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HUTAN ASIAN ELEPHANT CONSERVATION
Hutan Asian Elephant Conservation is working to save:
Bornean (pygmy) elephants (Elephas maximus)
Found only in the Malaysian state of Sabah in northern Borneo, about 1,500 of these endangered elephants live in fragmented populations which they share with the Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus morio). International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listing is Endangered.
Habitat
Lower Kinabatangan floodplain stretches westward from the Sulu Sea for some 80km (50 miles) along the Kinabatangan River, from the coastal mangroves to interior tropical forests. Mixed dry lowland dipterocarp, limestone, heath, semi-inundated (seasonally flooded), freshwater swamp, peat swamp, and mangrove forests characterize the ecosystems of this dynamic floodplain.Today, populations of about 1,000 orangutans and 200 elephants are still found in these remaining fragmented blocks of secondary forests, mostly confined to the riverbanks of the Kinabatangan.
Critical threats to wildlife
- Habitat lost, degraded, or fragmented by logging and agriculture including oil palm plantations
- Not enough protected areas to support Sabah's elephant population
- Human/elephant conflicts in agricultural areas
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Hutan's co-founders: Dr. Marc Ancrenaz and Dr. Isabelle Lackman.