News articles on Sulawesi
Mongabay.com news articles on Sulawesi in blog format. Updated regularly.
Cargill to boost investment in Indonesian oil palm plantations
(03/26/2013) Cargill plans to 'aggressively' expand its palm oil holdings in Sulawesi, Indonesian Borneo, and Sumatra, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Palm oil company thugs attack Sulawesi villagers, injuring 8
(02/06/2013) Local thugs, allegedly linked to an oil palm plantation company, attacked a group of villagers in Indonesia’s Gorontalo province on the island of Sulawesi last week, injuring eight people, including a woman and a small child.
Photos: Population of critically-endangered black macaque on rebound
(01/26/2013) An important population of critically endangered Sulawesi black macaques (Macaca nigra) is showing signs of recovery after years of decline in an Indonesian forest reserve, reports a study published in the January issue of the American Journal of Primatology.
The world's 25 most endangered primates: nearly a quarter in Madagascar
(10/15/2012) A coalition of conservation groups released the biannual Top 25 Primates list today, including nine species not appearing on the 2010 list, at the UN's Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Hyderabad, India. Madagascar tops the list as home to the most threatened primates, including six on the list. Following Madagascar, Vietnam contains five, Indonesia three, and Brazil two. In all, over half (54 percent) of the world's primates, which have been evaluated, are considered threatened by the IUCN Red List.
Bizarre new rodent discovered in Indonesia has only 2 teeth
(08/22/2012) The Indonesian island of Sulawesi is a workshop of bizarre evolutionary experiments. Think of the babirusa, pig-like species with tusks that puncture their snouts; or the maleo, a ground-bird that lays its eggs in geothermal heated sand; or the anoa, the world's smallest wild cattle. Now the island, made up of four intersecting peninsulas, can add another bizarre creature to its menagerie of marvels: the Paucidentomys vermidax, a new species of rodent that is different from all others.
New mammal discovered in Indonesia
(07/24/2012) Researchers have discovered a new species of rodent in Indonesia's Mekongga Mountains, reports the Jakarta Post. The new rodent, Christine's Margareta rat (Margaretamys christinae), is only the fourth in the genus Margaretamy, all of which are found on the island of Sulawesi.
Charts: deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia, 2000-2010
(07/15/2012) Indonesia and Malaysia lost more than 11 million hectares (42,470 square miles) of forest between 2000 and 2010, according to a study published last year in the journal Global Change Biology. The area is roughly the size of Denmark or the state of Virginia. The bulk of forest loss occurred in lowland forests, which declined by 7.8 million hectares or 11 percent on 2000 cover. Peat swamp forests lost the highest percentage of cover, declining 19.7 percent. Lowland forests have historically been first targeted by loggers before being converted for agriculture. Peatlands are increasingly converted for industrial oil palm estates and pulp and paper plantations.
Indonesia green news review: Sulawesi regent arrested for alleged palm oil corruption
(07/09/2012) Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) arrested Amran Batalipu, the regent of Buol, Central Sulawesi, on charges that he received bribes in issuing palm oil plantation permits in his regency.
Saving Indonesia's monkey with a heart-shaped bottom
(06/05/2012) North Sulawesi is one of the world's most beautiful places. Verdant forests and stunning coral reefs, combined with high levels of species endemism, make it a top biodiversity hotspot. But pressure on the region's natural resources is mounting. Mining projects, conversion of forests for plantations, overfishing, and the expansion of a commercial bushmeat trade is endangering some of Sulawesi's most charismatic animals, including the distinctive Sulawesi crested black macaque. Found only in North Sulawesi, the crested black macaque could be one of Indonesia's most iconic conservation symbols, but relatively few people know of its existence. And the locals who do may be inclined to eat it as a delicacy.
