• become a Zoo member
• make a donation
• become a Zoo volunteer
• attend Zoo special events
• be an educated voter
• make your purchase count
• travel with the Zoo

Take Action

Plant a Seed for Change

Urban areas are widely known for their vitality and culture and increasingly for their value to resident and transient wildlife. More >

Find the Stamp of Approval

By reading labels, you can support companies that are working to meet consumer demand without destroying the environment. More >

Watch What You Eat

Although the United States imports less palm oil than other countries such as the United Kingdom and China, that is about to change dramatically.
More >

The swift exit of an orang-utan marks the arrival of a group of pygmy elephants foraging in the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary. In addition to elephants and "orangs", these almost 64,250 acres of fragmented forests are home to a rich diversity of wildlife including proboscis monkeys, Sumatran rhinos, clouded leopards, more than 300 species of birds and countless reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates. The Kinabatangan Orang-utan Conservation Project and the Elephant Conservation Unit, both founded by French NGO Hutan in collaboration with the Sabah Wildlife Department, are working on several fronts to safeguard orang-utans and elephants moving in and out of protected areas of eastern Sabah, a region of Borneo. "Pygmy elephants," as they are known because of their relatively small stature, are perhaps the most endangered subspecies of elephant in the world. With only about 1,500 remaining on the entire island, the 150 to 170 individuals living in the Lower Kinabatangan River region represent a priority population.

Over the past 20 years, 80% of the forest in this area has been destroyed and most of the land converted to oil palm plantations. The resulting habitat loss and chemical pollution from pesticides used at the plantations have had devastating effects on the area--and its human and animal inhabitants.

To travel from one area of the sanctuary to another elephants often have to pass close to or through villages, and cross large rivers. This close proximity of elephants and people and the loss of the elephants' natural habitat has lead to conflict. Elephants regularly raid villager's small plantations as well as the larger oil palm plantations for food. Even more upsetting to the local people is the elephants' habit of destroying their graveyards. Elephants pull out grave markers and use the fresh soil for dust bathing. As a result, local people in the Lower Kinabatangan region still regard the elephant primarily as a pest.

The Elephant Conservation Unit (ECU) proposes to implement innovative practical solutions to these problems by directly equipping the local people with the necessary awareness, skills and tools to efficiently mitigate human-elephant conflicts in the field and to actively participate in the long-term conservation and management of the unique Kinabatangan elephant population.

Page 1 of 2 >