Borneo!

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gus
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Borneo!

Post by gus »

I recently went over to Borneo with my brother for 2 weeks, we Clmibed Mt. Kinabalu and spent some time in Danum Valley. The herps in borneo are amazing, as are the birds and mammals which i spent a lot of time photographing, I've only included the herps here as this is what most people on this forum are interested in. Enjoy!

Frogs
Wallaces flyingfrog rhacophorus nigropalmatus
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Meristogeny sorphnocnemis
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Lowland litter frog leptobrachium abbottimale
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Limnonectes leporinus
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Spotted stream frog rana picurata
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Rock skipper staurois latopalmatus
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Limnonectes finchi
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Duttaphrynes juxtasper
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hylarana erythraea
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Haelequin tree frog rhacophorus pardalis
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green-spotted rock frog staurois tuberilingus
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Dark eared tree frog
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frilled tree frog rhacophorus appendiculatus
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File eared tree frog polypedates otilophus
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Agamids
Draco sp.
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bronchocela cistatella
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Monitors
Salvators water monitor
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Geckoes
ptychozoon kuhli
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cyrtodactylus consobrinus
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gehyra mutilatus
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cyrtodactylus cavernicolus
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Skinks
apterygodon vittatus
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Snakes
Waglers pit viper
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Mangrove snake boiga dendrophila
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Striped bronze-back dendrelaphis caudolineatus
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Reticulated python python reticulatus
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Banded coral snake maticora intestinalis
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Gus
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narumk07
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Re: Borneo!

Post by narumk07 »

Great post. Were you there for vacation?
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Getula Hunter
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Re: Borneo!

Post by Getula Hunter »

Amazing post! :shock: :shock:
loved that Mangrove Snake.
Thank you!
J.P.
gus
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Re: Borneo!

Post by gus »

Yeah, this trip was just for a bit of fun! I visited 2 years back on a research trip, just as fun on your own though
Gus
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Rags
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Re: Borneo!

Post by Rags »

Looks like you found some great stuff, thanks for posting.

How on earth did you manage to grab a flying lizard. I find them practically impossible to photograph, let alone catch.

The leptobrachium was also interesting, very strange frogs - slow motion specialists.

Do you have any more photos of the polypedates otilophus you could share ?

Thanks again. Rags
mjd123
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Re: Borneo!

Post by mjd123 »

Hey!! Great post, wonderful photos, post the birds and mammals too!! :beer:
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Viridovipera
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Re: Borneo!

Post by Viridovipera »

Such a great post. You killed it! I love the Starois amplexus, the retic shot, the fact that you found that coral... ah! All of it!
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Hans Breuer (twoton)
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Re: Borneo!

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

NICE!
Gordon C. Snelling

Re: Borneo!

Post by Gordon C. Snelling »

Very nice, no Nepenthes or inverts??
danh
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Re: Borneo!

Post by danh »

Beautiful post. I second the call for bird and mammal pics! This board has a birding forum, too...
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Berkeley Boone
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Re: Borneo!

Post by Berkeley Boone »

Nice shots Gus. I'd like for you to post the birds and mammals as well!
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Rothdigga
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Re: Borneo!

Post by Rothdigga »

As I learned quickly after posting the Galapagos/Ecuador photos, don't shy away from the birds/mammals. Just put them after the herps and everyone will be satisfied. I'm interested in seeing the birds as well from over there, I'm sure there was some funky stuff.
gus
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Re: Borneo!

Post by gus »

Since people asked, here are some non reptilian photos.

Rags, The draco we only caught because it was sleeping, I tried to catch them for hours on my first visit but didnt succeed. they were great to watch fly though!
Here are some shots of the polypedates otilophus
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Gordon C. Snelling, unfortunately we saw very few inverts, it was scary how few we saw. we did see a single lantern beetle and a single tractor millipede and a pill millipede but really not much else. but here is some others

