Borneo Elephant
Encyclopedia
The Borneo Elephant also called the Borneo Pygmy Elephant inhabits northeastern Borneo
. Its origin remains the subject of debate. A definitive subspecific classification
as Elephas maximus borneensis awaits a detailed range-wide morphometric and genetic
study. Since 1986, Elephas maximus has been listed as endangered
by IUCN as the population has declined by at least 50% over the last three generations, estimated to be 60–75 years. The species is pre-eminently threatened by habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation.
The Sultan of Sulu introduced captive elephants to Borneo in the 18th century, which were released into the jungle. Comparison of the Borneo elephant population to putative source populations in DNA
analysis indicates that the Borneo elephants are derived from Sundaic
stock and indigenous to Borneo. The genetic divergence of Borneo elephants warrants their recognition as a separate Evolutionary Significant Unit
.
It has become commonplace to refer to Borneo elephants as a ‘pygmy’ subspecies. But adult elephants of Sabah of both sexes are similar in height to their counterparts in Peninsular Malaysia
. Five measurements of the skull of a fully adult female elephant from Gomantong Forest Reserve were slightly smaller (72 – 90%) than comparable dimensions averaged for two Sumatran skulls. Few available measurements show that they are of similar size to other populations of the Sunda subregion.
Morphological
measurements of fifteen captive elephants from Peninsular Malaysia and of six elephants from Sabah were taken between April 2005 and January 2006, and repeated three times for each elephant and averaged. There was no significant difference in any of the characters between the two captive populations.
They are also remarkably tame and passive, another reason some scientists think they descended from a domestic collection.
ranging over the Tabin Wildlife Reserve
and adjacent mostly logged dipterocarp forest on steep terrain; and in the hilly interior at about 300 to 1500 m (984.3 to 4,921.3 ft) altitude in dipterocarp forest, which was largely undisturbed at the time, and only logged at the periphery. In Kalimantan
, their range is restricted to a small contiguous area of the upper Sembakung River in the east.
Previous estimations for the population in Sabah have ranged between 500-2000 elephants. Between July 2007 and December 2008, wildlife biologists conducted an elephant population census in five main elephant managed ranges in Sabah using a systematic line transect
survey and a long term monitoring of dung decay rates. They estimated a population of 2,040 elephants. The largest of the five populations inhabits the unprotected central forests of Sabah, a contiguous area of forest which is largely commercial forest, where 1,132 elephants were estimated to remain. Elephant density (elephants per square kilometre) was found to be highest where neighbouring habitat had been destroyed and the remaining elephants squeezed into the remaining forest areas.
The range of wild elephants in Sabah and Kalimantan seems to have expanded very little in the past 100 years despite access to suitable habitat elsewhere on Borneo. Borneo’s soil tends to be young, leached and infertile, and there is speculation that the distribution of wild elephants on the island may be limited by the occurrence of natural mineral sources.
In the 19th century, a zoological exploration established that wild elephants occurred naturally in a restricted region of northeastern Borneo. The status and taxonomic
distinctiveness of the Borneo elephants has been controversial since then. In 1940, Frederick Nutter Chasen
considered Bornean elephants as descendants of an introduced stock, and placed them in the subspecies Elephas maximus indicus. Reginald Innes Pocock
having studied specimens in the British Museum of Natural History disagreed in 1943, and placed all Sundaic elephants in the subspecies Elephas maximus sumatrensis
. In 1950, Paules Edward Pieris Deraniyagala described a subspecies Elephas maximus borneensis, taking as his type an illustration in the National Geographical Magazine, but not a living elephant in accordance with the rules of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature
.
In 2003, the debate was re-opened by a suggestion that the introduced Sulu elephants and the north-east Borneo population might have descended from the now extinct Javan elephant
, which was named Elephas maximus sondaicus by Deraniyagala. This hypothesis is based on missing archaeological evidence of long term elephant habitation in Borneo, a corroboration in folklore and that elephants have not colonized the entire island of Borneo. If Borneo elephants are in fact Javan elephants, they represent the only successful elephant translocation.
