Site icon THE FIGS OF BORNEO

Ficus trichocarpa and the Tabin rhinos

uluulublog

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Tabin Wildlife Reserve in Sabah holds  the only two Sumatran Rhinos left in Sabah (possibly in the whole of Borneo) at the BORA  (Borneo Rhino Alliance ) compound . The concept behind  the establishment of BORA was that the few remaining Sumatran Rhinos in Sabah would be caught and held together in captivity for breeding but by the time the compound had been established and staffed the wild population had been hunted to extinction.

The favourite food of the captive rhinos at Tabin are fig leaves and fig fruits preferably eaten together .

This view shows the river crossing at Tabin looking down from the Sabah Wildlife Department Compound. At the bottom of the hill on the far side of the river next to the oil palm  grows a  double Binuang (Octomeles sumatrana)  tree. This Binuang tree hosts a hemi-epiphytic  Ficus trichocarpa .
This double Binuang tree growing next to the river at Tabin hosts a hemi-epiphytic Ficus trichocarpa. In the background  on the hill across the river you can see the buildings of the Sabah Wildlife Department.
Note the two aerial hanging roots of a Ficus trichocarpa fig on this Binuang tree. The roots are now fully established in the ground. Botanists consider Ficus trichocarpa to be in Section Rhizocladus which are all root climbers which grow  from the ground up into the canopy of the  host tree. However this Ficus trichocarpa obviously established as an epiphyte in the canopy and then dropped aerial roots to the ground. The lower  leafy bunches and fruit of this Ficus trichocarpa have been harvested to feed the rhinos in the  BORA compound.

Exit mobile version