New book series hopes to inspire research in world's 'hottest biodiversity hotspot'
(01/17/2012) Entomologist Dmitry Telnov hopes his new pet project will inspire and disseminate research about one of the world's last unexplored biogeographical regions: Wallacea and New Guinea. Incredibly rich in biodiversity and still full of unknown species, the region, also known as the Indo-Australian transition, spans many of the tropical islands of the Pacific, including Indonesia's Sulawesi, Komodo and Flores, as well as East Timor—the historically famous "spice islands" of the Moluccan Archipelago—the Solomon Islands, and, of course, New Guinea. Telnov has begun a new book series, entitled Biodiversity, Biogeography and Nature Conservation in Wallacea and New Guinea, that aims to compile and highlight new research in the region, focusing both on biology and conservation. The first volume, currently available, also includes the description of 150 new species.
Meet the just discovered 'Komodo dragon' of wasps
(08/28/2011) A new species of warrior wasp has been discovered on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi that is so large and, frankly, terrifying-looking that it has been dubbed the 'Komodo dragon' of the wasp family. Bizarrely, the male of the species has jaws that outstretch its limbs. "I don't know how it can walk," said the wasp's discoverer, entomologist Lynn Kimsey of the University of California, Davis and director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology, in a press release. "Its jaws are so large that they wrap up either side of the head when closed."
Cute animal picture of the day: baby tarsier
(07/29/2011) The spectral tarsier of Sulawesi is one of the world's smallest primates, weighing roughly the equivalent ten U.S. quarters when full-grown.
2-4 new shrew species discovered in Sulawesi
(06/28/2011) A research expedition has turned up two to four new species of shrew on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, reports a conservation group working to protect their forest habitat.
Distressed Place and Faded Grace in North Sulawesi
(05/10/2011) The Nantu Wildlife Reserve is located in northern Sulawesi’s Minehasa Peninsula, in Gorontalo Province. Sulawesi is among the largest of Indonesia’s some seventeen thousand islands. Its shape is bizarre: a sinuous sprawling monkey, with lavish tail, poised to leap the straits of Makassar. Sulawesi lies to the north of Bali and Lombok and to the east of Borneo. Alfred Russell Wallace, the nineteenth century English explorer and natural scientist of broad expertise, spent a lot of time in Sulawesi’s northern peninsula, casting his curiosity and observation with such singular acuity that his mind apprehended “Darwin’s theory of evolution” independently from and possibly before Darwin. His work described the zone of transition between the Asian and Australian zoographic regions and was so accurate and thorough in its logic that today, some one-hundred and fifty years later, the zone is named Wallacea.
REDD project developer Carbon Conservation partly acquired by mining company
(05/03/2011) East Asia Minerals Corporation, an Asian mining company, has acquired a 50% stake in Carbon Conservation, a Australian company that developed one of the world's first forest conservation projects funded by carbon credits, for $500,000, according to a press release from the mining company.
Sulawesi groups recognized for efforts to save endangered wildlife, forests
(12/08/2010) Two groups working with local communities to conserve forests in Sulawesi have won mongabay.com's 2010 Conservation Award. The Alliance for Tompotika Conservation (AlTo), which works in Central Sulawesi, and the Nantu Forest Conservation Program, which operates in North Sulawesi, were recognized for their efforts to protect endangered forests on the Indonesian island, which is known for its high levels of endemic species.
Saving the maleo, a geothermal nesting bird, in Sulawesi
(12/06/2010) More species are threatened with extinction in Indonesia than any other country on Earth. If we are to save them, it will take more protected areas, radical shifts in deforestation, and better anti-poaching efforts, but in many cases it will also take species-specific conservation efforts that work directly with local people. The Alliance for Tompotika Conservation (AlTo) is a model organization for this method, founder Marcy Summers describes it as 'very small, community-based, and efficient, with very low overhead.' By focusing on the wonderfully bizarre maleo, a ground-dwelling bird on the island of Sulawesi, the organization has succeeded in protecting a vital nesting area while initiating a moratorium on the egg-harvesting, which once devastated the species.
