Kuala Belait - Researchers embarked on a faunal biodiversity survey yesterday in the "virtually untouched" forests of Sungai lngei, on the lookout for clues to unravel the mysteries of endangered wild cats in Brunei, whose movement patterns and behaviour remain relatively unknown.

Speaking to The Brunei Times at the Bukit Sawat Jetty in Belait District, Dr Joseph Charles, senior Universiti Brunei Darussalam lecturer who is leading the project, said there were about four to five endangered species of wild cats in Brunei, with very limited information on them.

"We don't have any proper information. We've got bits and pieces of (information) where the clouded leopard is found in Borneo, so we want to make a thorough (investigation) on all the endangered cats," he said.

Some of the only specimens that scientists have come across here were those that were already dead, such as one that was recently killed when it was hit by a car in Mumong, Charles said.

He recalled that the Fire and Rescue Department had also caught a live specimen of the secretive feline, which was later released back into the wild in Tasek Merimbun.

The project leader hoped that the two-year wildlife study in Ulu Belait's Sungai Ingei Protection Forest would yield new data.

"We are hoping that we will get some good information, so that we know exactly where they are (and) how many there are," he said.

Charles said that the plan was first to get qualitative data.

They have installed "camera traps" in various locations in Sungai Ingei, which will be there over the duration of the study. The cameras are activated upon detection of movement in the forests.

The survey team will check the cameras once every four months.

If the results do come back positive, then the team would need a small grant to "just research on selective animals on their density population and movement patterns, among others".

"They (the wild cats) move kilometres. Some of them even come over to Belait peat swamp," he said.

The UBD senior lecturer said Sungai Ingei was "totally undisturbed" compared to Brunei's other forests. The forests there also share the border with Malaysia's Gunung Mulu World Heritage Area, which wildlife was likely to cross into Sungai Ingei and vice versa.

"By probability, that must be the place where you will find most of the species".
Charles also hinted that they were searching for a "special creature" sighted by the lban natives in Sungai Ingei, and is believed to be a new species.

The biologist who also specialises in mammals, gibbons and birds apart from wild cats, however, did not reveal details on this creature as it was against local customs or taboos, known as pantang in Malay.

"If we tell you, then we won't see it," he said, adding that they were observing the pantang "very carefully".

"The local people believed in certain things. Why should you go against it? We want as much information as we can get. So we will cooperate. That's our attitude".

The Brunei Times

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