| Proboscis
Monkeys Of Borneo Author : Elizabeth L. Bennett Classes : Animals Price : US$ 15.00 Availability : Hard Cover Pages : 75 Dimensions : 238. 178. 13 mm ISBN : 983-812-001-4 Code : 99025 |
PROBOSCIS MONKEYS OF BORNEO Borneo is the third largest island in the world. Its name alone conjures up images of vast forests, caves, rivers, mountains and unique wildlife. Many of these wonders are familiar - the spectacles of Mulu's caves and Mount Kinabalu, the beauty of its orchids and Rafflesia flowers, and the splendour of Borneo's orang-utans and hornbills.
Among the less familiar wonders of Borneo is one of the most spectacular animals in the world, the proboscis monkey. This monkey only occurs in Borneo. Even here, it is mainly found in coastal swamp forests. The inhospitable nature of these forests meant that, until recently, the life of this bizarre animal was largely unknown.
Pioneering studies by the authors and coworkers have, at last, revealed some of the secrets of this fascinating animal. One of the largest monkeys in the world, the male proboscis monkey, with its outlandish nose and outsized stomach, has a harem of females, drawn to him by his weird good looks. Proficient tree climbers and leapers, divers and swimmers, with an unusual social life, proboscis monkeys live in one of the most unusual habitats in the tropics.
Thus, it is one of Borneo's most spectacular and fascinating denizens. Elizabeth Bennett is one of the leading authorities on primates in the region, and Francis Gombek has more than ten years' experience in wildllife management and conservation in Sarawak's forests.
Between them, they have produced the first ever book of this alluring and spectacular animal written in popular style. The book is lavishly illustrated throughout, with the widest array of photos of the animal ever published. Photos are mostly by Cede Prudente, one of the leading young wildlife Photographers in the region.
AUTHOR
Both authors were born in 1956, the Year of the Monkey: Elizabeth Bennett in London, UK, and Francis Gombek in Bau, Sarawak. Elizabeth then went on to Nottingham University to read zoology, and then to Cambridge where she obtained her PhD for research into the leaf monkeys of Peninsular Malaysia.
It was this that brought her to Malaysia for the first time in 1978, living in the Peninsula for more than two years. After her PhD, she came to Sarawak in 1984, working for WWF Malaysia and Wildlife Conservation International of the New York Zoological Society (WCI) to conduct the first ever detailed study of the ecology of proboscis monkeys. This developed into a wider programme working with the Sarawak Forest Department to try to conserve the proboscis monkey and its coastal forests.
She has been in Sarawak ever since Elizabeth Bennett is a staff member of WCI and is working on a variety of wildlife conservation projects in the region, as well as training Malaysian wildlife scientists. Francis Gombek had his schooling in Semunjan, Serian, Bau and Kuching in Sarawak before going to Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (UPM) in Peninsular Malaysia.
After graduating with a BS in forestry, he did a short stint as a tutor at UPM in Sarawak before joining the Sarawak Forest Department in 1982. Ever since then, he has been in the National Parks and Wildlife Section. He has worked on many aspects of wildlife conservation, including parks interpretation, law enforcement, conservation education, wildlife surveys and inventories, and general parks and wildlife administration and development.
He has been closely involved at all stages of the proboscis monkey work, both in the field and conservation planning. Francis Gombek is currently head of the Wildlife Research and Management Section in the Sarawak Forest Department.