Coron Island, Philippines Photograph by Haroldo Castro/Conservation International   Philippines: Islands of Palawan, Balabac, Ursula, and the Calamain Group Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests   5,500 square miles (14,300 square kilometers) -- about the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined Critical/Endangered

· Slashed and Burned
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Slashed and Burned

Palawan Island is dominated by mountains that run its length. A majority of the montane habitat remains intact, but the lowland forests have been destroyed by logging and slash-and-burn agriculture. These activities have begun to destroy forests at higher elevations, slowly eating away the remaining forests from the bottom up. If these actions aren’t controlled, the animals of this ecoregion will soon have nowhere else to go.

Special Features

The third largest of the Philippine islands, Palawan is long and narrow, consisting mainly of a steep mountain range whose highest point is 6,840 feet (2,085 m). Created as the result of tectonic plate movement, this ecoregion is marked by volcanic rocks and karst landscapes. Vegetation types on Palawan and other islands in this ecoregion are diverse and include beach forests, tropical lowland evergreen dipterocarp rain forests, lowland semi-deciduous forests, montane forests, and limestone forests.

	The Calamian deer is also known as the hog deer. The name comes from the animal’s habit of crashing through the undergrowth with its head down like a wild pig, rather than leaping over obstacles as other deer do.

Wild Side

Of the 15 endemic or near-endemic mammals that inhabit these islands, the endangered Calamian deer is found only in the Calamian Islands, where it survives in low densities. Balabac, Palawan, and the Calamian Islands also provide habitat for an endemic subspecies of the bearded pig--which the World Conservation Union (IUCN) considers to be rare and declining. Other endangered species include the Sunda tree squirrel and the Palawan rat. In addition, seventeen bird species are found only in this ecoregion, and five of those are vulnerable: the Palawan peacock-pheasant, gray imperial-pigeon, blue-headed racquet-tail, falcated wren-babbler, and Palawan flycatcher. This ecoregion is also home to one of the last remaining populations of the critically endangered Philippine crocodile, whose range once included most of the Philippines.

Cause for Concern

Just over a decade ago, more than 50 percent of Palawan’s natural forest was intact. More recent aerial surveys, however, indicate that logging has caused significant reductions in forest cover. As seen from the air, slash-and-burn agriculture has moved from the lowlands and hillsides up to the edges of natural forest in the highlands. Hunting and ornamental plant collecting are also ongoing threats to Palawan’s biodiversity.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.