Two new young sun bears rescued from cages – Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre

Two new young sun bears rescued from cages – Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre

By Wai Pak Ng

All the BSBCC staffs were very excited in the beginning of the second half 2010 because we are ready to rescue more pet sun bears in this region after our new bear house finally completed last April. Today, there were two sun bear cubs being rescued and sent to our centre to start their new life.

Both juveniles, Ah Lun, a female, and Julaini, a male, were both kept as pet in a two small iron cages for some months since they were born. With the help from the newly established Sabah Wildlife Rescued Unit by the Sabah Wildlife Department, both bear cubs were transferred to Sepilok and arrived at BSBCC in the early morning on the 3^rd of July.

Dr. Seik Ni was the veterinarian in charged of the whole translocation who also did the medical checkup for these rescued cubs. We were pleased to know that both cubs were in good health and good conditions. However, these two new comers still need to be quarantined for a month before they can have any contact to other existing bears at BSBCC. Our initially plan after their quarantine period is to form another young cub group with another female bear in the centre, Suria.

There are still a lot of sun bears being kept in a very bad living condition without proper diet and health care in Sabah. Hopefully, with the close cooperation with the Sabah Wildlife Rescue Unit, we can help to conserve this little known sun bear in our country.

Julaini was kept in such a small cage for many months.

BSBCC and the Wildlife Rescue Unit staffs are carrying Julaini to our new bear house for medical check up.

Dr. Seik Ni was taking Ah Lun’s blood sample.

Sun bear BOLEH series: “Sun bear can climb!” Part II – Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre

Sun bear BOLEH series: “Sun bear can climb!” Part II – Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre

The second reason for sun bear to be an arboreal mammal is that they like to rest, nap, and sleep on treetop. Obviously, they can do this equally well on forest floor, just like this —>

However, there is a problem sleeping on forest floor. If you have visited the lowland rainforest of Borneo, you probably notice the numbers of blood sucking leeches presence on the forest floor. Even though you appeared to be walking alone in the forest, you are never alone because there are always many leeches latched on you! They either feasting on your blood or trying really hard to find a vulnerable spot to enjoy a bloody meal.

This was my feet and my blood, and a fat-blood sucking leach!

So being a warm-blooded large mammal live in the rainforest that always wet and rain, the sun bear is better to stay up high off the ground when they take a break from their daily routine foraging for food or traveling on the ground. There is no better way to illustrate how sun bear have done it by showing photos taken by Chandra Dewana Boer at Wehea forest, East Kalimantan, Indonesia Borneo.

Sun bears are also known to be prey upon by reticulated pythons (huge snake that can grow up to 10 m long! seriously, I am not kidding ) and tigers in Mainland Asia and in Sumatra. In order to escape from a surprise attack by these predators, sun bear make nest and sleep high on tree. Earlier I have posted a rare video of Batik the sun bear making a tree nest. Below is another video of her sleeping high, about 35 m above the ground on her tree nest she made and slowly climb down from the tree. If she did not wear a radio-collar, I would never have guessed and found her so high off the ground in the thick canopy of Bornean rainforest.