CHORDATA (cont)

VERTEBRATA
 AMPHIBIA

• Order Urodela
– Body usually long and cylindrical;
– head, trunk, and tail are separate;
– legs, if present, usually all equal in size.
– Salamanders and Newts.
• Order Salientia
– Body usually short and stout;
– head and trunk usually combined,
– with no tail;
– legs often smaller in front. Salamander
– Frogs and Toads.
 REPTILIA
• Order Testudines
– Body is covered by "shell" of fused hardened scales;
– have toothless beaks.
– turtles and Tortoises
• Order Crocodilia
– Have legs and movable eyelids;
– mouth without "lips";
– found mostly in or near water.
– Alligators, Crocodiles and Gavials.
• Superorder Squamata
– May or may not have legs;
– teeth hidden by "lips";
– common on land but sometimes in water;
– Scales often small
– Lizards and snakes
Marine Turtles in Malaysia

Hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata)

The leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea)

MARINE TURTLES OF MALAYSIA

Olive-ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea

The green turtle (Chelonia mydas)

 AVES (Birds)
• extremely distinctive and successful
• estimated 9000 species
• evolved remarkable specializations for flight
– unique "one-way" breathing system
– light yet strong hollow bones
– skeleton in which many bones are fused or lost
– powerful flight muscles
– feathers.
 Flamingos
Ostritch

Snow owl Hawk

MAMMALS: Characteristics not found
in other animals

• Middle ear bones

• Hair
• Mammary gland – milk production
Mammalia
 Subclass Metatheria (Marsupials)

Youngs born in immature stage

Most have pouch

Major Groups:
•Order Didelphimorphia - opossums
•Order Paucituberculata - shrew-like insectivores
•Order Dasyuromorphia - Tasmanian wolf
•Order Diprotodontia - (10 families and 117 species) kangaroos,
wallaby, wombats, koalas
 Subclass Prototheria
Order Monotremata

• Lay eggs with leathery shells

• Nourish young with milk
• 2 Families:
– Family Ornithorhynchidae, duck-billed platypus
– Family Tachyglossidae, spiny anteater

Echidna
Platypus
EUTHERIA
 Major Orders of Mammals:

Subclass Eutheria (Placental Mammals)

Order Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates: antelope, deer, camels, pigs,
cows, sheep, hippos, etc.)
Order Carnivora (carnivores: cats, bears, dogs, polar bear,
Order Cetacea (whales, dolphins)
Order Chiroptera (bats)
Order Insectivora (insect-eaters: hedgehogs, moles, shrews)
Order Logomorpha (rabbits, hares)
Order Perissodactyla (odd-toed ungulates: horses, rhinos, tapirs)
ANIMAL BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION:
Effort by Malaysian Government
 Animal Biodiversity :
Problems
• Studies increase by arithmatic
progression but destructions
increase by geometric
progression
Critically Endangered Species:
(Mamalia)
Black Shrew (Suncus ater). (Endemic)
Horseshoe Bat species (Rhinolophus convexus). (new species)
Java Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus).
Malayan Roundleaf Bat (Hipposideros nequam). (Endemic)
Malayan Water Shrew (Chimarrogale hantu). (Endemic)

Sumatran Rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis).

Mammals in Malaysia

Total Species: 286 (Groombridge & Jenkins

1994)
Endemic Species: 27 (Groombridge &
Jenkins 1994)
Endangered species: 1996: 42 (IUCN 1996);
2000: 51(IUCN 2000)
Turtle Species in Malaysia
(4 of 7 spesies already identified)

Leatherback turtle (Demochelys coreacea).

Green turtle (Chelonia mydas).
Olive-Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea).
Hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata).
Sumatran Rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis).
Shrew (Suncus sp)
Otter (Otter Civet)
Conservation Effort by Malaysian
Government
• Sustainable forest management
– Practiced since 1990s
– Has important component of conservation of biological diversity
– Plant Red List (documentation of plant wealth)
• Conservation of Mangrove Ecosystem
• Gazettement of National Parks
• Establishment of Marine Parks
• Turtle Conservation Programme
– Leatherback (Terengganu), Terrapin (Bota, Perak)
• Orang Utan Conservation Programme
– Sipolok (Sabah)
 LEGISLATION RELEVANT TO
BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY (FEDERAL)

• Environmental Quality Act 1974

• Fisheries Act 1985
• Pesticide Act 1974
• Plant Quarantine Act 1976
 LEGISLATION RELEVANT TO
BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
(PENINSULAR MALAYSIA)

• National Park Act 1980

• Protection of Wildlife Act 1972
• National Forestry Act 1972
• Taman Negara (Pahang) Enactment 1939
• Land Conservation Act 1960
 LEGISLATION RELEVANT TO
BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY (SARAWAK)

• National Park Ordinance 1956

• Wildlife Protection Ordinance 1958
• Natural Resources Ordinance 1949 as
amended by National Resources and
Environment (Amendment) Ordinance
1993
 LEGISLATION RELEVANT TO
BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY (SABAH)

• Forest Enactment 1968

• Park Enactment 1984
 INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AND LINKAGES

• Langkawi Declaration on the Environment

and Development (1989)
– By Heads of Government of Commonwealth
countries
– Further strengthened by United Nation Conference
on Environment and Development (UNCED) 1992
• Convention on Biological Diversity
– Ratified by Malaysia on 24th June 1994
 INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AND LINKAGES
(cont)

• Convention on International Trade in

Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
(CITES)
– Malaysia party since 1978
• Member of World Conservation Union
• 10th Nov. 1994 - acceed to the Convention on
Wetlands of Internationl Importance Especially
as Wildfowl Habitat (RAMSAR Convention)
 Convention on Biological Diversity

• Must incorporate into national policy set of

commitments under treaty;
• Reaffirms sovereign rights of States over their
biological resources;
• Responsibility for conserving biological diversity
• Utilizing biological resources in sustainable manner
• Provide financial support and incentives to national
activities to achieve objectives of Convention
 MALAYSIA’S NATIONAL POLICY
ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
Official Declaration:
April 16 1998
Kuala Lumpur
Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment
ENFORCEMENT OF WILDLIFE
CONSERVATION: MALAYSIA

TOTALLY PROTECTED ANIMALS IN

SARAWAK
 Example of fines imposed:

• rhinoceros
– fine RM50,000 and
– 5 year jail;
• orang-utan or proboscis monkey
– fine RM30,000 and
– 2 year jail;
• For other species,
– fine RM25,000 and
– 2 year jail;