys have long tails; but, unlike those of South American monkeys, the tails cannot be coiled about a branch or used to hold objects. It is possible that they aid in balancing the body as the animals climb about; but otherwise they are quite useless. Proboscis monkeys usually go about in rather large companies; and the Museum group near the south end of Hall 22 shows you such a company resting and sunning themselves in the top of pongyet tree. In the eyes of the Malay natives these pink-faced monkeys resemble white men; and their name for them means "the Dutchman."
       Both the gibbon and the proboscis monkey are abroad during the day and sleep at night. Their smaller relative, the Bornean slow lemur or lory reverses matters. It sleeps all day, rolled up in a ball. At dusk it awakens; and all through the night it prowls slowly from tree to tree eating leaves, shoots, fruit, insects, bird-eggs and young birds. Like other night prowlers, it has very large eyes and soft fur. The great eyes enable it to see in the dark and the soft, thick fur deadens the sound of its movements when it stalks its prey. It climbs slowly and cautiously, never releasing a safe branch with its feet until it has tested and firmly-grasped the next branch with its hands. The natives of Borneo believe many strange things about the slow lemur. They say that if a sailing vessel has one on board, it will never be becalmed. When the lemur is awakened during the day and hides its face in its hands to keep the bright light from its eyes, the Borneans say that it is seeing ghosts.
       The tarsier is also active at night; and it is far more active than the lemur. If you were to see it hopping across the ground you would say, "That looks like a little kangaroo" for the tarsier moves by leaps just as the kangaroo does. Its hind legs are very long and strong; and its tufted tail serves to balance it in its long jumps. The gibbon, proboscis monkey and slow lemur all have grasping hands and feet to use in climbing. The tarsier climbs by the use of small, flat discs of flesh on the ends of its slender fingers and toes. The suction caused by pressing them against a flat surface holds the little animal on the branches and trunks of the trees it frequents. The tarsier's home is a hole in a tree or a cranny beneath its roots; and its favorite foods are insects and lizards. The lemur is an omen of good luck to the Borneans; but they dread the sight of the little tarsier. If it visits a rice field, they say, some misfortune is sure to befall the owner. Cockrell

Borneo Wildlife Highlights.