THE ECOLOGY OF PLANTAIN SQUIRREL (CALLOSCIURUS NOTATUS) AT TIlE HEADQUARTERS OF HAl{O NATIONAL PARK Chah Cheng Peng Bachelor ofScience with Honours HB 849.415 (Animal Resource Science and Management) C433 2007 2007 "usal Khidmal Makrumat Akaaerru UNIVERSITI M~bAYSIA SARAWA'b fh1100 K ~. ~OlT1lll'iltlan THE ECOLOGY OF PLANTAIN SQUIRREL (CALLOSCIURUS NOTA TUS) AT THE HEADQUARTERS OF BAKO NATIONAL PARK CHAD CHENG PENG This project is submitted in partial fulfIlment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science with Honours (Animal Resource Sciences and Management Program) Department of Zoology Faculty of Resource Science and Technology UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK 2007 DECLARATION No portion of the work referred to in this dissertation has been submitted in support of an application for another degree of qualification of this or any other university or institution ofh(gher learning. CHAH CHENG PENG Animal Resource Science and Management Program Department ofZoology Faculty of Resource Science and Technology Universiti Malaysia Sarawak ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my supervisor, Mr. Charlie Justine Laman as well as my co­ supervisor, Dr. Charles Leh for their comment, support and encouragement during the whole course of the project. I am also grateful to Dr. Alek Andrew Tuen who had taught and shared his knowledge with me. Furthermore, a special thank to Mr. Sekudan Tedung, laboratory assistant from the Plant Resource Science and Management who helped me to identify some of the food plants. Besides, I would like to thank to all my invaluable assistants especially Muhammad Dzulhelmi, Roberta Chaya, Eileen Lit, Pui Yong Ming, Mona Octavia, Bettycopa Kamit, Willy Chin and Pang Sin Tyan who assisted me during the field sampling in Bako National Park. Last but not least, I wish to thank all my coursemates especially Catherine Lee, Jane Chai, Shirly Lo, and Tang Fei Chui for their kind help, encouragement and teamwork throughout the whole course ofthree years in Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS). i l'u at ~hidmat Maklu, itf ( UNlVERSlTI MAl AY fA Q 00 K t.1 am31 ahCIA TABLE OF CONTENT Acknowledgement 2 Table of content II 3 List of tables IV 4 List of figures V 5 List of appendices VI Abstract 1.0 Introduction 2 1.1 Objective 4 2.0 Literature review 5 2.1 Previous Study 6 3.0 Materials and methods 10 3.1 Study Area 10 3.1.1 The Vegetation Type in each Study Site 11 3.2 Materials 13 3.3 Field Work 13 3.3.1 The Behavioural Ecology of Plantain Squirrel 13 3.3.2 The Food of Plantain Squirrel 14 3.3.3 The Population Ecology of Plantain Squirrel 14 3.4 Data Analysis 16 3.4.1 The Habitat Preference 16 3.4.2 Hypothesis 17 3.4.3 The Population Estimation 17 4.0 Results 19 4.1 The Behavioural Ecology ofPlantain Squirrel 19 4.1.1 Behavioural Observation 20 4.1 .2 Other Observation 21 4.2 The Food of Plantain Squirrel 22 4.2.1 The Distribution ofFood Plant 23 ii 4.3 The Population Ecology of Plantain Squirrel 25 4.3 .1 The Population Estimation of Squirrels 25 4.3.2 The Habitat Preference 28 5.0 Discussion 30 5.1 The Behavioral Ecology of Plantain Squirrel 30 5.1.1 Daily Activity Observation 32 5.2 The Food of Plantain Squirrel 37 5.3 The Population Ecology of Plantain Squirrel 41 5.3.1 The Population Estimation of Squirrels 41 5.3.2 The Habitat Preference 43 6.0 Conclusion and Recommedations 46 7.0 References 48 8.0 Appendices 52 iii I ,.... LIST OF TABLES Tables Page Table 1: The field sampling materials 13 Table 2: The food plants consumed by the squirrel at the Headquarters of 24 Bako National Park. Table 3: Mark-recapture data obtained for a Schumacher and Eschmeyer 26 type estimate of the Plantain squirrel population size at Trail 1. Table 4: The estimation of Plantain squirrel population at Trail 1 using 27 Schumacher and Eschmeyer method with replacement. Table 5: Mark-recapture data obtained for a Schumacher and Eschmeyer 27 type estimate of the Plantain squirrel population size at Trail 2. Table 6: The estimation of Plantain squirrel population at Trail 2 using 27 Schumacher and Eschmeyer method with replacement. Table 7: Mark-recapture data combine the Trail I and Trail 2 individual for 28 a Schumacher and Eschmeyer type estimate ofthe Plantain squirrel population size. Table 8: The estimation of Plantain squirrel population at both Trails using 28 Schumacher and Eschmeyer method with replacement. Table 9: Chi-square method to test the habitat preference between Trail 1 30 and Trail 2. iv ,... LIST OF FIGURES Figures Page Figure 1: The distribution of the squirrels ofgenus Callosciurus 6 Figure 2: Headquarters ofBako National Park 12 Figure 3: The total number of Plantain squirrels sighted per hour during the 19 10 days observation period at the Headquarters of Bako National Park. Figure 4: The activity budgets of Plantain squirrel at the Headquarters Bako 21 National Park. Figure 5: The distributions of the food plants at the Headquarters of Bako 25 National