Black Leaf Monkey ( Monyet Hitam )

The Celebes Crested Macaque (Macaca nigra), also known as the Crested Black Macaque, Sulawesi Crested Macaque, or the Black "Ape", is an Old World monkey that lives in the northeast of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi (Celebes) as well as on smaller neighboring islands.

Its skin and hairless face is, with the exception of some white hair in the shoulder range, entirely jet black. The long muzzle with high cheeks and the long hair tuft, or crest, at the top side of the head are remarkable. The tail is only approximately 2 cm of stub. With a total body length of 45 to 60 cm and a weight of 7 to 10 kg, it is one of the smaller macaque species.
he Celebes Crested Macaque is a diurnal rain forest dweller. This macaque is primarily terrestrial, spending more than 60% of its day on the ground foraging for food and socializing, while sleeping and searching for food in the trees.

It lives in groups of 5 to 25 animals. Smaller groups have only a single male, while larger groups have up to four males. The females, however, always outnumber the males by about 4:1. Since young males must leave their birth group upon maturity, they sometimes form bachelor groups before they look for a connection to an existing mixed group. Communication consists of various sounds and gestures; such as the presentation of the long eyeteeth while grimacing a clear threatening gesture.

The Celebes Crested Macaque is frugivorous, with 70% of its diet consisting of fruits. It also consumes leaves, buds, seeds, fungus, birds and bird eggs, insects (such as caterpillars), and the occasional small lizard or frog.

The Celebes Crested Macaque is promiscuous, with both males and females mating multiple times with multiple partners. The receptivity of the females is clearly indicated by a tumescence (swelling) and redness which, in contrast to the black skin color, is particularly remarkable. The gestation time is 174 days, and the birth of the usually single offspring happens in the spring when food is more plentiful. Young animals are nursed approximately one year and become fully mature in 3 to 4 years, females somewhat sooner than males. Its life expectancy is estimated at approximately 20 years.

Because it devastates crops and fields, the Celebes Crested Macaque is hunted as a pest. It is also hunted to provide bushmeat. Clearing the rain forests further threatens its survival. Its situation on the small neighbouring islands of Sulawesi (such as Bacan) is somewhat better, since these have a low human population. The total population of the macaque on Sulawesi is estimated at 4,000-6,000, while a booming population of up to 100,000 monkeys is found on Bacan.

Tarsiers (Kukang Mini)

The tarsier is an extraordinary animal. Relative to weight, the tarsier has the largest eyes of all the mammals.

Fossil relatives of the tarsier have been found in Europe, North America and Africa. Now, they live only on some of the islands of Southeast Asia - the south of the Philippines, Borneo, Sumatra and some of the other Indonesian islands. They have not survived well in captivity or as pets.

The tarsiers, unlike any other primates, completely refuse to eat any plant matter whatsoever. They eat mostly insects but sometimes enjoy birds, crabs, snakes, bats, etc, as long as it is something they can grab and eat its little head, crickets and grasshoppers for example. They may be eaten themselves by snakes, lizards, owls, and other birds of prey. Being nocturnal helps them avoid some predators in the dark night. If a tarsier is attacked by a predator, all of the tarsiers nearby may swarm and attack the predator

Tarsiers do like to sing with a high-pitch voice and in some species the males and females perform duets together. Different species of tarsier have different songs and singing styles and that is one way scientists can differentiate between the species.

The tarsier's flexible neck allows its head to swivel around 180 degrees to help it scan for prey or predator.
See those legs? The tarsier is an amazing jumper able to jump more than 40 times it's own body length. The hind legs can be twice the head and body length. They like to jump and cling to trees.

The tarsier has such large eyes because it is a nocturnal hunter and the large eyes help maximize the available light.

The tarsier's fur is grey, gold, ochre, sand-colored or a mix of these colors and very soft.

Tarsiers are prosimian primates of the genus Tarsius, a monotypic genus in the family Tarsiidae, which is itself the lone extant family within the infraorder Tarsiiformes. Although the group was once more widespread, all the species living today are found in the islands of Southeast Asia.
Fossils of tarsiers and tarsiiform primates are found in Asia, Europe, and North America, and there are disputed fossils from Africa, but extant tarsiers are restricted to several Southeast Asian islands including the Philippines, Sulawesi, Borneo, and Sumatra. They also have the longest continuous fossil record of any primate genus,[citation needed] and the fossil record indicates that their dentition has not changed much, except in size, in the past 45 million years.

Maleo Bird

The population of a central Sulawesi icon,the striking black –and white maleo bird ( Macrocephalon maleo) is on the verge of extinction due to poaching, environmental workers say.