diplacadon sp.
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insect moulting
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a weevil
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and we saw quite a few different pitcher plants. unfortunately i didnt see a raffelesia but my brother did after i left
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For everyone else here are some bird and mammal shots. i've only used those that are easy to see. in the jungle it was amazingly difficult to photograph anything more than 5m away because it was so dark. even flash wasn't always helpful. It was much more dense than in the forests of Australias wet tropics that i am used to.
birds, i think i saw roughly 80 species i could ID, and here is some photos
yellow bellied bul bul
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red legged crake
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Red jungle fowl, i was happy to see this (although not endemic)
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oriental pied hornbill, i saw 4 sp. of hornbill but only got dodgy photos of 2
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ocharous bul bul
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mountain black eye
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indigo fly catcher
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chestnut collared kingfisher
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buffy fish owl, i think it was the same individual i photographed 3 years earlier
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brown hawk owl,
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bornean crested serpent eagle
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blue naped parrots, virtually extinct. this population is a feral one but it thought to be almost the last 100 of its kind.
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blue eared kingfisher
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This was in KL, black naped oriole
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Mammals
borean gibbon
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(In KL) dusky leaf monkey
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Giant squirrel
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horse tailed squirrel
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jentkins squirrel
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long tailed macaque
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malay civet
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mountain tree shrew
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orangutan with baby, the baby is still on the shoulder meaning its really young and unable to hold on fully by itself
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pig tailed macaque
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prevosts squirrel
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ranee mouse
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red leaf monkey with white baby
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samba deer
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silver leaf monkey
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small toothed palm civet
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and probably the trip highlight, a tarzier
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And for anyone interested some scenery.
Mt. kinabalu
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where you stay half way up mt. Kinabalu
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from halfway
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from the top
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At danum there are viewing platforms, i probably spent 3-4 hours a day looking at this
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Cheers
Gus
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Warren
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Re: Borneo!

Post by Warren »

awesome. love the tic shine, love the kingfishers. thank you
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Hans Breuer (twoton)
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Re: Borneo!

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

Wow, again. The two nepenthes, for those who can't seem to get away from them, are (from top to bottom) N. villosa and N. tentaculata.
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moloch
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Re: Borneo!

Post by moloch »

Excellent, Gus. Those are some wonderful shots. I hope that I can see a few of those later this year.

Did you stay at the lodge at Danum or at the Field Centre?

That Rock Slipper is a little like our Waterfall Frog in appearance and habitat preference.

Gliding Geckos are high on my wish list. Did you find it by spotlighting trees at night?

You were so lucky to see the Red-legged Crake. They are one of the real skulkers and hard to come by. Looks like you spotlighted it at night?

I am not surprised to see you climbing Mt. Kinabalu. It is a beautiful place but I think that I won't head up above the resthouse. There are supposed to be a number of Nepenthes in that area as well as a bunch of unusual and endemic Rhododendrons.

Thanks for posting these!

Regards,
David

Regards,
David
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Hans Breuer (twoton)
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Re: Borneo!

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

moloch wrote:I am not surprised to see you climbing Mt. Kinabalu. It is a beautiful place but I think that I won't head up above the resthouse. There are supposed to be a number of Nepenthes in that area
That's where the most spectacular neps are: villosa, edwardsiana, and of course, rajah, the monkey catcher....
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Rags
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Re: Borneo!

Post by Rags »

More great photos.

The Owls and kingfisher stood out for me. Blue-naped parrots, must be First Beach, KK. Great place for a sundowner whilst looking out over the islands.

Re: the Tarsier. Great find. Can you tell me, was there any strong aroma when you found the animal? We met a guy who told us ," you can smell them before you see them!" We never found any so couldn't say if he was right.

Rags.
Gordon C. Snelling

Re: Borneo!

Post by Gordon C. Snelling »

Ahhhh got my Nepenthes fix for the day. Great stuff. The molting pic is a good one as well.
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Rothdigga
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Re: Borneo!

Post by Rothdigga »

Wow, you're hyped on the Civet and the Tarsier. Those were sick, loving the kinfisher photos too. Thanks for posting those.
gus
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Re: Borneo!

Post by gus »

Thanks for the comments everyone.