Park. Figure 6: Gender distribution of Plantain squirrels at Trail 1 and Trail 2 29 Figure 7: The relationship between the number ofindividual captured and 31 the weather change Figure 8: The map shows the fragment area and the movement of the 44 Plantain squirrel in between the beach forest and riverine forest v I LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix Page APPENDIX I Table 9: The Sampling Data from Trail 1 52 APPENDIX II Table 10: The Sampling Data from Trail 2 54 APPENDIX III Figure 8: The relationship between the Plantain squirrel 55 with the flora and fauna at the study sites. vi THE ECOLOGY OF PLANTAIN SQUIRREL (CALLOSCIURUS NOTA TUS) AT THE HEADQUARTERS OF BAKO NATIONAL PARK Chah Cheng Peng Animal Resource Science and Management Program Department of Zoology Faculty Resource Science and Technology Universiti Malaysia Sarawak ABSTRACT A study of the behaviour, food and population ecology of the Plantain squirrel (Callosiurus notatus), was conducted at the Headquarters of Bako National Park, from 24th November until 3rd December. The study site is consisted of beach forest and riverine forest. The scanning method was used to observe the daily activity of the squirrel and a set of predetermine activity categories were used to record their activity. The study was indicated that the squirrel is active at 0600, 1100 and 1600 hours; and the highest average time spent was on displacement. Though the observation, ten families of the food plants were identified as the squirrels' food resources. The Plantain squirrel (Callosiurlls notatus) is essential as a seed disperser, weeds control and seed predator. A total of 100 traps were at two different trails to estimate the population of the squirrel. The population estimation at Trail 1 and Trail 2 is 36 and 26 individuals respectively. The overall population estimation at the Headquarters of Bako National Park is 56. The hypothesis using Chi-square test shows that there is no significant difference between both trails. The beach forest is the most favourite area to spend foraging but the riverine forest is the rno t suitable area for nesting ground. In general, the food resources are important as it could affect th e squirrel behaviour and the population distribution. Keyword: Plantain squirrel, Behaviour, Population ecology, Bako National Park ABSTRAK Satu kajian leJllang tingkah laku, pemakanan dan ekologi populasi tupai Pinang (Callosiurus notatus). telah dijalankan di sekitar ibu pejabat Taman Negara Bako, dari 24hb November sampai 3hb Desember. Kawasan kajian ini terdiri daripada hutan pantai dan hutan paya. Pemerhatian secara rawak telah digunakan untuk memerhatikan aktiviti harian tupai dan satu set kategori aktiviti telah digunakan untuk merekodkan aktiviti berkenaan. Kajian ini menunjukkan tupai aktif pada pukul 0600, llOD dan 1600; dan purata masa pergerakan adalah paling tinggi. Melalui pemerhatian, sepuluh famili tumbuha1l telah dikenalpasti sebagai sumber makanan tupai. Tupai Pinang (Callosiurus notatus) adalah penting sebagai penyebar biji benih, pengawal rumput-rumpai dan pemakan biji benih. Sebanyak 100 perangkap telah dipasang di sekitar dua trek untuk menjangka populasi tupai. Populasi jangkaan di Trek 1 dan Trek 2 adalah masing-masing 36 dan 26 individu. Secara lceseluruhannya, populasi jangkaan di [bu pejabat Taman Negara Bako ialah 56 individu. Hipotesis menggunakan ujian Chi-square telah menunjukkan tiada perbezaan antara dua trek. Hutan pantai merupakan tempat yang paling digemari oleh tupai untuk mencari makanan, manakala hutan paya Uriah kawasan yang sesuai untuk membina sarang. Secara umumnya, asas pemakanan adalah penting untukmenjelaskan tingkah laku tupai dan taburan populasinya. Kata kunci: Plantain squirrel, Tingkah laku, Populasi ekologi, Taman Negara Bako 1 1.0 INTRODUCTION Plantain squirrel (Callosciurus notatus) of order Rodentia, the "gnawing" mammals, contains over forty percent of all species in class Mammalia (Debalse and Martin, 1974; Payne et al., 1985). Rodentia consist of 30 living families, 418 genera and approximateJy 1750 species (Vaughan, 1965). Usually rodents, which are tree squirrels, ground squirrels, flying squirrels, rats, mice and porcupines (Wong, 1996) can be acknowledged as a successful order because of their ability to adapt to the changes in their habitat condition (Steven, 1968). Besides, rodents share a series of distinctive cranial features; the upper and lower jaws each bear a pair of incisor that allows them to exploit a broad spectrum of foods (Vaughan, 1965). Thus, they can live almost everywhere on land and co-exist with the presence of human or in urban areas (Steven, 1968). Many species of rodents are of economic importance as food for humans, and some rodents' fur is important in the garment industry. The rodents namely muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus), beaver (Castor canadensis) and Chilla (Chinchilla lanigera) are bred in captivity throughout the world to contribute as furbearers.