Saving Sulawesi's 'pig-deer', the babirusa
(12/06/2010) The babirusa of Sulawesi may be one of the world's oddest looking—and acting—mammals. Literally meaning 'pig-deer' the babirusa, which includes four species, belongs to its own genus 'Babyrousa' in the pig family. Males are especially unique, sporting four tusks, two of which appear to come right out of the animal's snout. To make it to the top of the babirusa hierarchy, males will combat each other in an activity dubbed 'boxing' where they will rear up on their hind legs and club at each other. Despite their many oddities, the babriusa were not formally studied until the late 1980s when Dr. Lynn Clayton spent four years in Sulawesi's forest observing them.
Amazing reefs: how corals 'hear', an interview with Steve Simpson
(07/21/2010) Corals aggregate to form vast reefs, which are home to numerous species and provide vital ecological services such as protecting shorelines. However, coral reefs are one of the most threatened ecosystems in the world due to many factors, such as global warming and ocean acidification. Recent research by Simpson and his team of scientists has shown that corals, rather than drifting aimlessly after being released by their parent colonies and by chance landing back on reefs, instead find their way purposefully to reefs by detecting the sound of snapping shrimps and grunting fish on the reef. However, that discovery also means that the larvae might struggle to find reefs when human noises, like drilling or boats, mask the natural ocean sounds.
Photo: Scientists discover new species of Komodo dragon-like lizard
(07/21/2009) German researchers have discovered a new species of monitor lizard in Indonesia using DNA analysis and morphological characteristics. The species, Varanus lirungensis, is described in the Australian Journal of Zoology.
Photos of living gremlin discovered in Indonesia
(11/19/2008) Scientists have rediscovered a long-lost species of primate on a remote island in Indonesia. Conducting a survey of Mount Rore Katimbo in Lore Lindu National Park on the island of Sulawesi, a team led by Sharon Gursky-Doyen of Texas A&M University captured three pygmy tarsiers, a tiny species of primate that was last collected in 1921 and was assumed to be extinct until 2000 when two scientists studying rats accidently trapped and killed an individual. Gursky-Doyen's team spent two months using 276 mist nets to capture the gremlin-like creatures so they could be fitted with radio collars and tracked. One other individual was spotted but eluded capture.
Rainforest destruction becomes industry-driven, concentrated geographically
(06/30/2008) New analysis of global deforestation reveals that the bulk of tropical forest loss is occurring in a small number of countries. The research — published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) — shows that Brazil accounts for nearly half of global deforestation, nearly four times that of the next highest country, Indonesia, which makes up about an eighth of worldwide forest clearing.
New bird species discovered in Indonesia
(03/14/2008) A previously unknown species of bird has been discovered near a remote archipelago in Indonesia, reported a taxonomist writing in the March edition of The Wilson Journal of Ornithology.
Scientists propose conservation areas for the unique island of Sulawesi
(01/06/2008) Little-known Sulawesi may be the world's most strangely shaped island: with four large peninsulas jutting outward, the island could either resemble a mangled lower-case 'k' or an upside-down emaciated mermaid—depending on one's perspective. However when Dr. Charles Cannon states that the island is "one of the most unique spots on Earth", he is not referring to Sulawesi's shape but its ecology.
Rare and mysterious forests of Sulawesi 80% gone
(06/28/2007) Roughly 80 percent of Sulawesi's richest forests have been degraded and destroyed for agriculture, logging, and mining, reports a ground-breaking assessment of the Indonesian island's forests.
Fruit-eating birds at particular risk from Indonesian deforestation
(03/20/2007) A new study on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia confirms the critical importance of fig trees to the rainforest ecosystem. The research has implications for wildlife conservation in an area of high rates of forest loss from agricultural conversion and logging.
Farming in the rainforest can preserve biodiversity, ecological services
(03/05/2007) While conversion of tropical forest for agriculture results in significant declines in biodiversity and carbon storage, an analysis of Indonesian rainforests shows that farming cacao under the partial shade of high canopy trees can provide a way to balance economic gain with environmental considerations.