Moloch, You should see a good number of things whilst your there, it is hard not to :) We stayed at the Field centre, costs roughly $40 australian a day inc. 3 good meals. where as they lodge is i think $200 a night and you have to stay minimum 3 nights...It very expensive in comparisson. The Research centre is amazing, and there is not much the lodge could offer that makes it worth it (my opinion).
The rock skipper i thought was exactly like our L. nannotis here in Australia. it was only ever in the splash zones and on the rocks and was very similar.
The flying gecko we found on a lookout tower in the forest, i think finding them on trees would be difficult. but apparently they are somewhat common.
The Red-legged Crake was found sleeping at night, we didnt see any during the day.
The walk above the rest house on Mt K. is much easier than the walk to the rest house, The hardest part is coming down. i advise not to carry to much gear with you, i carried roughly 18-20kg. most people carry a change of clothes and that is about it. If you ask the guides about the pitcher plants they can point them out to you, they are common at about the 4.5km mark just off the trail.

we also saw this one, any thoughts on ID would be appreciated.
Image

Rags, that sounds right about the parrots it was about 10 min out of KK.
As for the tarziers i have also heard they have a very distinct smell. However we certainly couldnt smell them. we found 3 and got within 3m of two of them and couldnt smell them. I'd also think it'd be hard enough to get close enough to one without them moving away. they weren't fast, and quite happy to sit. Also they most certainly give off eye shine, I'd heard a lot that they dont give off eye shine but we spotted one from 30-40m. i would have thought if they couldnt give eye shine they would struggle being nocturnal.

Cheers
Gus
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Hans Breuer (twoton)
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Re: Borneo!

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

That's a Nepenthes tentaculata, discernible by the lozenge-shaped pitcher mouth.
gus
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Re: Borneo!

Post by gus »

Thanks heaps!

Gus
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Hans Breuer (twoton)
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Re: Borneo!

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

My pleasure. Just to bore you some more - that pitcher is a so-called "upper". Most nepenthes produce two kinds of pitchers. One, the "lowers", are close to the ground and take care of nutrition, while the rest of the plant - they're vines - climbs up the next tree in search of sunlight. On the way there, it produces "uppers". These are smaller than the lower pitchers, and their tendrils is attached to the back instead of the front like in lowers. Behind the pitcher you can see the tendril wrapped around a twig. This ensures physical stability for the pitcher and secures the whole plant, keeping it from getting pulled off the tree by external forces during the climbing process.

Yawn :-)

Re: tarsiers; the last issue of Natural History Magazine has a fantastic cover story on them and their social behavior, which includes mass mobbing of approaching pythons, and setting up virtual kindergartens.
onionsack
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Re: Borneo!

Post by onionsack »

Hans Breuer (twoton) wrote:My pleasure. Just to bore you some more - that pitcher is a so-called "upper". Most nepenthes produce two kinds of pitchers. One, the "lowers", are close to the ground and take care of nutrition, while the rest of the plant - they're vines - climbs up the next tree in search of sunlight. On the way there, it produces "uppers". These are smaller than the lower pitchers, and their tendrils is attached to the back instead of the front like in lowers. Behind the pitcher you can see the tendril wrapped around a twig. This ensures physical stability for the pitcher and secures the whole plant, keeping it from getting pulled off the tree by external forces during the climbing process.

Yawn :-)

Re: tarsiers; the last issue of Natural History Magazine has a fantastic cover story on them and their social behavior, which includes mass mobbing of approaching pythons, and setting up virtual kindergartens.
*sigh* You're making me really nostalgic for our road herping trips...always an informative lecture even if the snakes aren't cooperating! ;)
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Hans Breuer (twoton)
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Re: Borneo!

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

Thanks...I guess :D Hang in there, brother - another nine weeks, and we're out of this fix :thumb:
gus
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Re: Borneo!

Post by gus »

thanks for the info, on ID's and in general. Tis always nice to know something about what your looking at!
Gus
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monklet
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Re: Borneo!

Post by monklet »

Just how I always pictured Borneo :shock:
Image

Full dose of great pics! :thumb:

:?: Was the Mangrove Snake pretty much as found in the rocky stream?
:?: Are Dracos just flying around like birds?
gus
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Re: Borneo!

Post by gus »

The mangrove snake was found in a stream, it was somewhat rocky but i wouldnt have classified it as a rocky stream. These were very common along the kinabatangan river when i first went to borneo.

The dracos, we only saw one. on my first trip we found a spot where i would have seen 20 in a 100m square area. i chased one up a tree and it flew but other than that we didnt see them fly

gus
ewostl
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Re: Borneo!

Post by ewostl »

Good show on the R. nigropalmatus- it was high on my list when I was down there but they didn't show themselves.
I think your Draco is D. quinquefasciatus. Very enjoyable post and excellent photo's

EW
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