In 2003, Mitochondrial DNA
analysis and microsatellite data indicated that the extant population is derived from Sundaic stock but has undergone independent local evolution for some 300,000 years since a postulated Pleistocene
colonisation, and possibly became isolated from other Asian elephant populations when land bridges that linked Borneo with the other Sunda Islands
and the Asian mainland disappeared after the Last Glacial Maximum
18,000 years ago.
standing, and it was customary to transport them by sea. In about 1395, the Raja of Java gave two elephants to the ruler Raja Baginda of Sulu. These animals were reputedly the founders of a feral
population at the western end of Borneo. When in 1521 the remnants of Ferdinand Magellan
’s circumnavigation of the Earth reached Brunei
, the chronicler of the voyage recounted that the delegation from the flagship Victoria was conveyed to and from the ruler’s palace on elephants caparisoned in silk. This custom had been discontinued by the time later visitors arrived in Brunei in the 1770s, who reported wild-living elephant herds that were hunted by local people after harvest. Despite the early records of royal elephants in Brunei and Banjarmasin
, there was no tradition of capturing and taming local wild elephants in Borneo.
The arrival of elephants in the north Kalimantan
region of Borneo coincides with the rule of the Sultans of Sulu over Sabah. The Sultanate of Sulu enjoyed peaceful ties with the Hindu Sultanate of Java. As a token of appreciation, the rulers of Java sent their elephants to Sulu, much as they have sent Javanese elephants to the Sultanate of Maguindanao
, which also partly gives the reason why skeletal remains of small elephants are found in Mindanao
, south Philippines. The Sultan of Sulu and his family shipped some of their prized Javanese elephants to northeast Borneo due to lack of land and for the elephants to help in hauling logs out of the forest to create fast and long ship vessels. When this lease was signed, most of these timid and largely domesticated small elephants under the employ of Sulu's shipbuilders and traders were released into the forests so they can live deep inside the jungle away from any feuding sultan who might use them for war. This single act of releasing the pachyderms to the wild made the Bolkiah
family of Sulu and their allies the savior of what remaining elephants are left, old locals attest.
disrupts their migration routes, depletes their food sources, and destroys their habitat. Recognizing these elephant
s as native to Borneo makes their conservation a high priority and gives biologists important clues about how to manage them.
The genetic distinctiveness of Borneo elephants makes them one of the highest priority populations for Asian elephant conservation.
In Malaysia, the Borneo elephants are protected under schedule II of the Wildlife Conservation Enactment. Any person found guilty of hunting elephants is liable on conviction to a fine of $RM 50,000 or five years imprisonment or both.
The Oregon Zoo
in Portland has the only Borneo elephant in the United States, a seventeen-year-old female orphan called Chendra. There are plans to breed Chendra with the zoo's Tusko.
Borneo
Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....
. Its origin remains the subject of debate. A definitive subspecific classification
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
as Elephas maximus borneensis awaits a detailed range-wide morphometric and genetic
Genetics
Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
study. Since 1986, Elephas maximus has been listed as endangered
Endangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
by IUCN as the population has declined by at least 50% over the last three generations, estimated to be 60–75 years. The species is pre-eminently threatened by habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation.
The Sultan of Sulu introduced captive elephants to Borneo in the 18th century, which were released into the jungle. Comparison of the Borneo elephant population to putative source populations in DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
analysis indicates that the Borneo elephants are derived from Sundaic
Sundaland
Sundaland is a biogeographical region of Southeastern Asia which encompasses the areas of the Asian continental shelf that was exposed during the last ice age. It included the Malay Peninsula on the Asian mainland, as well as the large islands of Borneo, Java, and Sumatra and their surrounding...
stock and indigenous to Borneo. The genetic divergence of Borneo elephants warrants their recognition as a separate Evolutionary Significant Unit
Evolutionary Significant Unit
An Evolutionarily Significant Unit is a population of organisms that is considered distinct for purposes of conservation. Delineating ESUs is important when considering conservation action.This term can apply to any species, subspecies, geographic race, or population...
