Plants and Animals

Malaysia’s tropical climate supports abundant and diverse plant and animal life. More than half the land area is covered in forest—mainly tropical rainforest, but also deciduous woodland in the mountains. Much is virgin forest, particularly in Sabah and Sarawak, which contain Malaysia’s largest, and some of the world’s oldest, tracts of virgin rainforest. However, in many areas the forest is threatened by clearance for agriculture and commercial logging. The problem is most severe in Sarawak, which has almost doubled unprocessed log exports since 1980 and now accounts for almost 30 per cent of world raw timber exports. Despite national reforestation programmes, the designation of 3 million hectares (7.4 million acres) of national protected virgin forest, and attempts to diversify Sarawak’s economy, the World Bank estimates that trees are still being felled at unsustainable rates.

Malaysia’s fauna includes elephant, sun bear, rhinoceros, wild pig and ox, orang-utan, gibbon, and numerous members of the cat family—including tiger, leopard, Bornean clouded leopard, mainland clouded leopard, golden cat, and bay cat. Many of these species, including orang-utan, rhinoceros, and the cats, are endangered and are now protected. Sabah and Sarawak have one of the world’s largest and most varied bird populations, including numerous kinds of hornbill, parrot, pheasant, swift, and woodpecker. The small islands opposite the port of Kora Kinabalu, on Sabah’s western coast, have some of the world’s most diverse coral reefs and marine life.