Kekah Natuna (Presbytis Natunae)
KEKAH NATUNAE (Presbytis Natunae)
Kekah natuna is threatened with extinction, this animal is a rare animal that only exists in Natuna Regency. Based on researchers at the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation Studies (PSBK) and students of the Postgraduate Program, Conservation Biology, University of Indonesia (UI), Kekah natuna is only found on Natuna Island (Big Bunguran). On the island, it is spread in several habitat types and heights (the highest mountain is Mount Ranai 1,035 m asl). The habitats inhabited by Kekah Natuna include mountain primary forests, secondary forests, old rubber gardens, riparian areas, and are also found to be interspersed with mangrove forests and mixed gardens (Indrawan & Rangkuti, 2002). Unfortunately, there are no protected areas.
In addition, endemicity status is only limited to one island, plus high hunting to be maintained and sold, and there have been no public awareness efforts, causing kekah natuna to be endangered. Therefore, the action to protect Kekah Natuna is very urgent. If not, in the near future kekah natuna will experience extinction, and the earth will lose one of its endemic primates in Indonesia.
A. Distribution and Habitat
The Natuna Islands are located in the South China Sea between Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo, Vietnam and Cambodia. In the Natuna Islands cluster, there are Natuna Island or Big Bunguran which are located in the 030 38 ‘- 040 15’ LU and 1070 58 ‘- 1080 25’ BT coordinates. The area of the island is around 172,000 ha, with a length of 65 km and a width of 45 km. Some endemic animals can be found on this island. Kekah natuna Presbytis natunae, slow loris Nycticebus coucang natunae, and long-tailed macaque Macaca fascicularis pumila are three endemic primates in Natuna P. In addition, several species of endangered animals such as dugong dugong, Dermochelys coreacea leatherback turtle, and estuarine crocodile Crocodilus porosus are also found in P. Natuna (Chasen, 1935).
Kekah is a rare primate animal that only exists in Natuna Regency, Bunguran Besar Island. The scientific name of this primate is Presbytis natunae. Kekah is spread in several habitat types and heights (the highest mountain is Mount Ranai 1,035 m asl). The habitats inhabited by Kekah Natuna include mountain primary forests, secondary forests, old rubber gardens, riparian areas, and are also found to intersect with mangrove forests and mixed gardens.
B. Conservation Status
The IUCN Red List conservation status category is a category used by IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) in classifying species of various extinctions that are threatened with extinction. From this conservation status, IUCN issued the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, or abbreviated as the IUCN Red List, which is a list of the status of a species’ scarcity.
The IUCN Red List establishes criteria for evaluating the scarcity status of a species. This criterion is relevant for all species throughout the world. The aim is to warn how important conservation issues are to the public and policy makers to help the international community in improving the status of species scarcity. Vulnerable status is conservation that is given to species that are at risk of extinction in the wild in the future. In the IUCN Redlist there were 4,467 animals and 4,607 Vulnerable plants. Examples of threatened Indonesian animals include; Cassowary, Green Peacock and Maluku Old Brothers. Kekah Natunae is included in the IUCN status, which is Venurable (VU).
Presbytis natunae Conservation Status
C. Threats
The number of people who want to maintain this natuna, because morphologically the shape is very funny, besides that this animal is also easily tame, and is considered to have a prestigious value when maintaining it. Some people who care for turtles admit that they are very easy to care for, because they want to be fed anything, such as foods that are usually eaten by humans (rice, bread, milk, bananas, and vegetables). Of course there are many immense cases that die in maintenance due to improper feed consumption. Besides that, kekah is also known to be brought out of the island as souvenirs or gifts, as well as for sale. Transportation used is usually merchant ships in local ports, because usually not through a meaningful inspection.
Due to the large number of requests and selling prices which are relatively high, the number of fish hunted is increasing. Research carried out by the UI PSBK Team from June 16 to July 2, 2002, recorded 28 calves once captured and maintained. Most of these animals will be sold by the owner. From the results of interviews with several people who once cared for Natuna, the animals died easily and did not last long if they were kept. In addition to improper feed, another possibility is that it is easy to stress. The number of turtles maintained both recorded and unregistered does not represent the total number captured / hunted. Usually to get a catch caught is his child by shooting his mother. Apart from being shot, these primates were captured by being chased and trapped. How to catch by being chased is usually done by local residents who are used to hunting in the forest.
The female who is seen holding a child will be chased constantly. Usually not too long, the parent will release the child (presumably because it is easy to stress and panic). The child who is released will stay silent in a tree, if the tree is shaken hard enough accompanied by shouts, the child will jump / plunge down, so it is easily captured. How to catch with traps is done using large wooden traps and placed near the garden or fields. Residents usually set traps to trap apes, which are number two pests for their fields and gardens. Therefore, the trap was rarely inspected, so that once a large group had occurred, some 5 were trapped dead in the trap because they did not get food and drink. Not only hunting, fortune is also increasingly pushed because of habitat problems. Until 2000, illegal logging in Natuna almost depleted lowland forests that became a habitat for extinction. Now it is more common in old rubber gardens that resemble secondary forests. Unfortunately, the rubber plantation is a garden that is no longer productive, and based on data from the Agriculture and Forestry Service, Natuna Regency, the rubber gardens will be rejuvenated or produced again with new types of plants. This has further narrowed down the remaining habitat.
Editor: Ardi Wiranata
Photo: Arkive
