Night life of Kinabatangan

Kinabatangan (Pekan Kinabatangan, in Malay) is the capital of the Kinabatangan district in the Sandakan division of Sabah, Malaysia.

The lifeline of the place, if I may say so, is the majestic Kinabatangan river. The river, known as Sungai Kinabatangan in Malay is the second longest river in Malaysia, traversing a length of approximately 560 km.

The area around this river is known for its amazing biodiversity providing a wide variety of habitats like the dryland forests, riverine forests, freshwater swamps and salty mangrove forests towards the coast.

Bornean orangutans, Proboscis monkeys, Borneo elephants and Sunda clouded leopards are some of the most remarkable mammals that can be found along the river. There are also many bird species, highlight among them being the 8 different species of hornbills: Black hornbill, Wrinkled hornbill, Bushy-crested hornbill, White-crowned hornbill, Helmeted hornbill, Wreathed hornbill, Rhinoceros hornbill, and the Oriental pied hornbill.

The best way to enjoy observing the rich wildlife in Kinabatangan is by going on a river cruise or more of a safari, really. Every nature enthusiast who visits Borneo would have atleast a couple of river safaris on their itinerary. So, did we.

The forests around Kinabatangan are lively during the day owing to the multitude of different wildlife that thrive there. Not only that, the forests are quite busy during the night as well when the many nocturnal creatures come out of their slumber to get on with their chores.

Hence, along with morning & noon river cruises, there were night safaris available too and we had planned for a couple of the night ones.

On the D-Day or should I say D-Night, our sighting began even before we boarded our boat, right within the property where we were staying. It was the Brown wood owl.

Having made some good images of the Brown wood owl, we were on our way into the forest seated on our boat.

Wading through the river in complete darkness, the chill, soothing breeze hitting your face & almost putting you to sleep, the splashing of water left by the wake of the boat being the only sound you hear apart from the crackles of the myriad crickets, frogs and other insects around sounding like a lullaby, as we explore the little creeks looking for any movement is something to be experienced.

Very soon we came by our second owl for the night, the beautiful Buffy fish owl.

Next up was the Large frogmouth, another interesting nocturnal bird. True to its name, it was indeed quite large for a frogmouth, compared to the ones that I have seen in India at least.

Our guide Razis soon found some movement on a large fig tree along the river bank. He pointed to it with his spotting light and what we saw was a lovely Civet, the Three-striped palm civet.

The Three-striped palm civet also known as the Small-toothed palm civet (Arctogalidia trivirgata) is an arboreal (tree dwelling), nocturnal mammal.

This civet is widespread, found in dense forests of southeast Asia, from Assam in India to Indochina, the Malay Peninsula and on Sumatra, Bangka, Java, Borneo, and numerous small nearby islands of Indonesia.

The three-striped palm civet is quite elusive albeit having a very good distribution due to its primarily nocturnal and arboreal behaviour. It is said that spotlighting at night at the high canopies is a better method for seeing this than ground-based camera traps.

When the fig trees are fruting, there is indeed a bountiful buffet spread out for the civet to snack on, something colorful & juicy.

Having spent some good time with the lovely civet, we moved on from there.

Within a short span of time, Razis once again called out pointing at another tree and its dense canopy. With the spotting light moving across the tree, we could see the slow, ambling movement of an animal. It was a loris, another nocturnal mammal, more specifially the Philippine slow loris.

I can’t even begin to fathom how Razis was able to spot it! The loris was completely hidden by the leaves and the branches of the tree, dully colored and pretty much invisible in its setting.

The Philippine slow loris (Nycticebus menagensis) is a primate and a species of slow loris that is native to the north and east coastal areas of the island of Borneo, as well as the Sulu Archipelago in the Philippines.

This loris is arboreal, nocturnal and occurs in low numbers, making it difficult to locate. It is also said to be the least studied of Indonesia’s slow lorises. The loris is predominantly insectivorous, also feeding heavily on tree sap.

Quoting some interesting facts that I read about the Slow loris online, few things that took me by surprise really!

(Have mentioned the source at the end of this post for your further reading)

Being a tree dweller, the slow loris has limbs uniquely adapted for this lifestyle. Her hands and feet all have opposable digits that enable her to keep a firm grip at all times.

Her style of locomotion closely resembles crawling; bringing one hand forward as her opposing foot follows. Her pace is slow and her movements methodical.

While other arboreal primates typically swing and leap to cover gaps in the foliage, her own method is far less dramatic, still exceptionally acrobatic!

With only her feet latched to their perch, she reaches toward the next with her entire body, holding herself aloft with incredible balance and poise. When her two hands are wrapped firmly around the target branch, she hoists herself onto it, continuing on her way without skipping a beat.

Some researchers have theorized that a slow loris’s markings have evolved to mimic the form of a cobra. Though in no way a perfect imitation, it is perhaps just close enough to make a predator wary of getting close lest it is a deadly cobra in the end.

Oddly enough, like cobras, a slow loris is venomous. Specialized glands hidden in her underarms secrete a special oil. When this oil mixes with her saliva, a toxin is created.

She may spread the toxin through her fur with her tongue. This not only renders her an unsavory snack for larger predators, but also helps to manage and kill pesky infectious parasites.

If actively under attack, she uses her extremely powerful bite to inject the venom into her attacker. When given, a slow loris bite is powerful enough to send a grown human into anaphylactic shock!

Post the loris, we came by many sleeping Blue-eared kingfishers, Proboscis monkeys, many Fruit bats (the Flying foxes) and a baby salt water crocodile which just dashed into the water at the sight of our boat.

The baby croc was quite shy and didn’t give us much of a chance while the huge adult that we encountered just a shortwhile after was nothing but bold.

The adult croc seemed to be least bit bothered by our boat. It just lay still on the surface of the water for a while before disappearing into the depths.

These night outings were quite exciting, refreshing and very productive too. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Night life in Kinabatangan is indeed so happening.

By day or by night, there is so much to see and experience. I am sure the mighty Kinabatangan river plays a very crucial role in supporting such amazing diversity.

Hope you enjoyed the post. Please do share your thoughts by dropping in a comment below.

See you on the next one.

[ References on loris for further reading - New England Primate Conservancy ]