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 Almost 100 of Borneo’s mammals are recorded from Kinabalu but most live in
the lowlands; very few are found above 1,700 metres (5,500 feet). Because
hunting is still prevalent around the boundaries of the Park, the larger mammals
are wary and not easily seen.
Borneo’s most famous mammals are the Orange-utans, unmistakable from their size
and their russet fur. Orang-utans have been recorded on Kinabalu up to 1450
metres (4,750 feet) though they are generally creatures of the lowlands. No one
knows how many Orang-utans occur within the park; estimates range from 25 to
120. Like most of the larger mammals, they are encountered only in the more
undisturbed parts of the Park, though in the past, sightings were more common,
particularly along the Langanan waterfall trail.
 Other primates in the Park include the Grey and Maroon Langurs, the Long-tailed
and Pig-tailed Macaques, the Bornean Gibbon, the Tarsier and the Slow Loris. All
these are mainly lowland residents, though the Maroon Langur has been recorded
at over 3,000 metres (9,800 feet) along the Summit Trail and one group regularly
visits the Mesilau Nature Resort at 2,000 metres (6,500 feet). All have also
been recorded at the Poring Hot Springs in the past, but there have been only
occasional sightings in recent years.
A relatively recent record of some interest is that of a solitary Proboscis
Monkey from the riverine forest near Serinsim on the north-eastern boundary of
the park, far from the mangrove forests that are its normal home.
  Other large mammals recorded from the mountain include deer, Bearded Pig and the
Honey Bear. Again, though mainly found in the lowland forest on the Park’s
eastern and northern boundaries, stray individuals of both Sambar Deer and
Barking Deer have been reliably reported as high as 3,350 (11,000 feet). Wild
pigs used to be common on the mountain ridges up to 2,450 metres (8,000 feet)
where they built their ‘nests’ in thickets of orchids and ferns during the
breeding season. The highest record for the Honey Bear is similar, at 2,300
metres ( 7,500 feet) on the Summit Trail several Trail several years ago. This,
again, was probably stray individual, wandering far from its usual range.
 Squirrels and tree-shrews are undoubtedly the easiest mammals to see, being
active during the day. Superficially tree-shrews and squirrels look alike, but
the squirrels are mainly trees dwellers, while the tree-shrews forage mainly on
the ground or in low bushes. They are easy to distinguish from the squirrels by
there longer, more pointed noses. In the lowland forest, the Common Tree-shrew (Tupaia
glis) is the most abundant, and it is though to be a dispersal agent for the
parasitic Rafflesia. In the mountain forest it is replaced by the Mountain
Tree-shrew (Tupaia Montana).
  Squirrels are almost as easily seen, ranging from the tiny Whitehead’s Pygmy
Squirrel (Exilisciurus whiteheadii) nibbling mosses and tree-bark in the hill
dipterocarp forest and above, to the Giant Tree-squirrel, (Ratufa affinis), the
size of a cat, that reaches the upper parts of its range around Park HQ. The
Bornean Mountain Ground Squirrel (Dremomys everetti), with an unusually pointed
nose for a squirrel, is almost as common as the Mountain Tree-shrew from Park HQ
up to 3,400 metres (11,000 feet) but can distinguished by its shorter, bushier
tail. |
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