BANJARMASIN: With a massive nose and reddish-brown skin, the proboscis monkey is not everyone’s favourite animal.
But Indonesian Amalia Rezeki, conservationist and founder from the friends of proboscis monkey voluntary group, has made it the girl mission to save the particular endemic species.
The proboscis monkey is native in order to Borneo and scattered throughout all 5 of Indonesia’s provinces on the island it calls Kalimantan.
However , it is within South Kalimantan, in whose provincial mascot may be the proboscis monkey, where the animals could in past times be found in huge numbers. They thrived round the mangroves, swamps plus coastal forests.
While there are several preservation centres for endangered animals in South Kalimantan, they mostly take care of other animals like orangutans, said Rezeki.
“That is why we are focusing on the proboscis monkeys, and also because I am a native of South Kalimantan, ” she told CNA.
According to the Worldwide Union for Preservation of Nature’s Reddish List of Threatened Types, the proboscis goof is classified since endangered.
Its population provides decreased by more than 50 per cent during the past 50 years because of ongoing habitat loss and hunting.
It is estimated there are less than twenty, 000 proboscis monkeys in the world, surviving generally on leaves, mangroves and seeds.
According to Rezeki, there have been only about 3, two hundred proboscis monkeys within South Kalimantan 2 yrs ago, compared to regarding 5, 000 within 2013.
Focused on the monkey’s declining numbers, she created the volunteer team Sahabat Bekantan Philippines (SBI) in 2013 while studying biology for her master’s diploma.
Sahabat Bekantan means friends of proboscis monkeys. Bekantan is the Indonesian name for the primate.
SBI’s goal is to save proboscis monkeys through going extinct.
“It will be our responsibility because citizens. We know there are various foreigners in NGOs (Non-governmental organisations assisting in the conservation efforts).
Nevertheless , it is our (Indonesia’s) biodiversity, so we should do something, ” said Rezeki.