.
Characteristics
In general, Asian elephants are smaller than African elephants and have the highest body point on the head. The tip of their trunk has one finger-like process. Their back is convex or level. Females are usually smaller than males, and have short or no tusks.It has become commonplace to refer to Borneo elephants as a ‘pygmy’ subspecies. But adult elephants of Sabah of both sexes are similar in height to their counterparts in Peninsular Malaysia
Peninsular Malaysia
Peninsular Malaysia , also known as West Malaysia , is the part of Malaysia which lies on the Malay Peninsula. Its area is . It shares a land border with Thailand in the north. To the south is the island of Singapore. Across the Strait of Malacca to the west lies the island of Sumatra...
. Five measurements of the skull of a fully adult female elephant from Gomantong Forest Reserve were slightly smaller (72 – 90%) than comparable dimensions averaged for two Sumatran skulls. Few available measurements show that they are of similar size to other populations of the Sunda subregion.
Morphological
Morphology (biology)
In biology, morphology is a branch of bioscience dealing with the study of the form and structure of organisms and their specific structural features....
measurements of fifteen captive elephants from Peninsular Malaysia and of six elephants from Sabah were taken between April 2005 and January 2006, and repeated three times for each elephant and averaged. There was no significant difference in any of the characters between the two captive populations.
They are also remarkably tame and passive, another reason some scientists think they descended from a domestic collection.
Distribution and habitat
Elephants have been confined to the northern and northeastern parts of Borneo. In the 1980s, there were two distinct populations in SabahSabah
Sabah is one of 13 member states of Malaysia. It is located on the northern portion of the island of Borneo. It is the second largest state in the country after Sarawak, which it borders on its southwest. It also shares a border with the province of East Kalimantan of Indonesia in the south...
ranging over the Tabin Wildlife Reserve
Tabin Wildlife Reserve
Tabin Wildlife Refuge is a nature preserve in Sabah, eastern Malaysia, on the island of Borneo. It was created in 1984 to preserve Sabah’s disappearing wild animals...
and adjacent mostly logged dipterocarp forest on steep terrain; and in the hilly interior at about 300 to 1500 m (984.3 to 4,921.3 ft) altitude in dipterocarp forest, which was largely undisturbed at the time, and only logged at the periphery. In Kalimantan
Kalimantan
In English, the term Kalimantan refers to the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo, while in Indonesian, the term "Kalimantan" refers to the whole island of Borneo....
, their range is restricted to a small contiguous area of the upper Sembakung River in the east.
Previous estimations for the population in Sabah have ranged between 500-2000 elephants. Between July 2007 and December 2008, wildlife biologists conducted an elephant population census in five main elephant managed ranges in Sabah using a systematic line transect
Transect
A transect is a path along which one records and counts occurrences of the phenomena of study .It requires an observer to move along a fixed path and to count occurrences along the path and, at the same time, obtain the distance of the object from the path...
survey and a long term monitoring of dung decay rates. They estimated a population of 2,040 elephants. The largest of the five populations inhabits the unprotected central forests of Sabah, a contiguous area of forest which is largely commercial forest, where 1,132 elephants were estimated to remain. Elephant density (elephants per square kilometre) was found to be highest where neighbouring habitat had been destroyed and the remaining elephants squeezed into the remaining forest areas.
The range of wild elephants in Sabah and Kalimantan seems to have expanded very little in the past 100 years despite access to suitable habitat elsewhere on Borneo. Borneo’s soil tends to be young, leached and infertile, and there is speculation that the distribution of wild elephants on the island may be limited by the occurrence of natural mineral sources.
