Tawitawi Island, Sulu archipelago, Philippines Photograph by Arvin Diesinos   Indo-Malay Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests   900 square miles (2,300 square kilometers) -- about the size of Rhode Island Critical/Endangered

· Stepping Stones of Sulu
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Stepping Stones of Sulu

Imagine a connect-the-dots game played between the Sulu and Celebes Seas. On one end is the island of Borneo; on the other is the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. Connecting the two is a string of smaller islands, the Sulu Archipelago, that stretches like stepping stones between the larger ones. Although similar in some ways to Borneo and Mindanao, these long-isolated islands are home to special species all their own.

Special Features

This ecoregion once contained a mix of beach forest, lowland rain forest, scrub forest, and mangroves, but coastal development has significantly altered the native habitat. The lowland rain forests and scrub forests have been mostly cleared for agriculture. Mangroves are still found throughout the coasts of the archipelago and are especially extensive on the island of Tawitawi. But most of the mangroves around the island of Bongao have disappeared.

	The bearded pig is named for the thin, yellowish whiskers on the sides of its face. The pig’s face also has two pairs of large warts, with the front pair usually covered by the beard. The bearded pig has the slenderest body of all pigs.

Wild Side

Several charismatic mammals live here, including the slow loris, a rabbit-sized primate that moves slowly through the trees eating insects, fruit, and small birds. These islands also support populations of bearded pig, which arrived here by swimming across open water from Borneo. The critically endangered Philippine crocodile was once common to the island of Jolo, but it has become extinct there. It still survives on other Philippine Islands. Endangered endemic birds include the Sulu hornbill, Sulu bleeding-heart, Tawitawi brown-dove, and the blue-winged racquet-tail. Widespread but still threatened species included the Philippine cockatoo and the rufous-lored kingfisher.

Cause for Concern

Virtually no forest remains on Sulu Island, and only the eastern and north-central portions of Tawitawi are forested. Of the smaller islands, some have been degraded but others are fairly intact and shelter important populations of birds. Overall, habitat loss is the major threat to wildlife, but hunting is also a problem.

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