Location Sarawak, Malaysia | Established 1998 | |
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The Pulong Tau National Park (Malay: Taman Negara Pulong Tau) is a national park in the Kelabit Highlands of Sarawak, Malaysia, on the island of Borneo. Its name means "our forest" in the Kelabit and Lun Bawang dialects.
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History
Sarawak’s National Parks & Wildlife Office proposed the park in 1984 with the support of a petition from local communities. The proposal called for a 164,500-hectare park that included Mount Murud (Sarawak’s highest peak), the twin peaks of Batu Lawi and the Tama Abu mountain range.
By 1998 when the proclamation to create the park was passed, the proposed area has been reduced to 63,700 hectares and did not include Batu Lawi. In May 2008, the authorities in Sarawak approved the area around Batu Lawi as an extension to Pulong Tau National Park.
Flora
The national park's vegetation varies with soil type, altitude and topography. It includes upper mixed dipterocarp forest, oak-laurel forest, heath forest (kerangas), mossy elfin forest rich in Rhododendron species. There are many species of orchids and Nepenthes pitcher plants.
Fauna
In 1986 a small breeding population of Eastern Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis), previously thought to be extinct in Sarawak, was found within the proposed park. Its current status is unknown. Bornean orangutans have also been reported from the Tamu Abu mountain range, despite being rarely found above 500 metres.
In 1998, members of the Miri branch of the Malaysian Nature Society undertook an expedition. through the area of the then proposed park. In 10 days, they recorded 67 species of birds from 29 families, of which 13 species (19.4%) are endemic to Borneo. They also recorded 28 species of mammals, 12 of which are endemic to Borneo.