Taxonomic history
It has not been resolved whether Borneo elephants are indigenous or have descended from captive elephants presented to the Sultan of Sulu in 1750 by the East-India Company and later set free in northern Borneo.In the 19th century, a zoological exploration established that wild elephants occurred naturally in a restricted region of northeastern Borneo. The status and taxonomic
Taxonomy
Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...
distinctiveness of the Borneo elephants has been controversial since then. In 1940, Frederick Nutter Chasen
Frederick Nutter Chasen
Frederick Nutter Chasen was an English zoologist.Chasen was appointed Assistant Curator of the Raffles Museum in Singapore in 1921, and Director in 1932 in succession to Cecil Boden Kloss. He was an authority on Southeast Asian birds and mammals. He prepared the third and fourth volumes of...
considered Bornean elephants as descendants of an introduced stock, and placed them in the subspecies Elephas maximus indicus. Reginald Innes Pocock
Reginald Innes Pocock
Reginald Innes Pocock F.R.S. was a British zoologist.Pocock was born in Clifton, Bristol, the fourth son of Rev. Nicholas Pocock and Edith Prichard. He began showing interest in natural history at St. Edward's School, Oxford. He received tutoring in zoology from Sir Edward Poulton, and was allowed...
having studied specimens in the British Museum of Natural History disagreed in 1943, and placed all Sundaic elephants in the subspecies Elephas maximus sumatrensis
Sumatran Elephant
The Sumatran Elephant is one of three recognized subspecies of the Asian Elephant, and native to Sumatra island of Indonesia. Since 1986, Elephas maximus has been listed as endangered by IUCN as the population has declined by at least 50% over the last three generations, estimated to be 60–75 years...
. In 1950, Paules Edward Pieris Deraniyagala described a subspecies Elephas maximus borneensis, taking as his type an illustration in the National Geographical Magazine, but not a living elephant in accordance with the rules of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature
International Code of Zoological Nomenclature
The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature is a widely accepted convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific naming of organisms treated as animals...
.
In 2003, the debate was re-opened by a suggestion that the introduced Sulu elephants and the north-east Borneo population might have descended from the now extinct Javan elephant
Javan elephant
The Javan elephant is an extinct species of the Asian elephant]] found on the island of Java though the Borneo Elephant might be the last surviving members, as they might have been introduced there, saving the species from extinction....
, which was named Elephas maximus sondaicus by Deraniyagala. This hypothesis is based on missing archaeological evidence of long term elephant habitation in Borneo, a corroboration in folklore and that elephants have not colonized the entire island of Borneo. If Borneo elephants are in fact Javan elephants, they represent the only successful elephant translocation.
In 2003, Mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA is the DNA located in organelles called mitochondria, structures within eukaryotic cells that convert the chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, adenosine triphosphate...
analysis and microsatellite data indicated that the extant population is derived from Sundaic stock but has undergone independent local evolution for some 300,000 years since a postulated Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
colonisation, and possibly became isolated from other Asian elephant populations when land bridges that linked Borneo with the other Sunda Islands
Sunda Islands
The Sunda Islands are a group of islands that form part of the Malay archipelago.They are further divided into the Greater Sunda Islands and the Lesser Sunda Islands.-Administration:...
and the Asian mainland disappeared after the Last Glacial Maximum
Last Glacial Maximum
The Last Glacial Maximum refers to a period in the Earth's climate history when ice sheets were at their maximum extension, between 26,500 and 19,000–20,000 years ago, marking the peak of the last glacial period. During this time, vast ice sheets covered much of North America, northern Europe and...
18,000 years ago.
History of elephants in Borneo
Elephants were appropriate gifts from one ruler to another, or to a person of highstanding, and it was customary to transport them by sea. In about 1395, the Raja of Java gave two elephants to the ruler Raja Baginda of Sulu. These animals were reputedly the founders of a feral
Feral
A feral organism is one that has changed from being domesticated to being wild or untamed. In the case of plants it is a movement from cultivated to uncultivated or controlled to volunteer. The introduction of feral animals or plants to their non-native regions, like any introduced species, may...
population at the western end of Borneo. When in 1521 the remnants of Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese explorer. He was born in Sabrosa, in northern Portugal, and served King Charles I of Spain in search of a westward route to the "Spice Islands" ....
