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Kinabalu Park -
Flora and Fauna
 The park is known for the abundance and diversity of its plant life,
within one of the most ancient vegetations in the world. There are
over 1,200 species of wild orchids and 40 varieties of oak in its
forests, not to mention the countless varieties of rhododendrons
with blooms ranging in hue from deep red to pale pink and white!
Masses of moss and ferns weigh down the trees of the Montane oak
forests of the upper regions. Flowers are to be seen every where on
the trees, in the shrubs, along the banks on the forest floor and
even peeping out of the rocky crevices of the summit. Orchids such
as the white necklace orchids are as delicately beautiful as their
namesake.
 The Bornean mountain
ground squirrel Dremomys everetti are often spotted scampering about in the scrub
vegetation while the mountain tree shrew Tupaia montana are easily spotted
along the mountain trails. You may even come across a red-necked keelback
snake sunning itself along your path.
The variety of birds
ranges over a wide selection and over half of all of Borneo's bird species
can be found in the Kinabalu National Park. Amongst them are Mountain Black
Eye, Mountain Black Bird, Borneo Bright Eye, Euphrasia borneensis, and the now 'not-so-friendly' nor so easily sighted
Friendly Kinabalu Warbler.
Let yourself be
astonished by the sheer numbers here below:
VEGETATION
Six vegetation zones are
distinguished, classified according to latitude, and dominated by tropical
forest. These include
1. Lower Mountain Forest
(1,200-1,900m)
2. Upper Mountain Forest (1,900-2,700m)
3. Ultrabasic Rock Forest (2,700-3,000m)
4. Lower Granite Boulder Forest (3,000-3,300m)
5. Upper Granite Boulder Forest (3,000-3,800m)
6. Summit or Subalpine (3,200-4,095m)
Vegetation within the
park has been further classified by Kitayama (1991), who lists 18 types of
natural vegetation, and 3 types of substituted vegetation. Identified
vegetation communities are: 1 tropical lowland rain forest; 2 tropical
montane rain forest; 3 tropical subalpine coniferous forest; 4 ecotone
communities; 5 tropical alpine ericaceous thicket; 6 tropical alpine
dwarf-shrub heath; 7 plant communities in rocky desert; 8 leptophyllous
closed forest; 9 leptophyllous shrub land; 10 matted dwarf-shrub thicket; 11
microphyllous closed forest; 12 lepto-nanphyllous thicket; 13 leptophyllous
thicket; 14 graminoids; 15 plant communities on cliff; 16 secondary closed
forest; 17 evergreen suffruticose thicket; 18 natural bareland or moss
flush. Substituted vegetation are secondary forest, weed and artificial
bareland.
Tropical lowland rain forest and tropical montane rain forest are the
dominant forest types, and are found between Mount Kinabalu and Mount
Tambuyukon. Secondary forest that was selectively logged prior to National
Park designation occurs around Mount Templer. Lowland rain forests are
dominated by Dipterocarps, such as Shorea spp and Sapidaceae spp.
Mt. Kinabalu is believed to contain one of the richest and most diverse
assemblages of plants in the world. A recent study (1998) discloses that
Kinabalu flora contains as many as 5,000 6,000 species, comprising of over
200 families and 1,000 genera. The park contains a high number of endemic
flora. More than half (78 species) of the 135 species of Ficus occurring in
Borneo can be found at the site.
 There
are believed to be 1,000 orchid species, including at least five species of
slipper orchid, of the genus Papiopedillium. Papiopedillium dayanum and P.
rothschildianum are considered Endangered (IUCN 1997). Other important
plants occurring in the park include 608 fern species, 9 Nepenthes species
(pitcher-plants, including 4 species that are endemic to Kinabalu: Nepenthes
burbidgeae, N.rajah and N. villosa), 24 Rhododendron species (5 species are
endemic to Kinabalu), 78 Fiscus species (over 50% of all the species found
in Borneo), 52 palm species, 6 bamboo species and 30 ginger species (Beaman
1996; Holtum 1996; Lamb 1996; Wong and Dransfield 1996).
5,000 6,000 species of vascular plants, comprising of over 200 families
and 1,000 genera:
1,000 orchid species,
including five species of slipper orchids
608 fern species
9 Nepenthes species (pitcher-plants, including 4 endemic species)
24 Rhododendron species (5 species are endemic to Kinabalu)
78 Fiscus species (over 50% of the 135 species found in Borneo)
52 palm species
6 bamboo species
30 ginger species
Rafflesia is one of the
rarest plants in the world, and is only found in very few locations in
Borneo. A parasitic plant that grows from the trailing stems of wild
grape-vines Tetrastigma spp some three species are found in the Kinabalu
National Park.
The inventory of the
plants of Mount Kinabalu is ongoing. To date three volumes have been
published covering ferns and fern allies, orchids and gymnosperms and
non-orchid monocotyledon. Two volumes relating to dicotyledons, are due to
be published shortly (Beaman et al., 1992; Beaman et al., 1993; Beaman and
Beaman 1998).
FAUNA
 Kinabalu
Park has a rich fauna that has been studied extensively. Two broad
categories of mammal species are found in Kinabalu Park, lowland species and
montane species. Approximately 90 species of lowland mammals have been
recorded and 22 montane species mammals. Notable among these categories are
tarsier Tarsius bancanus, Malay Bear Helarctis malayanus, orang utan Pongo
pygmaeus (VU), Borneo gibbon Hylobates molloch (LR) grey-leaf monkey
Presbytis aygula and red-leaf monkey P. rubicunda and the Bay Cat Catopuma
badia (VU), Kinabalu Ferret-badger Melogale everetti (VU) (WWF and IUCN
1995; IUCN 1996).
 Frog
and toad species number approximately 61 (Inger et al. 1996), while
approximately 200 species of butterfly have been recorded, most of which
occur below 2000m on Kinabalu. About 112 macro moth species have been
identified, these may be found at 2000m and above (Holloway 1996). Forty
species of fish, representing 9 families have been recorded. The most common
are the Gastromyazontidae, that may frequently be found grazing on the
surface of rocks and gravels in many of the clear mountain streams in the
park (Chin, 1996).
Three hundred and twenty-six species of birds have been recorded, these may
be categorised into 4 groups: subalpine zone species; endemic montane
species; non-endemic montane species and lowland species (Wells and Philips,
1996; Buin, 1999). Endemic Bornean species such as the Kinabalu Friendly
Warbler are only found at Mt. Kinabalu and Mt. Trus Madi.
90 species lowland mammals
22 species montane mammals
61 frog and toad species (approximately)
200 species (approximately) of butterfly have been recorded
112 macro moth species (may be found at 2000m and above)
40 species of fish (representing 9 families)
326 species of birds (more than 50% of all species of birds in Borneo)
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