Proboscis Monkeys

My Photo scholarship 2011 entry

Malaysia | Sunday, November 6, 2011 | 5 photos

The proboscis monkey is found only on the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia.
These are threatened with extinction, and commercial international trade of these species is generally prohibited.
The only place to see these monkeys are in their natural habitat, the rapidly disappearing mangrove forests of Borneo.

I took these pictures in "Labuk Bay Proboscis Sanctuary" during my trip to Borneo - Sabah in October 2011. the place has its interesting story. In (1994), while embarking on Oil Palm Plantation development near the mangrove swamps of the present sanctuary, the owner of the site came to know of the proboscis monkeys living there. Fascinated, he learned more about the monkeys and their predicament. However, he, although the 400 plus acres of mangrove forest were initially bought for commercial development, the plan was quickly dropped so that these monkeys could continue to survive there without fear of losing their natural habitat. As the sources of the food for these monkeys had much dwindled, efforts were made to supplement the monkeys’ diet with fruits and water daily to ensure the conservation of these animals.
The Proboscis monkey is assessed as endangered in the IUCN red list of Threatened Species. Its total population has decreased by more than 50% in the last 40 years due to ongoing habitat loss and hunting.

I had a chance to feel how important is to keep balance and protect nature wild life by being there . my aim to presenting these photos is to reflect that feeling to gets people attention`s about one of species that close to disappear from the planet, Proboscis Monkeys
I hope I could continue this trough this year scholarship program as well.