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This ecoregion is the world's center of diversity for Asia's most characteristic tree family, the Dipterocarpaceae. Borneo's outstanding plant diversity also harbors many unique mammal and bird species. This Global 200 ecoregion is made up of these terrestrial ecoregions: Borneo lowland rain forests; Borneo montane rain forests No plant lover should miss the forests of Borneo, which are considered among the richest in the world in terms of plant diversity. In the lowland forest you'll encounter the world's highest diversity of dipterocarp tree species. Dipterocarp means "two-winged fruit" and describes their characteristic winged fruits. As the fruit falls from the tree, the wings cause the fruit to spiral some distance away from the mother tree. But in the mountainous forests, the dipterocarp species are replaced by species such as oaks and colorful rhododendrons. Beneath the main canopy of the forest, smaller trees are laden with beautiful and unique orchids, ferns, lichens, and vines, but in the undergrowth you’ll also see carnivorous pitcher plants that trap insects and absorb the proteins from them.
A diversity of habitats exists within these moist forests. You'll find large areas of karst--barren limestone plateaus with caves, sinkholes, and gullies. You'll find a high-altitude swamp forest. These and other unusual habitats are part of the reason that so many unique species of plants and animals have evolved in this region.
You'll be dazzled by the wildlife in this forest ecoregion. If you look up in the trees, you may be lucky enough to spot the orange-brown orangutan, one of the more famous denizens of the Bornean rain forests. The shaggy Sumatran rhinoceros wallows in a local watering hole. You might also spy some of the region's smaller mammals--including the mountain treeshrew, the Bornean black-banded squirrel, and Whitehead's pygmy squirrel. And don't miss the region's incredible bird life. Red-breasted partridges call out. The brightly colored Whitehead's trogon hunts for insects from low perches in the thick brush. Mountain serpent-eagles fly above the treetops searching for a meal.
Humans have been active in these forests for thousands of years, but in the past several decades they have had large and negative impacts on the land. The combination of commercial and illegal logging, large-scale agriculture for oil palm or tea, mining, dam construction, shifting cultivation, illegal collection of species, and infrastructure development has taken its toll. Well over half of the lowland forests are now gone, and in recent years large fires have scorched the land, whittling away at the remaining forests. If the current deforestation trend continues, Borneo's lowland forests, and their biodiversity, will be gone within a decade. Borneo's mountain forests have more protection and are not as economically attractive, so they still remain in good shape. However, it will only be a matter of time before they, too, will be threatened with destruction.
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