Kutai National Park

Kutai National Park is a lowland national park located on the east coast of Borneo Island, in the East Kalimantan province of Indonesia, few minutes south of the equator.

Geography
The park is located north of the Mahakam river and includes several lakes: Danau Maau, Santan, Besar and Sirapan. It is adjacent to the towns of Bontang and Sangatta and 120 km north of the provincial capital Samarinda. There are several traditional Bugis settlements within the national park.[1]
Orangutan in the Kutai forest

The Kutai National Park extends over an area of 2,000 km², part of the former Kutai Game Reserve which has been protected since the 1970s. However this status did not prevent the logging of a third of the forest in subsequent years. In an attempt to prevent further deforestation the Kutai National Park was established in 1982. Nevertheless, the great Borneo fires of 1982/83 destroyed another 60% of the forest. Thus only 30% of the primary growth forest remains.

Ecology
The principal vegetation types include coastal mangrove forest, freshwater swamp forest and kerangas forest. There have been 900 species of vegetation identified in the park.

The park provides habitat to a wide range of mammals including orangutan, Malayan Sun Bear, Sambar deer, Banteng, Maroon Leaf Monkey, White-fronted Leaf Monkey, Hose's Leaf Monkey, Proboscis Monkey, Bornean Gibbon, Clouded Leopard, Black Flying Squirrel, Marbled Cat, Flat-headed Cat, Yellow-throated Marten, Otter Civet, and Smooth-coated Otter.

The number of orangutans was found to have decreased dramatically, from 600 recorded in 2004 to about 60 in 2009. However a survey conducted in 2010 identified over 2,000 orangutans to be inhabiting the park.

Quoted from :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kutai_National_Park

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