World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/goliath-birdwing): Goliath Birdwing — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
The goliath birdwing (Ornithoptera goliath) is the second-largest butterfly in the world, with females reaching a wingspan of around 25 cm; its caterpillars sequester toxins from Aristolochia vines in the same way poison-dart frogs store alkaloids from their diet.

## Introduction
The goliath birdwing is the second-largest butterfly in the world after Queen Alexandra's birdwing. Females reach a wingspan of around 25 centimetres; males are smaller but striking, with black wings banded in iridescent green and yellow and a bright yellow abdomen. It occurs across lowland rainforest in New Guinea and on the Aru and Salawati islands.

What connects this butterfly to poison-dart frogs is chemistry rather than appearance. The caterpillar feeds on vines of the genus Aristolochia, which contain toxic aristolochic acids. The larva sequesters these compounds and retains them through pupation into the adult, making both caterpillar and butterfly unpalatable to birds — the same defensive strategy used by poison-dart frogs that take alkaloids from their diet and store them in their skin.

## Takeaway
The goliath birdwing is the second-largest butterfly in the world, with females reaching a wingspan of around 25 cm.

## Takeaway
Caterpillars feed on Aristolochia vines and sequester toxic aristolochic acids, retaining them into adulthood — the same defensive strategy poison-dart frogs use with dietary alkaloids.

## Takeaway
Both caterpillar and adult are unpalatable to birds because of the stored toxins, which makes warning colouration effective.

## Takeaway
Males are iridescent green and yellow on black; females are larger and predominantly dark brown with cream markings.

## Takeaway
The species occurs across lowland rainforest in New Guinea and on the Aru and Salawati islands.

## Takeaway
Lowland forest clearance and collection pressure affect the species across a range held largely under customary land tenure.

## Toxins from the host plant
Aristolochia vines contain aristolochic acids, compounds that are toxic to most vertebrates. The goliath birdwing caterpillar not only tolerates them but stores them in its body tissues, and the adult retains them after pupation. A bird that eats the caterpillar or butterfly learns quickly not to repeat the mistake.

This is the same principle that makes poison-dart frogs dangerous. Those frogs take alkaloids from ants and mites in their diet and concentrate them in their skin; the goliath birdwing takes aristolochic acids from its larval food plant and carries them through its life cycle. In both cases the animal is advertising unpalatability with bright colour — aposematism — and in both cases removing the food source removes the defence. No Aristolochia, no birdwing.

## Second largest, widely distributed
Queen Alexandra's birdwing holds the size record at around 28 cm wingspan; the goliath birdwing follows at around 25 cm. Unlike its relative, which is confined to a small area of Oro Province, the goliath occurs across much of lowland New Guinea and on several offshore islands.

That wider range earns it a Least Concern listing, but lowland forest is being cleared across the island for oil palm, logging and mining, and the goliath occupies exactly that altitude band. A Least Concern listing describes current range, not the rate at which lowland forest is being removed from it. Collection for the insect trade adds pressure, though the species is on CITES Appendix II rather than Appendix I.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/goliath-birdwing): Goliath Birdwing — wildlife guide.

## Sexual dimorphism and display
Male goliath birdwings are vivid — black wings with broad iridescent green bands and a yellow abdomen — while females are larger, darker and less showy. Males patrol forest clearings and stream edges, searching for females, and the iridescent bands shift colour with viewing angle because they are structural rather than pigment-based.

Females lay single eggs on Aristolochia vines, and the caterpillar develops through several instars over weeks before pupating. The pupa is suspended from a stem and the adult emerges after several weeks. The entire life cycle depends on intact lowland forest with sufficient host vines, which is why fragmentation hits this species harder than a range map suggests.

## Customary land and lowland forest
The goliath birdwing's range lies almost entirely within land held under customary tenure in Papua New Guinea and the Indonesian provinces of New Guinea. Protection of lowland forest patches with Aristolochia vines depends on landowning clans choosing to retain them rather than on protected-area designations alone.

Where lowland forest is cleared for oil palm or logging, both the butterfly and its host plant disappear together. CITES Appendix II regulates international trade but does not prevent local forest conversion. The practical conservation front line is the same as for Queen Alexandra's birdwing and for the lowland birds-of-paradise: forest retained on customary land, with host plants and display sites intact.

## WARN work
WARN publishes free, sourced species education, including the chemical links between unrelated animals. The goliath birdwing and the poison-dart frog defend themselves the same way — by storing toxins from their diet — yet both depend on habitat that lowland forest clearance is removing across New Guinea.

## Donation hook
If this guide helps you understand wildlife and the pressures it faces, a gift to WARN supports habitat protection and free public education in our partner countries.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/goliath-birdwing): Goliath Birdwing — wildlife guide.

## How big is the goliath birdwing?
Females reach a wingspan of around 25 cm, making it the second-largest butterfly in the world after Queen Alexandra's birdwing at around 28 cm.

## Is the goliath birdwing poisonous?
Unpalatable rather than dangerous to people. Caterpillars sequester toxic aristolochic acids from Aristolochia host vines and retain them into adulthood, making both larva and adult distasteful to birds — the same strategy poison-dart frogs use with dietary alkaloids.

## What does the goliath birdwing caterpillar eat?
Vines of the genus Aristolochia. The toxins in the plant are stored in the caterpillar's tissues and carried through to the adult butterfly.

## Where does the goliath birdwing live?
Lowland rainforest across New Guinea and on the Aru and Salawati islands. It occupies the altitude band most affected by oil palm and logging.

## Is the goliath birdwing endangered?
It is listed as Least Concern because of its wider range, but lowland forest clearance and collection pressure continue. The listing describes range rather than trajectory.

## How is it related to Queen Alexandra's birdwing?
Both are in the genus Ornithoptera. Queen Alexandra's is larger and confined to northern Oro Province with Endangered status and CITES Appendix I listing. The goliath is the second-largest and more widespread, on CITES Appendix II.

## Are goliath birdwings dangerous?
What connects this butterfly to poison-dart frogs is chemistry rather than appearance. Give wild goliath birdwings space; do not corner them.

## How long do goliath birdwings live?
A precise wild lifespan for goliath birdwings is not firmly established in the sources cited on this guide. The goliath birdwing (Ornithoptera goliath) is the second-largest butterfly in the world, with females reaching a wingspan of around 25 cm; its caterpillars sequester toxins from Aristolochia vines in the same way poison-dart frogs store alkaloids from their diet. Where longevity figures appear in the literature they vary by region, sex and whether animals are wild or captive.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/maleo): Maleo — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
The maleo (Macrocephalon maleo) is an Endangered megapode of Sulawesi that buries a single large egg in geothermal or sun-heated sand and abandons it; the chick hatches fully developed and flies the same day without any parental care.

## Introduction
The maleo is a stocky, turkey-sized bird endemic to Sulawesi in Indonesia, black above and rosy-pink below, with a distinctive bony casque on the head. It belongs to the megapode family — mound-builders that outsource incubation to environmental heat rather than brooding — but the maleo takes the strategy further than any relative.

Pairs dig a deep hole in geothermal or sun-heated sand, lay a single enormous egg, cover it and leave. The egg is incubated by volcanic warmth or solar heat in the sand, and the chick hatches fully feathered, able to fly the same day and receive no parental care at all. The entire investment is in the egg and the nesting site. Lose the nesting ground — to a beach resort, a mine or egg collectors — and you lose the species from that area entirely.

## Takeaway
The maleo buries a single large egg in geothermal or sun-heated sand and abandons it — incubation is entirely environmental.

## Takeaway
The chick hatches fully feathered and capable of flight on the same day, receiving no food, protection or instruction from either parent.

## Takeaway
Nesting depends on specific sand beaches and geothermal sites, which makes the species vulnerable to any development that disturbs those locations.

## Takeaway
Egg collecting for food has removed maleos from many nesting grounds across Sulawesi.

## Takeaway
The bony casque on the head is unique among megapodes and its function is not fully understood.

## Takeaway
Protection of known nesting beaches by local communities and site-based guarding has kept some colonies viable where egg collecting and development pressure continue elsewhere.

## Eggs in sand, not a nest
Most birds incubate eggs with body heat. Megapodes — the mound-builders — use external heat instead: decaying vegetation, sun-warmed sand or geothermal warmth. The maleo specialises in the last two. Pairs visit communal nesting grounds on beaches and riverbanks where sand is heated either by volcanic activity or by direct sun, dig a hole around 40 centimetres deep with their feet, lay one egg, backfill and depart.

The egg is large — around five times the mass of a chicken egg relative to the female's body weight — and contains enough yolk to sustain the chick through hatching and first flight without any post-hatching feeding. Incubation takes two to three months. The chick uses its strong feet to dig its way to the surface, emerges fully feathered, and flies off into the forest. Neither parent is present.

## A chick that needs no parents
Precocial chicks — those born ready to move and feed — are common in waterfowl and gamebirds. The maleo chick goes further: it is super-precocial, hatching with full feathers and the ability to fly on the first day. It receives no parental guidance on where to go, what to eat or how to avoid predators.

That works only because the chick hatches at a specific location — a nesting ground that adults have used for generations — and because the forest near that ground contains the fruit and invertebrates it needs. A maleo chick hatching on a disturbed beach with no forest edge nearby has poor prospects regardless of how well the egg was incubated. The strategy concentrates risk at the nesting site rather than spreading it across parental care.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/maleo): Maleo — wildlife guide.

## Why nesting grounds are the bottleneck
A maleo population can persist in forest far from its nesting beach, but it cannot reproduce without access to that beach. Nesting grounds are communal and traditional — the same sites used across decades or longer — and they are also the places most attractive to people. Geothermal beaches draw tourism development. Sandy riverbanks are mined for gravel. And eggs are collected for food, a practice that removes every egg from a colony if unchecked.

The result is that maleo populations have disappeared from many nesting grounds across Sulawesi even where forest habitat remains intact. The IUCN lists the species as Endangered, and the trend is downward at most monitored colonies.

## Community protection of nesting sites
The conservation approach that has worked best for the maleo is site-based and community-led. Known nesting beaches are guarded during the breeding season to prevent egg collecting, and some sites have been formally protected through agreements with local villages that depend on the beach for other reasons — fishing, tourism or customary access.

This is a Sulawesi problem requiring Sulawesi solutions. The nesting grounds are not held under the same customary tenure system as New Guinea forest, but local community agreement is still the binding constraint: a protected beach that the neighbouring village does not support will not stay protected. Egg guarding, seasonal access restrictions and income from ecotourism at stable colonies have kept some populations viable. Without site protection, forest conservation alone does not help a bird that concentrates its entire reproductive effort on a handful of sand beaches.

## WARN work
WARN publishes free, sourced species education, including for species whose breeding strategy concentrates risk in a single place. The maleo outsources incubation to volcanic sand and produces a chick that needs no parents — but that chick still needs an intact nesting beach, and those beaches are what development and egg collecting remove.

## Donation hook
If this guide helps you understand wildlife and the pressures it faces, a gift to WARN supports habitat protection and free public education in our partner countries.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/maleo): Maleo — wildlife guide.

## How does the maleo incubate its eggs?
It does not. Pairs bury a single egg in sand heated by geothermal activity or direct sun, cover it and leave. The sand incubates the egg over two to three months without any parental brooding.

## Can maleo chicks fly on the first day?
Yes. The chick hatches fully feathered and capable of flight the same day. It receives no food, protection or care from either parent and must find its own way into the forest.

## Why is the maleo endangered?
Nesting ground loss is the main driver. Geothermal beaches are developed for tourism, riverbanks are mined, and egg collecting removes every egg from colonies if unchecked. The IUCN lists it as Endangered.

## Where does the maleo live?
Sulawesi in Indonesia, with smaller populations on the Banggai and Sula islands. It forages in lowland forest but must return to specific sand nesting grounds to breed.

## What is a megapode?
A bird in the family Megapodiidae that incubates eggs using external heat — from decaying vegetation, sun-warmed sand or geothermal activity — rather than body heat. The maleo is the most extreme example, abandoning the egg entirely.

## What do maleos eat?
Maleos eat Geothermal — Sand heated by volcanic activity incubates the egg. The maleo (Macrocephalon maleo) is an Endangered megapode of Sulawesi that buries a single large egg in geothermal or sun-heated sand and abandons it; the chick hatches fully developed and flies the same day without any parental care.

## Are maleos dangerous?
The entire investment is in the egg and the nesting site. Give wild maleos space; do not corner or handle them.

## How long do maleos live?
A precise wild lifespan for maleos is not firmly established in the sources cited on this guide. The maleo (Macrocephalon maleo) is an Endangered megapode of Sulawesi that buries a single large egg in geothermal or sun-heated sand and abandons it; the chick hatches fully developed and flies the same day without any parental care. Where longevity figures appear in the literature they vary by region, sex and whether animals are wild or captive.

## How big is a maleo?
A Maleo is about About 55–60 cm. The maleo (Macrocephalon maleo) is an Endangered megapode of Sulawesi that buries a single large egg in geothermal or sun-heated sand and abandons it; the chick hatches fully developed and flies the same day without any parental care. Conservation status: Nesting ground loss; egg collecting; beach development.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/spotted-cuscus): Spotted Cuscus — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
The spotted cuscus (Spilocuscus maculatus) is a nocturnal marsupial possum of New Guinea and northern Australia in which males are white with dark spots and females are plain grey or brown; it is listed Least Concern but is heavily hunted across accessible lowland forest.

## Introduction
The spotted cuscus is a nocturnal, tree-dwelling marsupial of New Guinea and northern Australia, and one of the most striking examples of sexual dimorphism in mammals. Adult males are thick-furred and white with dark spots or patches across the body; adult females are plain grey or brown with little or no spotting. The contrast is so strong that early collectors sometimes treated males and females as different species.

Like the grey cuscus — covered in WARN's guide at /wildlife-guides/grey-cuscus — spotted cuscuses are possums in the family Phalangeridae, not primates. They climb with grasping feet and a prehensile tail, feed mainly on leaves and fruit, and complete development in a forward-opening pouch after a short gestation. Their slowness makes them easy to hunt, which matters more than a Least Concern listing suggests wherever logging roads and settlement reach the forest.

## Takeaway
Male spotted cuscuses are white with dark spots; females are plain grey or brown — one of the strongest sexual dimorphisms among marsupials.

## Takeaway
Despite a primate-like face and slow climbing gait, spotted cuscuses are possums in the family Phalangeridae, closely related to the grey cuscus.

## Takeaway
They are nocturnal folivores and frugivores, moving deliberately through the canopy with a prehensile tail and syndactylous hind feet typical of diprotodont marsupials.

## Takeaway
The IUCN lists the species as Least Concern because of a wide range, but that describes geography rather than safety near settlements and logging roads.

## Takeaway
Cuscuses are among the most heavily hunted mammals in New Guinea for meat, and their slowness makes them exceptionally easy to catch with dogs or at night.

## Takeaway
Over 90% of land in Papua New Guinea is held under customary tenure, so whether lowland forest where cuscuses live survives depends on landowning clans rather than on protected-area designations alone.

## Why only the male is spotted
Sexual dimorphism in coat pattern is uncommon among mammals outside birds-of-paradise country, but common enough in cuscuses. In the spotted cuscus, males develop a white pelage with dark spots or saddles at maturity while females remain cryptic grey-brown.

The function is debated. Brighter male pelage may advertise fitness to females in a nocturnal species where scent and vocalisation also matter, or spots may break up the outline of a large male roosting in dappled canopy light. What is clear is the taxonomic confusion it caused: males and females look sufficiently different that they were once described under separate names. Females carry the young in a forward-opening pouch; males play no role after mating.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/spotted-cuscus): Spotted Cuscus — wildlife guide.

## Possum, not primate
New Guinea has no native monkeys. The spotted cuscus fills part of the slow arboreal folivore niche with marsupial hardware: a pouch, syndactylous grooming toes on the hind foot, and procumbent lower incisors. Its round face and forward-set eyes resemble a small primate or sloth, but the anatomy is possum.

WARN's grey cuscus guide at /wildlife-guides/grey-cuscus covers the wider cuscus group — archaeology of human translocation, hunting pressure and the distinction from primates. Spotted cuscuses overlap in range with grey cuscuses in parts of New Guinea and differ mainly in size, coat pattern and habitat preference toward lowland and hill forest edge.

## Living slowly in the canopy
Leaves and unripe fruit yield little energy per bite. Spotted cuscuses rest through the day in tree hollows or dense foliage and feed at night with a deliberateness that reflects fermentation time in the gut rather than caution. They rarely descend to the ground, which makes canopy continuity essential: a gap in forest cover that forces ground travel exposes a slow animal to dogs and hunters.

Lowland forest — the altitude band this species occupies most densely — is being cleared for oil palm, logging and mining across New Guinea faster than montane forest. A Least Concern listing based on range size does not capture local absence along new roads and near villages where hunting is routine.

## Customary land and hunting
In Papua New Guinea and the Indonesian provinces of New Guinea, over 90% of land is under customary ownership rather than state control. A government-declared reserve has no force unless the clans who own the land agree, and hunting rules are set locally — some communities maintain taboos on certain species or seasons; others do not.

Cuscus meat is widely eaten. Firearms and logging roads have made previously inaccessible forest reachable, and a slow arboreal marsupial is among the easiest animals to remove once dogs and torches enter the picture. Conservation that works in this context treats customary landowners as decision-makers, because legally and practically they control whether lowland forest stands or is converted.

## WARN work
WARN publishes free, sourced species education, including for marsupials that look like primates and receive little coverage in English. The spotted cuscus is widely photographed for its male spotting, but the conservation story is customary land, hunting and lowland forest loss — not coat colour.

## Donation hook
If this guide helps you understand wildlife and the pressures it faces, a gift to WARN supports habitat protection and free public education in our partner countries.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/spotted-cuscus): Spotted Cuscus — wildlife guide.

## Why is the spotted cuscus spotted?
Only males develop the white coat with dark spots or patches. Females remain plain grey or brown. The dimorphism is among the strongest in marsupials and once led collectors to treat the sexes as separate species.

## Is a spotted cuscus a monkey?
No. It is a marsupial possum in the family Phalangeridae. New Guinea has no native monkeys; the resemblance to a primate is convergent evolution — grasping feet, forward eyes and slow climbing — filled by marsupials instead.

## How is the spotted cuscus related to the grey cuscus?
Both are cuscuses in Phalangeridae. WARN's grey cuscus guide at /wildlife-guides/grey-cuscus covers the group; spotted cuscuses differ in sexual dimorphism, somewhat smaller size and preference for lowland and hill forest.

## Where do spotted cuscuses live?
Lowland and hill rainforest of New Guinea, the Aru Islands and Cape York Peninsula in northern Australia. They are arboreal and rarely descend to the ground.

## Are spotted cuscuses endangered?
The IUCN lists them as Least Concern because of a wide range. Locally they are heavily hunted for meat and are easy to catch; populations near settlements and logging roads can be reduced or eliminated while the range map stays unchanged.

## Who controls forest where spotted cuscuses live?
Over 90% of land in Papua New Guinea is held under customary tenure. Protection depends on landowning clans choosing to keep forest standing and on local hunting rules, not on state reserves alone.

## What do spotted cuscus eat?
Spotted Cuscus eat Leaves, fruit and flowers. The spotted cuscus (Spilocuscus maculatus) is a nocturnal marsupial possum of New Guinea and northern Australia in which males are white with dark spots and females are plain grey or brown; it is listed Least Concern but is heavily hunted across accessible lowland forest.

## Are spotted cuscus dangerous?
Their slowness makes them easy to hunt, which matters more than a Least Concern listing suggests wherever logging roads and settlement reach the forest. They are nocturnal. Give wild spotted cuscus space; do not corner or handle them.

## How long do spotted cuscus live?
A precise wild lifespan for spotted cuscus is not firmly established in the sources cited on this guide. The spotted cuscus (Spilocuscus maculatus) is a nocturnal marsupial possum of New Guinea and northern Australia in which males are white with dark spots and females are plain grey or brown; it is listed Least Concern but is heavily hunted across accessible lowland forest. Where longevity figures appear in the literature they vary by region, sex and whether animals are wild or captive.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/long-beaked-echidna): Long-beaked Echidna — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
Long-beaked echidnas (genus Zaglossus) are egg-laying monotreme mammals of New Guinea highland forest; Attenborough's long-beaked echidna was not recorded for roughly sixty years until camera-trap images in 2023, and the genus is Critically Endangered.

## Introduction
Long-beaked echidnas are egg-laying mammals of New Guinea's highland forest — monotremes, in the same ancient lineage as the platypus covered at /wildlife-guides/platypus and the short-beaked echidna of Australia. Only five monotreme species survive worldwide: one platypus and four echidnas. Long-beaked echidnas belong to the genus Zaglossus and are larger than short-beaked echidnas, with a straight elongated snout bearing electroreceptors for detecting prey in soil and leaf litter.

Attenborough's long-beaked echidna — named for the broadcaster and naturalist — was not recorded between 1961 and 2023, when camera traps in the Cyclops Mountains of Indonesian New Guinea photographed it again. That gap of roughly six decades illustrates how little is known about New Guinea's highland interior and how a Critically Endangered mammal can vanish from scientific view while forest is still being cleared around it.

## Takeaway
Long-beaked echidnas are monotremes — egg-laying mammals — one of only five surviving monotreme species alongside the platypus and short-beaked echidnas.

## Takeaway
The genus Zaglossus includes three species confined to New Guinea highland forest, distinguished by size, snout shape and range.

## Takeaway
Attenborough's long-beaked echidna was not recorded between 1961 and 2023, when camera traps in the Cyclops Mountains photographed it again.

## Takeaway
The snout carries electroreceptors that detect the electrical signals of worms and other invertebrates in soil — a sense shared with the platypus.

## Takeaway
All long-beaked echidna species are listed Critically Endangered, threatened by hunting and highland forest loss.

## Takeaway
Over 90% of land in Papua New Guinea is held under customary tenure, so highland forest protection depends on landowning clans as much as on formal reserves.

## Egg-laying mammals
Monotremes split from other mammals roughly 180 million years ago and retain the ancestral trait of laying leathery eggs while still producing milk. A female long-beaked echidna lays a single egg into a pouch-like fold, incubates it for about ten days, and the hatchling laps milk secreted from skin patches — no nipples.

That combination defines mammals as strongly as live birth does: warm-blooded, milk-fed young, but eggs instead of uterine development. WARN's platypus guide at /wildlife-guides/platypus covers the other major monotreme lineage — semi-aquatic, electroreceptive bill, venomous spurs in males. Long-beaked echidnas are terrestrial highland specialists with a simpler snout shape but the same electroreceptive hunting toolkit.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/long-beaked-echidna): Long-beaked Echidna — wildlife guide.

## Attenborough's echidna and the sixty-year gap
Attenborough's long-beaked echidna — Zaglossus attenboroughi — is known from very few specimens and sightings. Recorded in 1961 in the Cyclops Mountains of Indonesian New Guinea, it then disappeared from scientific records for roughly six decades. In 2023, camera traps set during an expedition to the same mountain range captured the first photographs in that interval.

The gap is not proof the species was absent — local people in the Cyclops Mountains reported continued presence — but it shows how poorly surveyed New Guinea highlands remain and how a Critically Endangered animal can exist on the edge of scientific oblivion. The Cyclops range is under pressure from hunting and encroachment; rediscovery does not mean recovery.

## Electroreception and the long snout
Long-beaked echidnas probe soil and rotting wood for earthworms and other invertebrates. The snout carries electroreceptors — up to thousands in some Zaglossus species — that detect the faint bioelectric fields generated by muscle movement in buried prey. The animal can hunt with minimal reliance on sight or smell in dark leaf litter.

Short-beaked echidnas of Australia share electroreception but have a shorter, more curved snout adapted to ants and termites. Long-beaked species are worm specialists of wet highland forest, which makes them sensitive to soil disturbance, logging and the drying that follows forest removal.

## Customary land and highland pressure
New Guinea highland forest is held under a mix of customary and state tenure depending on province and country, but in Papua New Guinea over 90% of land remains under customary ownership. Hunting with dogs is widespread; echidnas are slow and defensively roll into a spiny ball rather than flee, which makes them vulnerable once found.

Highland forest clearance for gardens, roads and mining removes habitat directly. Because long-beaked echidnas are poorly studied, population estimates are largely absent — the Critically Endangered listing reflects small range, inferred decline and intense local pressure rather than precise counts. Protection that ignores customary landowners cannot work where they control access to the forest.

## WARN work
WARN publishes free, sourced species education, including where rediscovery is not recovery. Attenborough's long-beaked echidna reappeared on camera traps in 2023 after roughly sixty years without records, but the genus remains Critically Endangered and highland forest across New Guinea is still being lost.

## Donation hook
If this guide helps you understand wildlife and the pressures it faces, a gift to WARN supports habitat protection and free public education in our partner countries.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/long-beaked-echidna): Long-beaked Echidna — wildlife guide.

## Do long-beaked echidnas lay eggs?
Yes. They are monotremes — egg-laying mammals — one of only five surviving monotreme species worldwide. The female lays a leathery egg and the young hatch into a pouch fold and lap milk from skin patches.

## What is Attenborough's long-beaked echidna?
Zaglossus attenboroughi, a Critically Endangered species known from the Cyclops Mountains of Indonesian New Guinea. It was not recorded between 1961 and 2023, when camera traps photographed it again.

## How are long-beaked echidnas related to the platypus?
Both are monotremes — the egg-laying mammal lineage. WARN's platypus guide at /wildlife-guides/platypus covers the aquatic branch; long-beaked echidnas are terrestrial highland species with electroreceptive snouts.

## Why are long-beaked echidnas Critically Endangered?
Small ranges in New Guinea highland forest, hunting pressure, and habitat loss from clearance and disturbance. Data are sparse, but all three Zaglossus species carry Critically Endangered listings.

## How do long-beaked echidnas find food?
They probe soil and leaf litter for worms and invertebrates, using electroreceptors in the snout to detect prey by the electrical signals of muscle movement — the same sense used by platypuses underwater.

## What do long-beaked echidnas eat?
Long-beaked Echidnas eat Earthworms and soil invertebrates. Long-beaked echidnas (genus Zaglossus) are egg-laying monotreme mammals of New Guinea highland forest; Attenborough's long-beaked echidna was not recorded for roughly sixty years until camera-trap images in 2023, and the genus is Critically Endangered.

## Where do long-beaked echidnas live?
Long-beaked Echidnas live in New Guinea — Indonesian provinces and Papua New Guinea highlands. Long-beaked echidnas (genus Zaglossus) are egg-laying monotreme mammals of New Guinea highland forest; Attenborough's long-beaked echidna was not recorded for roughly sixty years until camera-trap images in 2023, and the genus is Critically Endangered.

## How long do long-beaked echidnas live?
A precise wild lifespan for long-beaked echidnas is not firmly established in the sources cited on this guide. Long-beaked echidnas (genus Zaglossus) are egg-laying monotreme mammals of New Guinea highland forest; Attenborough's long-beaked echidna was not recorded for roughly sixty years until camera-trap images in 2023, and the genus is Critically Endangered. Where longevity figures appear in the literature they vary by region, sex and whether animals are wild or captive.

## How big is a long-beaked echidna?
A Long-beaked Echidna is about ~60 yr (Attenborough's echidna absent from records until 2023). Long-beaked echidnas (genus Zaglossus) are egg-laying monotreme mammals of New Guinea highland forest; Attenborough's long-beaked echidna was not recorded for roughly sixty years until camera-trap images in 2023, and the genus is Critically Endangered. Conservation status: Critically Endangered (genus).


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/bandicoot): Bandicoot — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
Bandicoots are small marsupials of the order Peramelemorphia with gestation as short as about twelve days, a unusually advanced marsupial placenta, and a rearward-opening pouch; the name covers many species across Australia, New Guinea and Wallacea with varying IUCN status.

## Introduction
Bandicoot is an everyday name for a group of small, ground-dwelling marsupials in the order Peramelemorphia — not a single species. Around twenty living species span Australia, New Guinea and parts of Wallacea, from the widespread northern brown bandicoot to New Guinea's giant bandicoot and several Australian species now extinct or restricted to islands and fenced reserves.

What unites them is biology rather than appearance. Bandicoots have among the shortest gestation periods of any mammal — as brief as about twelve days in some species — yet they also develop one of the most advanced placentas among marsupials, with a chorioallantoic placenta that nourishes the embryo in utero far longer than the brief gestation of a kangaroo. The pouch opens backward, so dirt is not scooped in while digging. This page is a genus-level overview; individual species differ in size, range and conservation status.

## Takeaway
Bandicoot is a group name, not one species — around twenty living species in the order Peramelemorphia across Australia, New Guinea and Wallacea.

## Takeaway
Some bandicoots have gestation periods as short as about twelve days, among the briefest of any mammal.

## Takeaway
Bandicoots develop a chorioallantoic placenta — more advanced than the yolk-sac placenta of most marsupials — nourishing the embryo in utero before birth into the pouch.

## Takeaway
The pouch opens toward the rear so soil is not pushed in while the animal digs for insects, worms and roots.

## Takeaway
Several Australian bandicoot species are extinct or Critically Endangered; New Guinea species are less studied but face hunting and forest loss.

## Takeaway
In New Guinea, over 90% of land is held under customary tenure, so forest-dwelling bandicoots depend on landowner decisions as much as on formal protection.

## Twelve days from mating to birth
The northern brown bandicoot of Australia completes gestation in about twelve days — the shortest recorded for any mammal. The young are born at an early stage, as in all marsupials, but the interval between mating and birth is extraordinarily compressed compared with even other marsupials.

That speed is paired with an unusually sophisticated placenta. Most marsupials rely on a yolk-sac placenta that provides limited nourishment; bandicoots form a chorioallantoic placenta more akin to placental mammals, with a temporary connection between embryo and uterine wall. The combination — brief gestation plus advanced in-utero nourishment — is unique among living marsupials and reflects an evolutionary experiment within the order Peramelemorphia.

## The backward pouch
Bandicoots dig with their forefeet and snout for insects, larvae, worms and roots. A forward-opening pouch would fill with soil during digging, so the opening faces backward — toward the tail — keeping the pouch cavity clear while the animal works ground litter.

After birth the tiny young crawl to the teats and attach; development completes in the pouch over several weeks. The hind limbs are longer than the forelimbs, adapted for hopping escape rather than climbing — bandicoots are ground specialists, unlike the arboreal possums and cuscuses of New Guinea.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/bandicoot): Bandicoot — wildlife guide.

## Australia, New Guinea and Wallacea
Bandicoots radiated across Australia and into New Guinea and nearby islands. Australian species include the northern brown bandicoot — still common in parts of the north — and several that are extinct on the mainland or survive only on offshore islands and inside predator-proof fences. The pig-footed bandicoot is extinct; the eastern barred bandicoot was restored to fenced reserves after mainland loss.

New Guinea holds larger species including the giant bandicoot, poorly known and restricted to forest. Wallacea — the island zone between Asian and Australian faunas — holds related peramelemorphians on some islands. Status varies sharply by species; this overview cannot substitute for species-level assessments.

## Threats and customary land in New Guinea
Australian bandicoot declines are tied to introduced foxes and cats, habitat fragmentation and historical clearing. Fenced sanctuaries and island refuges have been essential for species that cannot coexist with introduced predators on the mainland.

In New Guinea, introduced predators are fewer, but hunting and forest clearance remain pressures on ground-dwelling mammals. Over 90% of land in Papua New Guinea is under customary tenure; lowland and hill forest conversion for gardens, logging and mining removes cover for forest bandicoots. Data on New Guinea species are sparse, which means declines may be under-recorded rather than absent.

## WARN work
WARN publishes free, sourced species education, including honest genus-level overviews where one English name covers many species. Bandicoot describes a marsupial order, not a single animal — gestation of about twelve days and a rearward pouch are the shared biology; conservation status is species-specific.

## Donation hook
If this guide helps you understand wildlife and the pressures it faces, a gift to WARN supports habitat protection and free public education in our partner countries.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/bandicoot): Bandicoot — wildlife guide.

## What is a bandicoot?
A small ground-dwelling marsupial in the order Peramelemorphia. The name covers around twenty living species across Australia, New Guinea and Wallacea — not a single species.

## How long is bandicoot gestation?
As short as about twelve days in the northern brown bandicoot — among the briefest gestation periods recorded in any mammal.

## Why does a bandicoot pouch open backward?
So soil is not scooped into the pouch while the animal digs for insects and roots. The young are born tiny and complete development attached to teats inside the rear-facing pouch.

## Do bandicoots have a placenta?
Yes — a chorioallantoic placenta, more advanced than the yolk-sac placenta of most marsupials. It nourishes the embryo in utero before the very short gestation ends.

## What do bandicoots eat?
Bandicoots eat Insects, worms, roots and fungi. Bandicoots are small marsupials of the order Peramelemorphia with gestation as short as about twelve days, a unusually advanced marsupial placenta, and a rearward-opening pouch; the name covers many species across Australia, New Guinea and Wallacea with varying IUCN status.

## Where do bandicoots live?
Bandicoots live in Australia, New Guinea and nearby islands, Some Wallacea islands. Bandicoots are small marsupials of the order Peramelemorphia with gestation as short as about twelve days, a unusually advanced marsupial placenta, and a rearward-opening pouch; the name covers many species across Australia, New Guinea and Wallacea with varying IUCN status.

## Are bandicoots dangerous?
Bandicoots are not generally dangerous to people. Bandicoots are small marsupials of the order Peramelemorphia with gestation as short as about twelve days, a unusually advanced marsupial placenta, and a rearward-opening pouch; the name covers many species across Australia, New Guinea and Wallacea with varying IUCN status. Give wild individuals space and do not corner or handle them.

## How long do bandicoots live?
A precise wild lifespan for bandicoots is not firmly established in the sources cited on this guide. Bandicoots are small marsupials of the order Peramelemorphia with gestation as short as about twelve days, a unusually advanced marsupial placenta, and a rearward-opening pouch; the name covers many species across Australia, New Guinea and Wallacea with varying IUCN status. Where longevity figures appear in the literature they vary by region, sex and whether animals are wild or captive.

## How big is a bandicoot?
Bandicoots are small marsupials of the order Peramelemorphia with gestation as short as about twelve days, a unusually advanced marsupial placenta, and a rearward-opening pouch; the name covers many species across Australia, New Guinea and Wallacea with varying IUCN status.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/anoa): Anoa — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
Anoa are dwarf buffalo endemic to Sulawesi, Indonesia — the smallest wild cattle at roughly 90 cm shoulder height — with lowland and mountain species both listed Endangered and declining through hunting and forest loss.

## Introduction
Anoa are dwarf buffalo endemic to Sulawesi — the large island at the heart of Wallacea between Borneo and New Guinea. Two species are recognised: the lowland anoa, Bubalus depressicornis, of lowland forest, and the mountain anoa, B. quarlesi, of higher elevation forest. Both are dark, compact bovids with short straight horns, standing roughly 90 centimetres at the shoulder — the smallest wild cattle in the world.

They fill the ecological role of a small forest buffalo, browsing understory vegetation and wallowing in mud. Locally they are hunted for meat and horns, and forest conversion for agriculture, plantations and mining removes habitat across Sulawesi. Both species are listed Endangered, with declining populations inferred from habitat loss and hunting rather than from comprehensive surveys.

## Takeaway
Anoa are the smallest wild cattle, standing roughly 90 centimetres at the shoulder — dwarf buffalo endemic to Sulawesi.

## Takeaway
Two species are recognised: lowland anoa in lowland forest and mountain anoa at higher elevations.

## Takeaway
Both are listed Endangered, with populations inferred to be declining from hunting and habitat loss.

## Takeaway
Sulawesi sits in Wallacea — a zone of high endemism where Asian and Australian faunas meet — and anoa occur nowhere else.

## Takeaway
Forest conversion for agriculture, plantations and infrastructure removes understory habitat anoa need for browsing and wallowing.

## Takeaway
Hunting for meat and horns continues across much of Sulawesi where enforcement is weak and forest access has expanded.

## The smallest wild cattle
Domestic cattle and their wild relatives span a wide size range, but anoa anchor the bottom. At roughly 90 centimetres shoulder height and a body mass far below domestic buffalo, they are adapted to dense forest rather than open grassland. Short horns, dark coat and a compact build let them move through understory and wallow in forest mud.

Lowland and mountain species partition elevation. Lowland anoa occupy tropical forest below roughly 1,000 metres; mountain anoa range higher. The split is not always obvious in the field, and historical confusion between the two complicated taxonomy and assessment.

## Wallacea and Sulawesi endemism
Sulawesi's shape — four long peninsulas around a central mass — created isolated forest refuges that evolved distinctive mammals. Anoa are among them, alongside babirusas, macaques and tarsiers covered in companion guides on this tier. Wallacea as a whole has high endemism and relatively low formal protection compared with the species richness it holds.

Anoa require intact forest with water for wallowing. They are not pasture animals; clearing for smallholder gardens, oil palm and other crops removes the understory and wallows they use, and road building opens previously inaccessible forest to hunters.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/anoa): Anoa — wildlife guide.

## Hunting and forest conversion
Anoa are hunted for meat across Sulawesi, and horns enter local trade. The animals are shy and difficult to study, which means population data are largely inferred from habitat trends and interview surveys rather than direct counts. Where forest is cleared or hunting is unchecked, anoa disappear from accessible areas long before a range-wide extinction is recorded.

Both species carry Endangered listings. The mountain anoa may be the more threatened of the two, with higher-elevation forest also under pressure from shifting agriculture and logging, but lowland forest loss is faster and lowland anoa face the sharper immediate decline in many provinces.

## What protection requires
Effective protection means enforcing hunting restrictions in remaining forest blocks, maintaining connectivity between reserves, and securing wallow sites and water sources. Captive breeding programmes exist for both species, but release requires forest that is safe from hunting — a condition not met in most of Sulawesi.

Without reduced hunting pressure and halted forest conversion, fenced reserves and captivity become the default refuge for a mammal that evolved as a free-ranging forest buffalo. The Endangered listing describes trajectory; reversing it requires forest standing and guns absent — neither achieved across most of the island.

## WARN work
WARN publishes free, sourced species education for Wallacea endemics that receive little coverage outside Indonesia. Anoa are the smallest wild cattle on Earth and exist only on Sulawesi, where hunting and forest conversion continue across both lowland and mountain species.

## Donation hook
If this guide helps you understand wildlife and the pressures it faces, a gift to WARN supports habitat protection and free public education in our partner countries.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/anoa): Anoa — wildlife guide.

## What is an anoa?
A dwarf forest buffalo endemic to Sulawesi, Indonesia. Two species — lowland and mountain anoa — are the smallest wild cattle, standing roughly 90 centimetres at the shoulder.

## How big is an anoa?
Roughly 90 centimetres at the shoulder — far smaller than domestic buffalo or banteng. They are the smallest wild cattle species.

## Where do anoa live?
Only on Sulawesi in Wallacea, Indonesia. Lowland anoa occupy lowland forest; mountain anoa range at higher elevations.

## Are anoa endangered?
Yes. Both species are listed Endangered, with declining populations inferred from hunting and forest loss across Sulawesi.

## What threatens anoa?
Hunting for meat and horns, and forest conversion for agriculture, plantations and infrastructure. Both remove the intact forest and wallows anoa need.

## How is anoa related to other cattle?
Anoa are true buffalo in the genus Bubalus, related to domestic water buffalo and wild banteng, but adapted to dense Sulawesi forest at a much smaller body size.

## What do anoas eat?
Anoa are dwarf buffalo endemic to Sulawesi, Indonesia — the smallest wild cattle at roughly 90 cm shoulder height — with lowland and mountain species both listed Endangered and declining through hunting and forest loss. The guide's ecology sections give the prey or forage detail behind that summary.

## Are anoas dangerous?
Anoas are not generally dangerous to people. Anoa are dwarf buffalo endemic to Sulawesi, Indonesia — the smallest wild cattle at roughly 90 cm shoulder height — with lowland and mountain species both listed Endangered and declining through hunting and forest loss. Give wild individuals space and do not corner or handle them.

## How long do anoas live?
A precise wild lifespan for anoas is not firmly established in the sources cited on this guide. Anoa are dwarf buffalo endemic to Sulawesi, Indonesia — the smallest wild cattle at roughly 90 cm shoulder height — with lowland and mountain species both listed Endangered and declining through hunting and forest loss. Where longevity figures appear in the literature they vary by region, sex and whether animals are wild or captive.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/babirusa): Babirusa — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
Babirusas are forest pigs of Sulawesi and Wallacea whose males grow upper canines that pierce the snout roof and curve upward; they are listed Vulnerable, threatened by hunting and forest loss.

## Introduction
Babirusas are forest pigs endemic to Wallacea — centred on Sulawesi and some neighbouring islands — and among the strangest-looking large mammals in the region. Males carry four tusks: the lower canines curve upward as in other pigs, but the upper canines grow upward and backward, piercing the skin and bone of the snout roof and curving back toward the forehead. In older males the upper tusks can loop dangerously close to the skull.

They browse and root in forest and visit salt licks and wetlands. Locally they are hunted for meat; habitat loss from logging and conversion reduces forest cover across Sulawesi. Most populations are listed Vulnerable, with some island forms more threatened. The tusks that make males photogenic also make them targets.

## Takeaway
Male babirusas grow upper canines that pierce the skin and bone of the snout roof and curve back toward the forehead.

## Takeaway
They are forest pigs in the family Suidae, endemic to Sulawesi and parts of Wallacea — not closely related to deer despite the tusk display.

## Takeaway
Most populations are listed Vulnerable, declining from hunting and forest loss.

## Takeaway
Babirusas browse leaves, fruit and fungi and root in soil; they also visit volcanic salt licks.

## Takeaway
Tusk form varies by species and age; extreme upper tusk growth can interfere with feeding in very old males.

## Takeaway
Forest conversion and hunting pressure on Sulawesi affect babirusas across the same landscapes as anoa and crested macaques.

## Tusks through the snout
In male babirusas the upper canine teeth do not stop at the lip. They grow upward, pierce the maxillary bone and skin of the snout roof, and curve backward — sometimes toward the forehead or eye region in very old animals. Lower canines also elongate and curve upward but remain outside the snout.

The function is partly sexual display and combat between males rather than predation — babirusas eat vegetable matter. Fights with interlocking upper tusks occur, and extreme tusk growth may become a handicap if curves interfere with vision or feeding. Females lack the dramatic upper tusk development.

## Forest pig of Wallacea
Babirusas inhabit rainforest, riverine forest and wetland edges on Sulawesi and some satellite islands. They are more arboreal than domestic pigs in habit — older accounts describe them resting in tree forks, though they are not specialist climbers. Diet includes leaves, fruit, fungi and roots uncovered by rooting.

Wallacea holds several babirusa species or subspecies split across islands. Sulawesi's complex shape isolated populations that differ in tusk form and coat. All share vulnerability to the same island-wide pressures: hunting and deforestation.

## Hunting and habitat loss
Babirusa meat is valued locally, and tusks enter ornamental trade. Snares and guns take animals from forest that is simultaneously being logged or converted to agriculture and plantations. Populations decline faster in accessible lowland forest than in steep interior ranges, but even remote areas face hunting when roads advance.

The Vulnerable listing covers the most widespread forms; rarer island populations may qualify for higher threat categories. Survey data are incomplete, which is typical for Sulawesi forest mammals — absence of records often reflects inaccessibility rather than security.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/babirusa): Babirusa — wildlife guide.

## Shared fate on Sulawesi
Babirusas share Sulawesi with anoa, crested macaques and tarsiers — a set of endemic mammals losing forest on the same island. Protection of one species without controlling hunting and conversion across the landscape fails all of them.

Forest blocks that enforce hunting bans and maintain understory and water sources benefit babirusas directly. Without that, populations retreat into shrinking fragments where inbreeding and local extinction follow. The tusks that attract photographers are the same features that attract hunters.

## WARN work
WARN publishes free, sourced species education for Wallacea endemics. Babirusas are widely shared for their tusks, but the conservation reality on Sulawesi is hunting and forest conversion — the same pressures affecting anoa and crested macaques on the same island.

## Donation hook
If this guide helps you understand wildlife and the pressures it faces, a gift to WARN supports habitat protection and free public education in our partner countries.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/babirusa): Babirusa — wildlife guide.

## Why do babirusa tusks go through the snout?
Upper canine teeth in males grow upward and pierce the skin and bone of the snout roof, curving back toward the forehead. They function in display and male combat rather than for catching prey.

## What is a babirusa?
A forest pig endemic to Sulawesi and parts of Wallacea, in the family Suidae. Males carry four elongated tusks; upper tusks pierce the snout roof.

## Are babirusas endangered?
Most populations are listed Vulnerable, with declines from hunting and forest loss. Some island forms may be more threatened than the widespread listing implies.

## What do babirusas eat?
Leaves, fruit, fungi and roots — they browse and root in forest and visit salt licks. They are not carnivores despite the prominent tusks.

## Where do babirusas live?
Rainforest and wetland forest on Sulawesi and nearby Indonesian islands in Wallacea. They require intact forest with water and are lost when forest is cleared or heavily hunted.

## Can babirusa tusks hurt the animal?
In very old males, upper tusks that curve back toward the skull can interfere with feeding or vision. Most males survive with tusks intact, but extreme growth can become a handicap.

## Are babirusas dangerous?
In older males the upper tusks can loop dangerously close to the skull. Give wild babirusas space; do not corner or handle them.

## How long do babirusas live?
A precise wild lifespan for babirusas is not firmly established in the sources cited on this guide. Babirusas are forest pigs of Sulawesi and Wallacea whose males grow upper canines that pierce the snout roof and curve upward; they are listed Vulnerable, threatened by hunting and forest loss. Where longevity figures appear in the literature they vary by region, sex and whether animals are wild or captive.

## How big is a babirusa?
Babirusas are forest pigs of Sulawesi and Wallacea whose males grow upper canines that pierce the snout roof and curve upward; they are listed Vulnerable, threatened by hunting and forest loss.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/spectral-tarsier): Spectral Tarsier — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
The spectral tarsier (Tarsius tarsier) is a tiny nocturnal primate of Sulawesi with eyes larger than its brain, head rotation of nearly 180 degrees, and ultrasonic vocalisations; it is listed Vulnerable as forest is lost across Wallacea.

## Introduction
The spectral tarsier is a tiny primate of Sulawesi — one of the island's several tarsier species — with enormous eyes, elongated hind legs for vertical clinging and leaping, and a head that can rotate nearly 180 degrees in each direction like an owl. Each eye is larger than the brain by volume, an adaptation for nocturnal hunting of insects and small vertebrates.

Spectral tarsiers communicate with vocalisations that include ultrasonic calls above the range of human hearing — recorded in research on Sulawesi tarsiers and used in social contact and territory defence. They are strictly nocturnal, sleeping in tree holes by day and emerging at dusk. Forest loss across Sulawesi reduces the hollow-bearing trees and continuous canopy they need.

## Takeaway
Spectral tarsiers have the largest eyes relative to body size of any mammal — each eye is larger than the brain.

## Takeaway
The head can rotate nearly 180 degrees in either direction, aiding nocturnal scanning without moving the body.

## Takeaway
They produce ultrasonic vocalisations used in social communication — above the frequency range humans hear.

## Takeaway
Tarsiers are haplorhine primates — more closely related to monkeys and apes than to lemurs — but leap vertically like frogs rather than walking on all fours.

## Takeaway
Spectral tarsiers are strictly nocturnal, roosting in tree holes by day and hunting insects at night.

## Takeaway
Listed Vulnerable, with forest conversion on Sulawesi removing hollow trees and canopy continuity they require.

## Eyes larger than the brain
Nocturnal hunting demands light capture. Tarsiers cannot move their eyes in the socket as owls do, so they evolved both huge eyes and a neck that rotates almost 180 degrees each way — compensating for a fixed gaze with head movement.

Each eye is heavier than the brain. The trade-off is cognitive volume versus visual sensitivity in dim forest. Tarsiers catch insects and small vertebrates by leaping from vertical supports, guided by vision rather than echolocation — unlike bats, they are silent hunters apart from their social calls.

## Ultrasound in the forest
Research on Sulawesi tarsiers recorded vocalisations extending into ultrasonic frequencies — above about 20 kilohertz, the upper limit of human hearing. These calls function in mate attraction, territorial defence and group cohesion.

Ultrasound travels poorly through dense vegetation compared with lower frequencies, but it may reduce detection by predators or competitors that do not hear in the same range. Tarsiers also produce audible lower-frequency calls; the full repertoire varies among Sulawesi species, several of which were split from the former Tarsius tarsier complex.

## Vertical clinging and leaping
Tarsiers cling upright to vertical trunks and branches, supported by elongated tarsal bones that give the group its name. Hind limbs are much longer than forelimbs; they leap several metres between supports to catch prey.

They do not nest-build or move on the ground willingly. Sleeping sites are tree holes or dense vine tangles. Loss of large hollow-bearing trees — from logging, fire or clearance — removes roost sites directly. Fragmented forest forces ground crossing, where cats and other predators kill tiny primates easily.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/spectral-tarsier): Spectral Tarsier — wildlife guide.

## Sulawesi forest pressure
Sulawesi shares the Wallacea endemism pattern: many species occur nowhere else and lose forest to the same drivers — conversion for agriculture and plantations, logging, and hunting where primates are taken for bushmeat or the pet trade.

The spectral tarsier is listed Vulnerable. It remains locally common in some protected forest blocks, but those blocks are isolated. Without connectivity and enforcement against capture, populations in accessible forest decline even where the species persists in reserves on paper.

## WARN work
WARN publishes free, sourced species education for primates beyond the usual great-ape headlines. Spectral tarsiers combine enormous eyes, ultrasonic calls and vertical leaping on an island — Sulawesi — where forest conversion continues across the same landscapes as anoa and crested macaques.

## Donation hook
If this guide helps you understand wildlife and the pressures it faces, a gift to WARN supports habitat protection and free public education in our partner countries.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/spectral-tarsier): Spectral Tarsier — wildlife guide.

## Why are tarsier eyes so big?
For nocturnal hunting. Each eye is larger than the brain by volume — the largest eye-to-body ratio among mammals. The head rotates nearly 180 degrees each way to compensate for eyes that cannot move in the socket.

## Do spectral tarsiers use ultrasound?
Yes. They produce vocalisations extending into ultrasonic frequencies above human hearing, used in social communication and territory alongside audible calls.

