Wildlife and Conservation in Borneo (Sabah)

Part of the Borneo (Sabah) travel guide — see every topic in All Borneo (Sabah) Guides.

Sabah holds some of the most remarkable wildlife in Asia and some of its clearest conservation lessons. Bornean orangutans, Bornean pygmy elephants, proboscis monkeys, sun bears, clouded leopards, eight hornbill species and one of the world's richest reef systems all occur here. So does the reality of what has happened to lowland forest: the last Sumatran rhino in Malaysia died in 2019, and much of the state's lowlands is now oil palm.

The flagship species

The Bornean orangutan is critically endangered, with Sabah's population concentrated in protected forest and along the Kinabatangan. The Bornean pygmy elephant — smaller, rounder-faced and gentler than mainland Asian elephants — numbers around fifteen hundred, almost all in Sabah, and comes into frequent conflict with plantations. The proboscis monkey, found only on Borneo, is confined to riverine and mangrove forest. Sun bears, the world's smallest, are heavily affected by the pet trade. Clouded leopards are present and almost never seen.

What went wrong

Sabah's lowland dipterocarp forest was extensively logged from the 1970s and much of the cleared land converted to oil palm; the state is now a major palm oil producer. That has fragmented habitat into corridors, which is why the Kinabatangan concentrates wildlife so visibly against the river. The Sumatran rhino was declared extinct in the wild in Malaysia in 2015 and the last captive individual died in 2019. Pangolins, helmeted hornbills and other species remain under heavy pressure from wildlife trafficking.

What is being done

Sabah has committed to protecting a substantial share of its land area, and the protected estate now includes Danum Valley, Maliau Basin, Imbak Canyon, Tabin and the Lower Kinabatangan sanctuary. NGOs have worked on reforesting corridors along the Kinabatangan and building canopy bridges so primates can cross gaps. Deramakot Forest Reserve has demonstrated that certified sustainable logging can retain high mammal densities. Wildlife tourism revenue is a significant part of the economic argument for keeping forest standing.

Visiting responsibly

Choose lodges and operators that employ local guides and contribute to conservation, and ask directly what they do. Prefer wild viewing — Kinabatangan, Danum, Tabin — over captive encounters. Avoid any operation offering to hold, feed or photograph an animal in close contact; orangutans in particular are vulnerable to human disease. Do not buy wildlife products of any kind. Keep the distance your guide sets, especially from elephants, which are dangerous. And use a red filter and no flash on night drives.

Wildlife and Conservation at a glance

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