Tabin Wildlife Reserve

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Summary

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Leaflet

• Northeast Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus morio) are present in Tabin Wildlife Reserve.
• It has been estimated that 1,401 (CI: 517-3,796) individuals occur in the site.
• The orangutan population trend is unknown.
• The site has a total size of 1,200 km².
• Key threats to orangutans are logging (1970-1990) and potential road construction.
• Conservation activities have focused on improving habitat and food availability.

Site characteristics

Located in the Malaysian state of Sabah, in Borneo, the reserve was established in 1984. It encompasses approx. 1,200 sq. km of primary and secondary lowland dipterocarp forest. The site is home to endemic species such as the Bornean elephant, the Bornean banteng, and Sunda clouded leopards (WWF-Malaysia 2023).

Table 1. Basic site information for Tabin Wildlife Reserve

Species	'Pongo pygmaeus morio
Area	1,200 km²
Coordinates	Lat: 5.240902 , Lon: 118.718404
Type of site	Protected area (Forest Reserve)
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest, Subtropical/tropical heavily degraded former forest
Type of governance

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

Helicopter nest surveys documented a low density of orangutans in the reserve in 1985. In 1995, following the expansion of palm oil plantations in the region, at least 500 rescued orangutans were relocated to Tabin, which led to a higher population density (Payne pers. comm. 2023).

Table 2. Ape population estimates reported for Tabin Wildlife Reserve

Species	Year	Occurrence	Encounter or vistation rate (nests/km; ind/day)	Density estimate [ind./ km²] (95% CI)	Abundance estimate (95% CI)	Survey area	Sampling method	Analytical framework	Source	Comments	A.P.E.S. database ID
Pongo pygmaeus morio	2002-2003		3.187	1.26 (0.47-3.42)	1401 (517-3,796)	Tabin Wildlife Reserve	Aerial (drones/plane/helicopter)		Ancrenaz et al. 2005	1,110 km2 of orangutan habitat in the reserve

Threats

Table 3. Threats to apes reported for Tabin Wildlife Reserve

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Description	Year of threat
10 Geological events		Absent
12 Other threat		Absent
5 Biological resource use	5.3 Logging & wood harvesting	High (more than 70% of population affected)	The forest was selectively logged (Payne pers. comm. 2023).	1970-1990
1 Residential & commercial development		Unknown
2 Agriculture & aquaculture		Unknown
3 Energy production & mining		Unknown
4 Transportation & service corridors	4.1 Roads & railroads	Present (unknown severity)	Planned road bisecting reserve east to west (Payne pers. comm. 2023).	Unknown
6 Human intrusions & disturbance		Unknown
7 Natural system modifications		Unknown
8 Invasive & other problematic species, genes & diseases	8.4 Pathogens	Unknown	Possible threat of unknown diseases, and possible threat of malaria (Payne pers. comm. 2023).	Ongoing (2023)
9 Pollution		Unknown
11 Climate change & severe weather		Unknown

IUCN Threats list

Conservation activities

Tabin was first gazetted as a Wildlife Reserve in 1984; legally it is classified as a Forest Reserve. It is jointly managed by the Sabah Forestry and Sabah Wildlife Departments. BORA is a Malaysian non profit organisation that focuses on improving habitat and food availability for wildlife in Tabin. BORA has also collected over 90 wild fig species in the Sabah Ficus Germplasm Centre at Tabin Wildlife Reserve.

Table 4. Conservation activities reported for Tabin Wildlife Reserve

Category	Specific activity	Description	Implementing organization(s)	Year of activity
5 Protection & restoration	5.2 Legally protect ape habitat	The site is legally classified as a forest reserve.		Ongoing (2023)
5 Protection & restoration	5.4 Create natural habitat patches (including corridors)	WWF-Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur Kepong (KLK) Berhad are establishing a wildlife corridor between Tabin and Silabukan Forest Reserve. Fast-growing native pioneer species and fig-plants will be planted to improve food sources for wildlife (WWF-Malaysia 2023).		Ongoing (2023)
6 Species management	6.8 Reintroduction of apes (captively-bred or rehabilitated indviduals)	Release of about 500 orangutans into Tabin Wildlife Reserve (Robins et al. 2013, Payne pers. comm. 2023).		1995

Conservation activities list (Junker et al. 2017)

Challenges

Table 5. Challenges reported for Tabin Wildlife Reserve

Challenges	Specific challenges	Source	Year(s)
4 Institutional support	4.2 Lack of government support	Payne pers. obs. 2023

Enablers

Table 6. Enablers reported for Tabin Wildlife Reserve

Enablers	Specific enablers	Source	Year(s)
1 Site management
2 Resources and capacity
3 Engaged community
4 Institutional support
5 Ecological context
6 Safety and stability

Documented behaviours

Table 7. Behaviours documented for Tabin Wildlife Reserve

Behavior	Source
Not reported

External links

BORA

References

Ancrenaz, M., Gimenez, O., Ambu, L., Ancrenaz, K., Andau, P., Goossens, B., ... & Lackman-Ancrenaz, I. (2005). Aerial surveys give new estimates for orangutans in Sabah, Malaysia. PLoS Biology, 3(1), e3.

Robins, J. G., Ancrenaz, M., Parker, J., Goossens, B., Ambu, L., Walzer, C., ... & Kinabalu, K. (2013). The release of northeast Bornean orangutans to Tabin Wildlife Reserve, Sabah, Malaysia. Global Re-introduction Perspectives: 2013. Further case studies from around the globe, 215.

WWF-Malaysia (2023). Restoring Tabin: WWF-Malaysia and KLK Joined Hands to Establish Bukit Tabin Wildlife Corridor. Online: https://www.wwf.org.my/?31825/Restoring-Tabin-WWF-Malaysia-and-KLK-Joined-Hands-to-Establish-Bukit-Tabin-Wildlife-Corridor

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