LOCATION: SARAWAK, MALAYSIA
TARGET SPECIES: BORNEAN ORANGUTAN, Hornbills
STATUS: IN PROGRESS

Borneo, Malaysia is a biodiversity hotspot, treasured by people all around the world for its abundance of wildlife, including orangutans. For four years, the Smithsonian Institution, UW-Madison student Olivia Cosby, and the Sarawak Forestry Corporation conducted wildlife surveys in Lanjak Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary. Local men from the longhouse communities were hired to act as research assistances, doing much of the camera trapping.

This research project has evolved into a community conservation project, where the communities have identified restoring degraded rubber plantations bordering the wildlife sanctuary as a priority to provide more habitat for species like hornbills and orangutans. A cornerstone of this work is training communities to conduct wildlife monitoring using camera traps and bioacoustic sensors.

Check out a visual story about the project created by the Smithsonian and read these blog posts to learn more: