Satellite view of the swamp forest near the Barito River, southwest Borneo, Indonesia Photograph by USGS   Island of Borneo, Indonesia Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests   14,200 square miles (36,800 square kilometers) -- about the size of Vermont and Connecticut combined Critical/Endangered

· Reign of the Primates
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Reign of the Primates

This ecoregion’s primates are highly adaptable, which is necessary because their habitat is being increasingly degraded and destroyed. One of the primates that calls this forest home is the endangered orangutan, which has adapted to both tropical moist broadleaf and freshwater swamp forests.

Special Features

Located just inland along the southern coast of Borneo, these forests contain coastal swamps, inland lakes, and low-lying river basins. Unlike peat swamp forests, freshwater swamps are periodically flooded with mineral-rich freshwater. As a result they have taller trees with greater species diversity. In addition to rain forest tree species, vegetation in this tropical ecoregion includes floating grass mats, spiny pandan and other palm stands, marshes, and scrub forest.

	Long-tailed macaques change color with age. They are born with black fur, which becomes a yellow-green, gray-green, or reddish-brown shade as they mature. They have dark snouts and blue abdominal skin.

Wild Side

Long-tailed macaques are the most common primates in freshwater swamp forests. This is the most adaptive primate in Borneo, living in rain forests, mangroves, freshwater forest, logged areas, and even in human-populated centers. Traveling in groups of 20, these monkeys are commonly seen wandering the beach in search of food, usually crabs. As a result, they are also called crab-eating macaques. The endangered orangutan is also adaptable to both tropical forests and freshwater swamps. They primarily eat fruit, but will also feast on nuts, leaves, insects, bark, honey, and sap. More than 360 species of birds, including a variety of hornbills and a single near-endemic--the Javan white-eye--can be found here as well.

Cause for Concern

Less than two percent of this ecoregion’s original vegetation remains, with the rest cleared or modified by human activities. Fires are a common occurrence, set to clear forests for large commercial oil palm plantations. In 1997 and 1998, El Niño driven fires burned through large portions of Sumatra and Borneo. Hundreds of adult orangutans were killed as they fled the fires into areas populated by humans. Gold mining and the introduction of exotic species are also ongoing threats.

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