Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Scientists to document new plants in pristine part of Borneo

KOTA KINABALU: A team of 150 local scientists and researchers, including a team from the Academy of Sciences Malaysia, will be spending 10 days in October to further document the plants and wildlife in relatively unexplored pristine and remote Imbak Canyon in central Sabah.

The Oct 10 to 24 expedition hopes to identify new flora and fauna species in the 30,000 Yayasan Sabah conservation area where earlier teams had discovered new species of the keruing tropical hardwood.

More than 69 species of medicinal plants have also been recorded to date in the Canyon that may well be dubbed a living pharmacy, Yayasan Sabah group corporate communications manager Linah Robert said Tuesday.

Previous scientific expeditions in 2000 and 2004 had also identified the Imbak Canyon as key habitat for Sabahs iconic wildlife such as the Borneo pygmy elephant and proboscis monkey.

She said the third scientific expedition was being organised by the foundation, the academy in collaboration with the Sabah Forestry Department, Sabah Parks, Sabah Wildlife Department, University Malaysia Sabah, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, WWF-Malaysia and the Sabah Museum.

She said the expedition will converge at the foot Mt. Kuli on the South West of the Canyon. The Expedition will carry out research of its flora, fauna, physical landscape, water, aquatic life and eco-tourism potentials.

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