Dancing Orangutan

Can orangutan really dance?

While it is known to be one of the most intelligent primates, there are no references that I know of that say that orangutan can dance. Atim - a captive orangutan at Bandung Zoo shown in this photo -, however, would sometimes display what looks like a dancing act when asked to pose for a photograph.

Atim has been placed at the park in the center of the zoo by his caretaker/handler every Sunday to entertain visitors and those who want to have their photos taken with him.

This photo was taken and contributed for Bandung Daily Photo by Alda Agustine, a teacher at TBI Bandung. Thanks for the contribution, Alda.

Sabuga

This is the entrace to Sabuga Hall, where the 2010, 4th Bambu Nusantara World Music Festival is held today and tomorrow.

Sabuga (Sasana Budaya Ganesha) or Ganesha Cultural Hall is the biggest and - some say - the best cultural and convention center in Bandung. The 22,000 square meter center is located on Babakan Siliwangi river valley near the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) campus and Bandung Zoological Park. According to its website, it has the following facilities:

A Convention Hall
A Function Hall
A Meeting Room
An Omni Theatre
A Science Gallery
A KidSmart (playground?)

and a parking space that can accommodate up to 750 cars.

Many important events have been held here. One of the most recent was SBY (Indonesia's incumbent president) declaration of presidential candidacy in 2009.

Banteng Jawa

This is the head shot of a young female Banteng Jawa (bos javanicus) that I took at Bandung Zoo sometime ago.

Banteng Jawa belongs to the family of bovidae (bull, cow). Although scientifically named "javanicus", this species can actually be found not only on Java Island, but also on the islands of Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo), Bali, and several other places in southeast Asia such as Cambodia, Thailand, the northern part of the peninsular Malaysia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam.

Banteng is a sexually dimorphic/dimorpheous animal, that is the appearance of its male and female can be readily distinguished. The coat colors of a mature male banteng usually range from blue-black to dark chestnut, while its female's coat is usually of rofous-chestnut color. In addition to this, male and female can also be distinguished by the size and shape of their horns. An adult male banteng's horn is normally longer than that of the female's and is pointing upward in its shape. The famale's, on the other hand, has shorter horn that is shightly curving inward. Both male and female banteng have white stocking-like coat on their lower legs.

An adult banteng is about 190-225 cm/6.3-7.5 ft long and can weigh from 600-800 kg/1320-1760 lb.

Indonesian Endangered Animal: The Sumatran Tiger

This is a picture of harimau Sumatra or the Sumatran tiger (panthera tigris sumatrae) that I took at Bandung Zoo sometime ago. The Sumatran tiger is one of only six surviving subspecies of tiger. The other subspecies are - in discending order of their number in the wild: The Bengal tiger (panthera tigris tigris), the Indochinese tiger (panthera tigris corbetti), the Malayan tiger (panthera tigris jacksoni), the Siberian tiger (panthera tigris altaica), and the south China tiger (panthera tigris amoyensis).

As the name indicates, the Sumatran tiger is native to, and is only found on, the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It is considered as a critically endangered subspecies of tiger with an estimation of only about 250 individuals currently still surviving in the wild, according to an Indonesian NGO The Coalition for the Monitoring of Protected Wild Animals. This remaining population is scattered in 18 separate enclaves, most of which are found at Leuser and Kerinci Seblat National Parks.

The Sumatran tiger is the only surviving subspecies of tigers out of three that Indonesia has or used to have. The other two that are now extinct are the Balinese tiger (panthera tigris balica) and the Javan tiger (panthera tigris sondaica). The Balinese tiger went extinct in 1937. The last of it - a female - was reported to have been killed at Sumbar Kima in the West of Bali on September 27, 1937. The Javan tiger was thought to have become extinct not too long ago in 1980, although there were reports of its sightings as recently as last year. The sightings, however, could not be verified.

Habitat destruction caused by logging and the conversion of pristine forests into palm oil plantations, industrial forests, and farms is the main threat to the existing population of the Sumatran tiger. But hunting and illegal trade of its skin and other organs are of no less serious threat to its extinction. In the two year period between 1998 and 2000, for example, 66 tigers (or about 20 percent of its population) were recorded to have been killed (the number could have been higher as it is quite probable that there were undiscovered killings). This should come as no surprise as a piece of Sumatran tiger skin can fetch about US$ 3,300 at the international market. Some black market rare animal skin brokers are even reportedly willing to give a handsome amount of downpayment as an incentive for people to hunt the tigers.