## What is a spectral tarsier?
A tiny nocturnal primate of Sulawesi in the genus Tarsius. It clings vertically and leaps between trunks hunting insects, roosting in tree holes by day.

## Are tarsiers related to lemurs?
No. Tarsiers are haplorhine primates, more closely related to monkeys and apes. Lemurs are strepsirrhines — a separate branch of the primate order.

## Where do spectral tarsiers live?
Sulawesi, Indonesia — in primary and secondary forest with tree holes for roosting. They are endemic to Wallacea and occur only on Sulawesi and closely associated ranges.

## Are spectral tarsiers dangerous?
Spectral Tarsiers are not generally dangerous to people. The spectral tarsier (Tarsius tarsier) is a tiny nocturnal primate of Sulawesi with eyes larger than its brain, head rotation of nearly 180 degrees, and ultrasonic vocalisations; it is listed Vulnerable as forest is lost across Wallacea. Give wild individuals space and do not corner or handle them.

## How long do spectral tarsiers live?
A precise wild lifespan for spectral tarsiers is not firmly established in the sources cited on this guide. The spectral tarsier (Tarsius tarsier) is a tiny nocturnal primate of Sulawesi with eyes larger than its brain, head rotation of nearly 180 degrees, and ultrasonic vocalisations; it is listed Vulnerable as forest is lost across Wallacea. Where longevity figures appear in the literature they vary by region, sex and whether animals are wild or captive.

## How big is a spectral tarsier?
The spectral tarsier (Tarsius tarsier) is a tiny nocturnal primate of Sulawesi with eyes larger than its brain, head rotation of nearly 180 degrees, and ultrasonic vocalisations; it is listed Vulnerable as forest is lost across Wallacea.

## What do spectral tarsiers eat?
Spectral Tarsiers eat Nocturnal hunting demands light capture. The spectral tarsier (Tarsius tarsier) is a tiny nocturnal primate of Sulawesi with eyes larger than its brain, head rotation of nearly 180 degrees, and ultrasonic vocalisations; it is listed Vulnerable as forest is lost across Wallacea.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/black-macaque): Crested Black Macaque — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
The crested black macaque (Macaca nigra) is a Critically Endangered all-black monkey endemic to northeastern Sulawesi, threatened by hunting and forest loss; it became famous through 2011 selfie photographs, but copyright law does not protect the species from decline.

## Introduction
The crested black macaque — Macaca nigra — is a forest monkey endemic to northeastern Sulawesi, entirely black with a short crest, long limbs and a pinkish bare face. It is listed Critically Endangered, with populations collapsed from hunting, forest conversion and capture for bushmeat and the pet trade. Remaining groups are concentrated in a few forest blocks including Tangkoko and other protected areas, but enforcement is uneven and forest outside reserves continues to shrink.

The species became globally famous in 2011 when a camera triggered by a macaque at Tangkoko produced grinning self-portraits that circulated as the monkey selfie. A long copyright dispute followed over who owned the image; courts held that non-human animals cannot hold copyright. The legal argument obscured the biological one: the monkey in the photograph belongs to a species with a sharply declining population on an island losing forest — not a meme with a happy ending.

## Takeaway
The crested black macaque is Critically Endangered, endemic to northeastern Sulawesi, with populations collapsed from hunting and forest conversion.

## Takeaway
It is entirely black with a short crest and pinkish facial skin, living in social groups in lowland rainforest.

## Takeaway
Remaining populations are concentrated in a few forest areas; forest outside protected blocks continues to be cleared and hunted.

## Takeaway
In 2011 a macaque triggered a camera at Tangkoko and produced selfie images that went viral worldwide.

## Takeaway
Copyright litigation over the selfies concluded that animals cannot hold copyright — the legal outcome did not benefit the species or its habitat.

## Takeaway
Hunting for bushmeat and capture for trade, plus forest conversion on Sulawesi, remain the threats that matter — not the photograph.

## Critically Endangered on Sulawesi
Macaca nigra occurs only on northeastern Sulawesi. Historical range extended across more lowland forest than remains today; hunting and clearance have removed populations from much of the peninsula. Social groups need large home ranges with fruiting trees and sleeping sites; fragmented forest supports fewer groups and increases conflict at forest edges.

The Critically Endangered listing reflects sharp decline, not rarity of photographs. Tangkoko and other sites where tourists see macaques are not representative — animals there are habituated and partially protected, while forest elsewhere on the peninsula is cleared or hunted without the same visibility.

## Ecology and behaviour
Crested black macaques live in multimale-multifemale groups, foraging for fruit, leaves, insects and crops where forest meets farmland. They are terrestrial more than arboreal compared with many forest monkeys, which exposes them to snares and hunting dogs.

Short crests, all-black pelage and pale pink ischial callosities distinguish them from other Sulawesi macaques. Males are larger and carry larger canines. Reproduction is slow relative to body size — single infants, long dependency — so population recovery from hunting requires years of reduced mortality, not merely a protected area on a map.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/black-macaque): Crested Black Macaque — wildlife guide.

## The selfie story, corrected
In 2011 wildlife photographer David Slater left a camera in Tangkoko; a crested black macaque pressed the shutter and produced several sharp self-portraits. The images spread online as the monkey selfie.

A dispute followed over copyright ownership, including a claim that the macaque should own the image. United States courts ruled that copyright requires human authorship — animals cannot hold copyright. The case consumed years of legal argument and fundraising unrelated to forest protection on Sulawesi.

The corrected framing: the monkey is a Critically Endangered species; the selfie brought fame without habitat funding or hunting enforcement. Viral attention is not conservation.

## Hunting, trade and forest conversion
Sulawesi macaques are hunted for bushmeat and captured for local pet trade. Black macaques are conspicuous and group-living, which makes them vulnerable to drive hunting and snares. Forest conversion for crops and plantations removes fruit sources and sleeping trees.

Protection requires enforced hunting bans in remaining forest, connectivity between reserves, and reduced demand for pet macaques. Tourist sites that feed macaques for photographs create dependency and disease risk — a separate problem from the copyright case but part of the same human interface. The species needs forest standing and guns absent more than it needs another headline.

## WARN work
WARN publishes free, sourced species education, including where viral fame obscures decline. The crested black macaque is Critically Endangered on Sulawesi; the 2011 selfie copyright dispute did not slow hunting or forest loss — those remain the pressures that determine whether the species persists.

## Donation hook
If this guide helps you understand wildlife and the pressures it faces, a gift to WARN supports habitat protection and free public education in our partner countries.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/black-macaque): Crested Black Macaque — wildlife guide.

## What is the crested black macaque?
Macaca nigra — an all-black forest monkey endemic to northeastern Sulawesi, listed Critically Endangered from hunting and forest loss.

## Why is the black macaque famous?
In 2011 a macaque at Tangkoko triggered a camera and produced selfie photographs that spread worldwide. Copyright litigation followed, but fame did not translate into species recovery.

## Can a monkey hold copyright?
United States courts ruled that copyright requires human authorship — non-human animals cannot hold copyright. The ruling did not affect conservation status or hunting pressure on Sulawesi.

## Are crested black macaques endangered?
They are listed Critically Endangered. Populations have declined sharply from hunting, capture and forest conversion across northeastern Sulawesi.

## Where do crested black macaques live?
Lowland rainforest of northeastern Sulawesi, Indonesia. Remaining groups are concentrated in a few forest blocks including Tangkoko.

## What threatens crested black macaques?
Hunting for bushmeat, capture for the pet trade, and forest conversion for agriculture and plantations. Tourist feeding and habituation add welfare and disease risks at some sites.

## What do crested black macaques eat?
Crested black macaques live in multimale-multifemale groups, foraging for fruit, leaves, insects and crops where forest meets farmland. The crested black macaque (Macaca nigra) is a Critically Endangered all-black monkey endemic to northeastern Sulawesi, threatened by hunting and forest loss; it became famous through 2011 selfie photographs, but copyright law does not protect the species from decline.

## How long do crested black macaques live?
A precise wild lifespan for crested black macaques is not firmly established in the sources cited on this guide. The crested black macaque (Macaca nigra) is a Critically Endangered all-black monkey endemic to northeastern Sulawesi, threatened by hunting and forest loss; it became famous through 2011 selfie photographs, but copyright law does not protect the species from decline. Where longevity figures appear in the literature they vary by region, sex and whether animals are wild or captive.

## How big is a crested black macaque?
The crested black macaque (Macaca nigra) is a Critically Endangered all-black monkey endemic to northeastern Sulawesi, threatened by hunting and forest loss; it became famous through 2011 selfie photographs, but copyright law does not protect the species from decline.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/helmeted-hornbill): Helmeted Hornbill — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
The helmeted hornbill (Rhinoplax vigil) is a Critically Endangered hornbill of Borneo and Sumatra whose almost solid casque is carved and traded as 'red ivory'; it was uplisted in one step in 2015 and depends on old-growth forest being cleared for oil palm, pulpwood and mining.

## Introduction
The helmeted hornbill is a large forest bird of Sundaland whose casque is unlike any other hornbill's. In most species the casque is a lightweight honeycomb of keratin; in Rhinoplax vigil it is almost solid, accounting for roughly a tenth of the bird's three-kilogram body weight. Males use it in head-to-head aerial jousts. Collectors and carvers use it as 'red ivory' or 'golden jade' — a substitute for elephant ivory that is, in trade terms, the bird itself.

The species went from Near Threatened to Critically Endangered in a single IUCN step in 2015, skipping two categories — an unusual jump that reflects how fast casque poaching escalated once ivory markets shifted. It is listed on CITES Appendix I, yet seizures of thousands of casques across Indonesia, Malaysia and China show that law and demand are not aligned.

Helmeted hornbills depend on large old trees for nest cavities and on contiguous lowland and hill forest across Borneo and Sumatra — exactly the elevation band being cleared for oil palm, pulpwood and mining concessions. Trade and conversion act together: a forest can lose its hornbills to poachers before the bulldozers arrive, or lose breeding trees before either pressure is visible on a range map.

## Takeaway
The helmeted hornbill is the only hornbill with an almost solid casque — every other species has a hollow, lightweight one.

## Takeaway
The casque is carved and traded as 'red ivory' or 'golden jade', making this bird a target for poaching independent of bushmeat or feather demand.

