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| Male Bekantan |
The first time I worked at South
Kalimantan region, there is one thing that made me curious and want to see it
directly, It is the appearance of The Netherland Monkey or Bekantan (Nasalis larvatus),
which is still much alive around where I working (in area of PLTU Asam-Asam ).
My office is still adjacent to the forest habitat of various species of monkeys
including the Bekantan, allows me to
be able to immediately see a bunch of monkeys or even Bekantan itself is hanging in the branches of trees.
Bekantan including one of the
animals are shy, so if there are people who saw them approaching they will go away soon. I was fortunate to see
firsthand the animals that became mascot of South Kalimantan province, although
it can only view it from a considerable distance.
Bekantan that I see is a female who
was holding her son (carrying forward) and several Males Bekantan who have nose bigger and longer than the females Bekantan. They were seen eating
the leaves of the tree tops which they climb.
The main characteristics that distinguish Bekantan
of another monkey is a long nose and large species, found only in males. The
function of the nose of the male Bekantan
is still not clear, however, this may be caused by natural selection. Monkey
females prefer males with large noses as a partner. Because of this nose, Bekantan
known also as The Netherland Monkey.
Bekantan are active during the day
and generally begins the morning to look for food in the form of leaves from
trees rambai / pedada (sonneratia alba),
ketiau (Genus motleyana), banyan (Ficus sp), lenggadai (Braguiera parviflora), piai (Acrostiolum Aureum) , and
other assessments.
By day Bekantan enjoys a somewhat dark / shade to rest. Afternoon, they return
to the riverside for a meal and a bed. Bekantan also good swim across the river and dived under the water
surface.
Bekantan current population declined
drastically because of wildfires that occurred in Borneo and change of function
of their habitats became plantations and or mines. So that, the animal is
predicted to become extinct if no action is taken immediately captivity or
other conservation measures.
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