Ficus racemosa or Red River Figs (Local names Tangkol or Nunuk Ragang) grow along the banks of most rivers in Borneo and are easy to recognize with their clean white trunks and relatively small leaves. Notice how the branches lean over the river so that some of the fig fruit will fall into the river.Ficus racemosa fruits frequently and abundantly, but what disperses the fig seeds so that they will rapidly establish a foothold on the river floodplain ?Many animals eat ripe Ficus racemosa figs including this Island Palm Civet at Tabin. (Photo courtesy of Lawrence Chin)Elephants frequently feed on ripe Ficus racemosa figs on the banks of the Kinabtangan.Long-tailed Macaques both roost and feed in Ficus racemosa trees
As do Proboscis Monkeys.
Researchers at the Danau Girang Field Centre on the Kinabatangan satellite tracked several large crocodiles over a period of months. They found that these crocodiles often waited in the river beneath overhanging branches of Ficus racemosa figs and speculated that as Long-tailed Macaques and Proboscis Monkeys often roosted in Ficus racemosa branches hanging over the water they were waiting for a playful primate to fall into the water. Alternatively if a Clouded Leopard sneaked up on the roosting monkeys at night the monkeys might jump into the river and swim off. If this happens then it is likely that crocodiles then become dispersers of Ficus racemosa seeds.