## Takeaway
The IUCN moved the species from Near Threatened to Critically Endangered in 2015 in one step, reflecting rapid trade-driven decline.

## Takeaway
It needs large old trees for nest cavities and contiguous forest — the same lowland and hill forest being converted for oil palm and pulpwood across Borneo and Sumatra.

## Takeaway
CITES Appendix I bans commercial international trade, but casque seizures in Indonesia, Malaysia and China show enforcement gaps.

## Takeaway
It belongs among Sundaland's tropical forest birds — see WARN's tropical and forest birds type page at /wildlife-guides/birds/tropical-birds/ for how hornbills fit the wider canopy guild.

## Why 'red ivory' targets this bird alone
Hornbill casques evolved for display and combat. In most species the structure is pneumatised — hollow chambers keep it light enough for flight. The helmeted hornbill's casque is the exception: dense keratin, red at the front and yellow at the base, heavy enough that the skull and casque together make up around eleven per cent of body mass.

That density is what traders want. When elephant ivory became harder to move through international markets, carvers and collectors shifted to casques that could be worked similarly — rings, figurines, ornaments. The trade names — red ivory, golden jade — disguise the source. A carved casque is not a by-product of hunting for meat; it is the product. Every solid casque in a seizure represents a bird killed for its head.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/helmeted-hornbill): Helmeted Hornbill — wildlife guide.

## Ecology of a slow forest breeder
Helmeted hornbills are frugivores of lowland and hill rainforest, moving long distances between fruiting trees. Like other hornbills, they nest in trunk cavities; the female seals herself inside with mud and faeces, moulting flight feathers while the male feeds her through a narrow slit. That strategy requires a cavity large enough for an adult bird — which means old trees, often centuries in the making.

Reproduction is slow. A pair may raise one chick per attempt, and the sealed-nest period lasts months. Remove nest trees through selective logging, or remove adults through casque poaching, and a population cannot replace losses at the rate the trade extracts them. The biology was never compatible with industrial-scale harvest of adults.

## Oil palm, pulpwood and trade on Borneo and Sumatra
Sundaland's lowland forest is being converted faster than almost any other biome for oil palm and pulpwood plantations, with mining concessions fragmenting what remains. Helmeted hornbills occupy precisely that band — not montane refuge forest, but the elevations where plantation expansion is most profitable.

Trade adds a second axis. Logging roads and plantation edges give poachers access to forest that was previously costly to reach. Casques move through regional markets into China and beyond; online platforms have made listing and sale easier to monitor but not always easier to stop. A Critically Endangered listing and CITES Appendix I status describe the legal framework; seizures describe the reality. Both forest conversion and casque demand must fall for the species to stabilise.

## Where it sits among tropical forest birds
Hornbills are canopy frugivores and seed dispersers — ecological engineers of tropical forest, not background colour. The helmeted hornbill is among the largest and most trade-vulnerable of Sundaland's hornbills, but the family shares nest-cavity dependence and forest connectivity requirements.

WARN groups tropical forest specialists — toucans, hornbills, birds-of-paradise and others — on the tropical and forest birds type page at /wildlife-guides/birds/tropical-birds/, because the threats repeat: old-growth loss, fragmentation and targeted harvest. For the helmeted hornbill, the harvest is not generic bushmeat but a single body part traded as luxury material — which makes consumer refusal of carved casques as important as forest protection.

## WARN work
WARN publishes free, sourced species education, including for animals destroyed by a single commodity trade. The helmeted hornbill's casque is not a side product — it is the reason the bird is Critically Endangered, and naming that trade accurately matters as much as naming the forest it needs.

## Donation hook
If this guide helps you understand wildlife and the pressures it faces, a gift to WARN supports habitat protection and free public education in our partner countries.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/helmeted-hornbill): Helmeted Hornbill — wildlife guide.

## What is red ivory?
The solid casque of the helmeted hornbill, carved and sold like elephant ivory. It is also marketed as golden jade. The helmeted hornbill is the only hornbill with an almost solid casque, which is why this species alone is targeted for it.

## Why is the helmeted hornbill critically endangered?
Casque poaching for the illegal wildlife trade, combined with lowland forest loss for oil palm, pulpwood and mining across Borneo and Sumatra. The IUCN uplisted it from Near Threatened to Critically Endangered in 2015 in one step.

## Where does the helmeted hornbill live?
Lowland and hill rainforest on Borneo, Sumatra, the Thai-Malay Peninsula and southern Myanmar. It depends on large old trees for nest cavities and on contiguous forest for feeding.

## Is helmeted hornbill ivory legal to trade?
No. The species is on CITES Appendix I, which bans commercial international trade. Domestic laws vary, but casque seizures across Southeast Asia and China show illegal movement continues.

## How is it different from other hornbills?
Its casque is almost solid keratin rather than hollow. It is also larger, with a long central tail feather extension, and is the only member of the genus Rhinoplax.

## What do helmeted hornbills eat?
Helmeted Hornbills eat Fruit — important seed disperser. The helmeted hornbill (Rhinoplax vigil) is a Critically Endangered hornbill of Borneo and Sumatra whose almost solid casque is carved and traded as 'red ivory'; it was uplisted in one step in 2015 and depends on old-growth forest being cleared for oil palm, pulpwood and mining.

## Are helmeted hornbills dangerous?
Helmeted Hornbills are not generally dangerous to people. The helmeted hornbill (Rhinoplax vigil) is a Critically Endangered hornbill of Borneo and Sumatra whose almost solid casque is carved and traded as 'red ivory'; it was uplisted in one step in 2015 and depends on old-growth forest being cleared for oil palm, pulpwood and mining. Give wild individuals space and do not corner or handle them.

## How long do helmeted hornbills live?
A precise wild lifespan for helmeted hornbills is not firmly established in the sources cited on this guide. The helmeted hornbill (Rhinoplax vigil) is a Critically Endangered hornbill of Borneo and Sumatra whose almost solid casque is carved and traded as 'red ivory'; it was uplisted in one step in 2015 and depends on old-growth forest being cleared for oil palm, pulpwood and mining. Where longevity figures appear in the literature they vary by region, sex and whether animals are wild or captive.

## How big is a helmeted hornbill?
A Helmeted Hornbill is about About 110 cm including tail extension. The helmeted hornbill (Rhinoplax vigil) is a Critically Endangered hornbill of Borneo and Sumatra whose almost solid casque is carved and traded as 'red ivory'; it was uplisted in one step in 2015 and depends on old-growth forest being cleared for oil palm, pulpwood and mining. Conservation status: Critically Endangered.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/colugo): Colugo — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
The Sunda colugo (Galeopterus variegatus) is a nocturnal gliding mammal of Borneo and Sumatra with the most extensive gliding membrane of any mammal; it is not a lemur and cannot fly, and its closest living relatives are primates.

## Introduction
Colugos are called flying lemurs, which is wrong twice. They do not fly — they glide, using a membrane of skin that stretches from the neck to the fingertips, toes and tail tip, the most extensive patagium of any gliding mammal. And they are not lemurs: they belong to the order Dermoptera, on an ancient branch of the tree closer to primates than to anything else alive, though they diverged tens of millions of years ago.

The Sunda colugo (Galeopterus variegatus) is a nocturnal herbivore of lowland and hill forest, clinging vertically to trunks by day and gliding between trees at night to reach leaves, buds and fruit. It is not fast on the ground and cannot gain altitude once airborne, so gaps in the canopy — from logging, oil palm or mining access roads — are barriers as real as cliffs.

For comparison with other gliding mammals, WARN's sugar glider guide covers the marsupial glider of Australia and New Guinea, and the lemur guide covers the true lemurs of Madagascar — a name colugos borrowed through convergent appearance, not shared ancestry.

## Takeaway
Colugos are not lemurs and do not fly — they glide on a skin membrane more extensive than any other mammal's.

## Takeaway
The Sunda colugo belongs to the order Dermoptera, whose closest living relatives are primates, not flying squirrels or lemurs.

## Takeaway
Glides of up to 70 metres or more connect forest trees; gaps from logging, oil palm or roads strand animals that cannot climb down and walk far.

## Takeaway
They are nocturnal folivores — leaf eaters — with slow digestion and low metabolic rates, like many canopy specialists.

## Takeaway
Females carry young in a pouch-like membrane fold rather than a true marsupial pouch.

## Takeaway
Compare with WARN's sugar glider guide for a marsupial glider, and the lemur guide for the true lemurs colugos are often mistaken for.

## Neither flies nor lemurs
The name flying lemur is a double mislabel. Powered flight requires musculature and anatomy colugos do not possess; they launch from a height and glide downward, steering with limbs and tail. A sugar glider — covered in WARN's sugar glider guide — solves the same problem with a smaller membrane and a marsupial's ancestry. Flying squirrels do it with a rodent's body plan. Colugos arrived at gliding independently, with a patagium that wraps further around the body than either.

Lemurs are strepsirrhine primates of Madagascar. Colugos are not primates at all, though genetic work places Dermoptera as the sister group to primates — closer to monkeys and apes than to bats or rodents. The large eyes and vertical clinging posture echo lemurs because nocturnal arboreal life produces similar silhouettes, not because of shared descent.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/colugo): Colugo — wildlife guide.

## The gliding membrane
The colugo's patagium connects the neck, all four limbs and the tail tip in one continuous sheet. When spread, it creates an aerofoil that can sustain glides of seventy metres or more between trees, with some reports of longer distances on a steep gradient.

Launch is from a vertical trunk or branch, usually at night when the animal moves to feed. Landing targets another trunk, which the colugo strikes feet-first and immediately grips. The skill is precise, but it requires forest — continuous canopy at gliding height. A cleared strip for a plantation road or a mine haul route breaks the chain. An animal on the wrong side cannot regain altitude and is vulnerable on the ground.

## Forest loss on Borneo and Sumatra
Sunda colugos occupy lowland and hill forest across Sundaland — the same forest being converted for oil palm and pulpwood at rates that lead global deforestation statistics. They tolerate some edge habitat better than large carnivores, but gliding connectivity is not the same as presence in a fragment. A colugo in a small patch may survive until the patch shrinks below gliding distance to the next tree.

Mining concessions and infrastructure cut additional corridors through remaining forest. Wildlife trade is not the primary pressure on colugos — they are not a commercial target — but the conversion economy that drives Sundaland's land use removes their habitat directly. Least Concern on the Red List reflects a still-wide range, not security in any given province.

