A year in Borneo

Science | Environment - Pete Wilton | 11 Feb 11. We've been tracking the progress of the OuTrop Project looking to conserve the environment and wildlife of Borneo's forests. One of the leaders of the project Susan Cheyne, of Oxford University's WildCRU , is back in the UK to talk about the progress being made and why these forests are vital to the survival of orang-utans, wild cats, and other rare species. 'We've now collected 14,000 hours of animal observations and the gibbon project has over 9,000 hours, making these among the largest studies of their kind,' Susan told us. 'The results are used for conservation purposes but are revealing many interesting discoveries on the behaviour, ecology, social structure and development of two of mankind's closest relatives. It's not just about apes, the team have found that Sabangau forest is a strong-hold for birds and mammals such as the elusive Bornean clouded leopard. 'We have data on 3 male clouded leopards and 1 female and we've been investigating threats to these cats including direct and indirect hunting and the possible long-term impacts of habitat loss through fires on the sustainability of the population,' Susan explains.