The head of Lore Lindu National Park conservation office, Amir Hamzah, estimated that the curent population of the maleo, wich is part of the distinctive and rare Ordo megapodidae species, now numbered less than 1,000. ‘‘ Whereas, based on our estimated data, the population of the bird in 1998 was about 10,000 in one single habitat,” amir said.

Villagers often hunted the big-footed birds anf their eggs, which they could sell to rare animal collectors. The money was such that people were willing to wait for the birds to lay their eggs in sandy soil for hours on end, he said.

When the females returned to their nests in the evening residents dug 7 to 10 meters into the soil to take the birds single egg.

The maleo used ti nest throughout the huge Lore Lindu National Park and was often sighted near settlement near forests and coasts, Amir said.

As weel as being a national symbol of Cetral Sulawesi, the Maleo was also use for then – minister of research and technology B.J Habibie as the name for a car in the soeharto-era national car program.

But now, people seldom saw the maleo. Because of this, the park outority was conducting a breeding program to try to protect the birds from total extinction, Amir said. It had successfully bred more than 200 birds in captivity and had already released 10 back into nature this month.

“ The breeding sit is located in Saluki village. We released 10 birds …and there are more hatchings to come at the village.”

The park has involved local residents in the breeding plan who have been told of the dangers the maleo faces and are being paid to preserve the bird.

Amir said that the effortas had been quite fruitful.Now more aware of conservation strategies, the villagers would also act as a control on poachers in the area, he said.

Before the national park fice had got involved, a villager from Parigi Moutong, the late Daeng Pabbeta, was a pioneer of efforts to preserve the bird and reseived the Kalpataru environmental award from former president Soeharto.

Amir hoped there were still residents in or around the park who would act like Daeng to voluntarily protect the birds from dying out.

Central Sulawesi Governor Aminudin Ponulele recently emphasized that his administration would componsate anyone who made effor to keep the maleo from extinction.

“ The maleo has always been a symbol of our pride.If the speies goes, our pride will go with it. I will reward anyone who acts to protect the bird,” Aminudin said.

Often ground – dwelling the maleo requeres a humid climate anf sandy suroundings and their habitats ar usully near coatal areas thick with sand and undergrowth and protsted from the wave.




From Jakarta Post news paper ; Saturday May 28,2005

Grizzled Leaf Monkey (Presbytis comata)

The Grizzled Leaf Monkey (Presbytis comata) is currently listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. It is estimated that there are less than 1000 of these animals living in the wild, and, due to clearing of rainforests in Indonesia, only 4% of their natural habitat remains. It is estimated that the population of the Grizzled Leaf Monkey has decreased at least by 50% in the last 10 years.

Grizzled Leaf Monkeys are found only on the island of Java in Indonesia. Java is part of the Sundaland Biodiversity hotspot that contains some 82 threatened species and 13 critically endangered species. They have been seen all throughout the tropical rainforest, in both high and low areas. They are active during the day and live in the trees, rarely touching the ground. They seem to travel in groups of 3-12 monkeys each, averaging 6-7. Sometimes the groups are centered around a mated pair, but not always. There have been reports of all male groups as well. These groups tend to be very territorial, defending their areas against other groups, but there does appear to be pretty extensive overlapping edges between territories. The small areas that they occupy are relatively crowded, with sometimes up to 91 individuals per square mile or 35 per square kilometer.

The average weight for a Grizzled Leaf Monkey is 13-18 pounds (6-8 kg). They are small and slender with small faces, tails, and long fur that ranges in color from dark gray to white on the underbelly. The fur on the top of their heads is darker, verging on black, and it is a longer fringe of hair. They also have large, rounded stomachs.
The Grizzled Leaf Monkey has an interesting adaptation to deal with the food that it eats. Since leaves are usually not very nutritious and are actually often toxic, most animals that live in the jungles of Indonesia supplement their diets with fruits, flowers, and the more nutritious parts of plants. Leaf Monkeys, however, have large stomachs with several chambers. The first chamber contains specialized bacteria that counteract the toxins in the leaves and break down the leaves so that the monkeys can get nutrition from them. About 70% of their diet consists of leaves, 62% young leaves and 6% mature leaves. They will also eat fungi and tips of branches.

Did You Know? The Grizzled Leaf Monkey’s stomach is so large that the contents alone account for 25% of their total weight.

There isn’t a lot of information available on mating and reproduction in the Grizzled Leaf Monkey. Other leaf monkeys, however, such as the Francois Monkey, have been studied in more detail, and the females reach sexual maturity at three to four years old and the males at four. They reach their full adult size at about six or seven. Usually only one baby is born at a time after a gestational period of about 200 days. Babies are usually nursed for about two years and don’t have any contact with their mothers after they are weaned.