## Primates, gliders and convergent solutions
Evolution produced gliding mammals several times — squirrels, possums, colugos — each with a membrane and a launch strategy suited to its ancestry. Colugos represent the primate-adjacent solution: a slow nocturnal folivore that crosses gaps without descending. Primates including gibbons and siamang cross gaps by brachiation; colugos bypass the ground entirely in a different way.

Understanding colugos clarifies why 'flying lemur' confuses searchers. WARN's lemur guide covers Madagascar's strepsirrhines; the sugar glider guide covers a marsupial glider people compare with colugos. None of those pages describes this animal — which is why a dedicated guide matters for a species that is common in name but rare in accurate explanation.

## WARN work
WARN publishes free, sourced species education that separates common names from biology. Colugos are searched as flying lemurs and compared with sugar gliders; both comparisons miss what they actually are — gliding relatives of the primate line on forests being cleared for oil palm and pulpwood.

## Donation hook
If this guide helps you understand wildlife and the pressures it faces, a gift to WARN supports habitat protection and free public education in our partner countries.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/colugo): Colugo — wildlife guide.

## Is a colugo a lemur?
No. Colugos belong to the order Dermoptera. Lemurs are primates of Madagascar. The name flying lemur is misleading — they are not lemurs and do not fly.

## Can colugos fly?
No. They glide on a skin membrane from tree to tree, losing height with each glide. They cannot gain altitude under their own power.

## What are colugos related to?
Genetic studies place colugos as the closest living relatives of primates — closer to monkeys and apes than to bats, rodents or lemurs.

## How far can a colugo glide?
Typically up to about 70 metres between trees, sometimes farther on a steep slope. Continuous canopy is essential.

## Where do Sunda colugos live?
Lowland and hill forest on Borneo, Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula and nearby islands. Forest conversion for oil palm and pulpwood is the main habitat pressure.

## What do sunda colugo / malayan flying lemurs eat?
Sunda Colugo / Malayan Flying Lemurs eat Leaves, buds and fruit. The Sunda colugo (Galeopterus variegatus) is a nocturnal gliding mammal of Borneo and Sumatra with the most extensive gliding membrane of any mammal; it is not a lemur and cannot fly, and its closest living relatives are primates.

## Are sunda colugo / malayan flying lemurs dangerous?
Sunda Colugo / Malayan Flying Lemurs are not generally dangerous to people. The Sunda colugo (Galeopterus variegatus) is a nocturnal gliding mammal of Borneo and Sumatra with the most extensive gliding membrane of any mammal; it is not a lemur and cannot fly, and its closest living relatives are primates. Give wild individuals space and do not corner or handle them.

## How long do sunda colugo / malayan flying lemurs live?
A precise wild lifespan for sunda colugo / malayan flying lemurs is not firmly established in the sources cited on this guide. The Sunda colugo (Galeopterus variegatus) is a nocturnal gliding mammal of Borneo and Sumatra with the most extensive gliding membrane of any mammal; it is not a lemur and cannot fly, and its closest living relatives are primates. Where longevity figures appear in the literature they vary by region, sex and whether animals are wild or captive.

## How big is a sunda colugo / malayan flying lemur?
A Sunda Colugo / Malayan Flying Lemur is about About 34–38 cm. The Sunda colugo (Galeopterus variegatus) is a nocturnal gliding mammal of Borneo and Sumatra with the most extensive gliding membrane of any mammal; it is not a lemur and cannot fly, and its closest living relatives are primates. Conservation status: Least Concern.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/siamang): Siamang — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
The siamang (Symphalangus syndactylus) is the largest gibbon, Endangered across Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, known for paired morning duets amplified by an inflatable throat sac; oil palm, pulpwood and mining drive forest loss across its range.

## Introduction
The siamang is the largest gibbon, standing roughly a metre tall and weighing up to 14 kg — nearly twice a white-handed gibbon. It is black-furred, with a naked throat sac that inflates to the size of a grapefruit during the loud duets pairs perform each morning. Those calls carry more than a kilometre through hill forest and advertise territory as effectively as any primate vocalisation in Sundaland.

Siamangs are apes, not monkeys — tailless, with arms longer than their legs and a lifestyle built around brachiation through the canopy. Pairs bond for years and coordinate their songs: the male and female alternate phrases in a structured duet that neighbouring groups answer. The throat sac acts as a resonator, amplifying notes that would otherwise dissipate in humid forest air.

The species is Endangered. Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula are losing hill forest to oil palm, pulpwood and mining at a pace that fragments the continuous canopy siamangs require. The pet trade takes young gibbons; plantation edges increase hunting access. A gibbon that cannot move between forest blocks has no fallback on the ground.

## Takeaway
The siamang is the largest gibbon — roughly twice the mass of smaller Hylobates species.

## Takeaway
Pairs perform coordinated morning duets; an inflatable throat sac amplifies calls that carry over a kilometre.

## Takeaway
Siamangs are apes in the family Hylobatidae — tailless, brachiating canopy specialists, not monkeys.

## Takeaway
They are Endangered, with forest loss for oil palm, pulpwood and mining the dominant habitat pressure.

## Takeaway
The pet trade removes infants; plantation roads and logging edges increase hunting and capture.

## Takeaway
Continuous canopy is essential — siamangs are poor on the ground and cannot cross large cleared gaps.

## The gibbon that outsings the rest
All gibbons sing, but siamang duets are the loudest. The throat sac — a loose pouch of skin on the neck — inflates during vocalisation and acts as a resonating chamber, boosting low-frequency notes that travel through dense vegetation. A pair's duet follows a species-specific pattern: male and female phrases interlock, and neighbouring pairs answer, mapping territory acoustically each dawn.

The function is defence without contact. Gibbons eat ripe fruit and young leaves in the canopy; overlapping home ranges would mean competition. Song defines boundaries cheaper than fighting. Where forest is fragmented, duets reveal isolated pairs — still calling, but with no forest bridge to the next group.

## Ape anatomy in the canopy
Siamangs share the gibbon body plan: extraordinarily long arms, hook-shaped hands, reduced thumbs and no tail. Movement is brachiation — hand-over-hand swinging — with occasional bipedal walking along branches. The syndactyly that names the genus Symphalangus refers to partial fusion of toes two and three on each foot, a gibbon trait visible in the siamang's grip.

Family groups are small — typically a pair and one or two offspring. Development is slow; infants depend for years, which makes population recovery slow when adults are removed. Gibbons are among the primates most heavily represented in the illegal pet trade across Southeast Asia, because infants are small and docile before trauma accumulates.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/siamang): Siamang — wildlife guide.

## Oil palm, pulpwood and the Endangered listing
Sumatra has lost a large fraction of its primary forest in two decades, with oil palm and pulpwood plantations the main drivers on lowland and hill land. The Malay Peninsula shows the same pattern at smaller scale but higher fragmentation. Siamangs need hill forest with fruiting trees and connected canopy; plantations provide none of that.

Mining — tin, bauxite and coal depending on region — adds haul roads and clearance patches through remaining forest. Wildlife trade moves captured gibbons through markets for pets and entertainment. The Endangered listing reflects range-wide decline, not a single province. Protected areas help where they exist and are enforced, but gibbon density in oil-palm-dominated landscapes is effectively zero.

## Where siamangs sit among primates
Gibbons are the small apes — Hylobatidae — distinct from great apes and from monkeys. The siamang is their largest member, occupying Sundaland hill forest while smaller gibbons share the same forests or adjacent ranges. WARN's primate type pages group apes, monkeys and lemurs for identification context; siamangs belong in the ape branch as brachiating fruit-eaters whose conservation is inseparable from forest remaining on the ground.

Duets make siamangs audible to anyone near hill forest at dawn. Silence where calls were once routine is often the first sign that a population has been trapped, traded or starved of canopy — not a subtle ecological shift but an absence people can hear.

## WARN work
WARN publishes free, sourced species education for primates lost to forest conversion and trade. Siamang duets are still heard in remnant hill forest on Sumatra, but oil palm and pulpwood expansion maps directly onto Endangered status — the biology requires canopy the plantation economy removes.

## Donation hook
If this guide helps you understand wildlife and the pressures it faces, a gift to WARN supports habitat protection and free public education in our partner countries.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/siamang): Siamang — wildlife guide.

## How big is a siamang?
Up to about 14 kg and roughly a metre tall — the largest gibbon, nearly twice the size of a white-handed gibbon.

## What is the siamang's throat sac for?
It inflates during duets and acts as a resonating chamber, amplifying calls so they carry more than a kilometre through forest.

## Is a siamang a monkey?
No. It is an ape — a gibbon in the family Hylobatidae. Gibbons are tailless and brachiate through the canopy.

## Why are siamangs endangered?
Forest loss for oil palm, pulpwood and mining across Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, plus capture for the pet trade. They need continuous canopy and reproduce slowly.

## Where do siamangs live?
Hill and montane forest on Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula and southern Thailand. They are absent from pure plantation landscape.

## How do siamang duets work?
Bonded pairs sing coordinated morning duets — alternating male and female phrases — to advertise territory. Neighbouring pairs answer, mapping groups acoustically.

## Are siamangs dangerous?
Siamangs are domesticated animals and are not dangerous to people in the wild-predator sense. The siamang (Symphalangus syndactylus) is the largest gibbon, Endangered across Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, known for paired morning duets amplified by an inflatable throat sac; oil palm, pulpwood and mining drive forest loss across its range. Usual risks are husbandry and handling, not unprovoked attacks.

## How long do siamangs live?
A precise wild lifespan for siamangs is not firmly established in the sources cited on this guide. The siamang (Symphalangus syndactylus) is the largest gibbon, Endangered across Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, known for paired morning duets amplified by an inflatable throat sac; oil palm, pulpwood and mining drive forest loss across its range. Where longevity figures appear in the literature they vary by region, sex and whether animals are wild or captive.

## What do siamangs eat?
Gibbons eat ripe fruit and young leaves in the canopy; overlapping home ranges would mean competition. The siamang (Symphalangus syndactylus) is the largest gibbon, Endangered across Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, known for paired morning duets amplified by an inflatable throat sac; oil palm, pulpwood and mining drive forest loss across its range.