’s circumnavigation of the Earth reached Brunei
Brunei
Brunei , officially the State of Brunei Darussalam or the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace , is a sovereign state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia...
, the chronicler of the voyage recounted that the delegation from the flagship Victoria was conveyed to and from the ruler’s palace on elephants caparisoned in silk. This custom had been discontinued by the time later visitors arrived in Brunei in the 1770s, who reported wild-living elephant herds that were hunted by local people after harvest. Despite the early records of royal elephants in Brunei and Banjarmasin
Banjarmasin
Banjarmasin is the capital of South Kalimantan, Indonesia. It is located on a delta island near the junction of the Barito and Martapura rivers. As a result, Banjarmasin is sometimes called the "River City"...
, there was no tradition of capturing and taming local wild elephants in Borneo.
The arrival of elephants in the north Kalimantan
Kalimantan
In English, the term Kalimantan refers to the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo, while in Indonesian, the term "Kalimantan" refers to the whole island of Borneo....
region of Borneo coincides with the rule of the Sultans of Sulu over Sabah. The Sultanate of Sulu enjoyed peaceful ties with the Hindu Sultanate of Java. As a token of appreciation, the rulers of Java sent their elephants to Sulu, much as they have sent Javanese elephants to the Sultanate of Maguindanao
Maguindanao
Maguindanao is a province of the Philippines located in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao . Its capital is Shariff Aguak. It borders Lanao del Sur to the north, Cotabato to the east, and Sultan Kudarat to the south....
, which also partly gives the reason why skeletal remains of small elephants are found in Mindanao
Mindanao
Mindanao is the second largest and easternmost island in the Philippines. It is also the name of one of the three island groups in the country, which consists of the island of Mindanao and smaller surrounding islands. The other two are Luzon and the Visayas. The island of Mindanao is called The...
, south Philippines. The Sultan of Sulu and his family shipped some of their prized Javanese elephants to northeast Borneo due to lack of land and for the elephants to help in hauling logs out of the forest to create fast and long ship vessels. When this lease was signed, most of these timid and largely domesticated small elephants under the employ of Sulu's shipbuilders and traders were released into the forests so they can live deep inside the jungle away from any feuding sultan who might use them for war. This single act of releasing the pachyderms to the wild made the Bolkiah
Bolkiah
Sultan Bolkiah was the fifth Sultan of Brunei. He ascended the throne of Brunei upon the abdication of his father, Sultan Sulaiman. He ruled Brunei from 1485 to 1524. His reign was known as the Golden Age because Brunei became the superpower of the Malay archipelago...
family of Sulu and their allies the savior of what remaining elephants are left, old locals attest.
Threats
Wild Asian elephant populations are disappearing as deforestation in BorneoDeforestation in Borneo
Borneo, the third largest island in the world, divided between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, was once covered with dense rainforests, but along with its tropical lowland and highland forests, there has been extensive deforestation in the past sixty years. In the 1980s and 1990s the forests of...
disrupts their migration routes, depletes their food sources, and destroys their habitat. Recognizing these elephant
Elephant
Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
s as native to Borneo makes their conservation a high priority and gives biologists important clues about how to manage them.
Conservation
Elephas maximus is listed on CITES Appendix I.The genetic distinctiveness of Borneo elephants makes them one of the highest priority populations for Asian elephant conservation.
In Malaysia, the Borneo elephants are protected under schedule II of the Wildlife Conservation Enactment. Any person found guilty of hunting elephants is liable on conviction to a fine of $RM 50,000 or five years imprisonment or both.
The Oregon Zoo
Oregon Zoo
The Oregon Zoo, formerly the Washington Park Zoo, is a zoo in Portland, the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Located southwest of Downtown Portland, the zoo is inside Portland's Washington Park, and includes a narrow-gauge railway that connects to the International Rose Test Garden inside...
in Portland has the only Borneo elephant in the United States, a seventeen-year-old female orphan called Chendra. There are plans to breed Chendra with the zoo's Tusko.