The Sumatran tiger is the smallest surviving subspecies of tigers. The adult males weigh about 100 - 140 kilograms (220 - 308 lbs), whereas the female weight about 75 - 110 kilograms (154 - 242 lbs).

Camel Ride

Camel ride at Bandung Zoo.

Bandung Zoo has quite a number of one-humped or Arabian camels (camelus dromedarius). Some of them are made available for a ride, like this one.

Baloon Vendor

A vendor of colorful baloons at Bandung Zoo.

Indonesian "Kangaroo"

Here is another collection of Bandung's Zoo: The Agile Wallaby (Wallabia Agilis).

Wallaby is a marsupial that, together with the kangaroo and wallaroo, belongs to the family of macropodidae (macropod = large foot). There are currently about 30 species of wallaby that have been identified, some of which - including this Agile Wallaby - are native to the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua (formerly called Irian Jaya) on the island of Papua.

Merak Hijau (Green Peacock)

This green peacock (Pavo Muticus) is one of Bandung Zoo's aviary collections. Green peacock is one of the three species of peacocks. The other two species are the blue or Indian peacock (Pavo Cristatus) and the Congolese African peacock (Afropavo Congensis).

The green peacock is native to and can still be found wild on the Indonesia's island of Java (I've seen it myself once in Meru Betiri National Park in the eastern tip of the Island). It can also be found in Indochina, particularly Burma (Myanmar). Its blue sibling, meanwhile, is found mostly on the Asian subcontinent (India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh).

Although quite a misnomer, the name "peacock" is generally used to refer to both male and female individuals of this bird. Technically the name "peacock" only applies to the male bird. The female bird is called "peahen", and together they are called "peafowl".

The famous iridescent tail of this bird belongs to the the male species (the peacock) and is used to attract the female (the peahen) in courtship and mating rituals.

Peafowl is omnivorous ground feeder and its diets mainly consist of insects, small animals, and plants.

Peafowl is an important bird for the Javanese and Sundanese (the people and language of West Java). Its beauty has long inspired several forms of art performances. One of them is Tari Merak (The Peacock Dance) whose photos and story I posted earlier here.

Indonesian Endangered Fauna: The Sumatran Tapir

This is the Sumatran/Malayan Tapir (Tapir Indicus), one of the world's four species of tapirs. Tapir indicus is native to southeast Asia and can be found mainly in the tropical forests of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, peninsular Malaysia, and parts of Indochina, particularly Thailand and Myanmar (Burma). Like its siblings in South and Central America (tapirus bairdii, tapirus pinchaque, and tapirus terrestris), it is classified as a vulnerable and endengered species.

Tapir is classified into the order of perissodactyla together with horses and rhinoceroses, its closest relatives in the animal kingdom. An adult tapir is generally 2 meters long and about one meter tall and can weigh somewhere between 150 to 300 kilograms. With light grey and black coloring (see photo), Sumatran/Malayan tapirs are considered to have more interesting appearance than its Central and South American siblings which have dark furs.

Tapir's most distinctive feature is its proboscis or snout. It can move in all directions and is used to grab foliage that is otherwise difficult to grab and detect scents. The snout of Sumatran/Malayan tapir is the longest of all tapir species.

Shown in the above photo is a mother tapir, named Novi, and her baby son Nova who was born on 22 November 2008 at Bandung Zoo. Nova's father, a male tapir named Willy, is not in the photo. Baby tapirs of all species, by the way, always have stripped and spotted coats like the one you see in the photo. This probably has to do with survival technique of camouflage.

Bandung Zoo: The Elephant Safari Ride

Covering an area of only about 14 hectares, Kebun Binatang Bandung (Bandung Zoological Park or Bandung Zoo) is not very big, but it is very historical and popular. The zoo was officially established in 1933 when two previously existing zoos (Cimindi in the western part of the city and Dago Atas in the northern part of the city) were merged and their animal collections were moved to the current location at Taman Sari street near the campus of Bandung Institute of Technology.

Prior to the establishment of the zoo, Taman Sari was a botanical garden. This garden, named "Jubileum Park", was established in 1923 to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, the then colonial ruler of the Indonesian archipelago.

Bandung zoo currently has a collection of 218 species with nearly 1600 individual animals. In addition to the animals, the zoo also offers a variety of other attractions, such as this elephant safari ride. I'm going to post some more pictures and stories about this zoo later.