This Ficus racemosa fig tree (Local name Tangkol or Nunuk Ragang ) growing in the car park of the Shangri-la Tg Aru beach resort is probably Kota Kinabalu‘s most well known fig tree.
This individual fig tree fruits abundantly and continuously throughout the year providing food to a variety of local wildlife including birds, squirrels and fruit bats.
If you watch this fig tree at night you will see a steady stream of small fruit bats plucking ripe figs from the tree with their feet in flight. These figs are then carried to a secluded feeding perch, normally within 100 m so that the bat can eat the fig without disturbance.
Shavez Cheema of 1Stop Borneo Wildlife and Ms Joyce Murang the Shangri-la Tg Aru Resort Corporate Social Responsibility Service Leader admiring the abundant ripe figs.
Tangkol is a common fig of Borneo’s rivers and provides food either directly or indirectly to most of the wildlife of those rivers including fish, crocodiles, birds and mammals.
Without the numerous Ficus racemosa fig trees growing along the banks, the Kinabatangan river would be empty of life.
Shavez Cheema and Chun Xing Wong of 1StopBorneo Wildlife preparing a marcot of the Shangri-la Tangkol for replanting elsewhere in Kota Kinabalu
This box contains tens of thousands of Ficus racemosa fig seeds ready for planting. The ripe figs of Ficus racemosa are edible by humans but not very tasty. However the figs when they are still green can be used to make a sour salad known locally as ulam.
LINK TO FACEBOOK Shangri-la Tanjung Aru