Mammals
With almost 600 different species, ranging from the Sumatran Tiger to the Anteater of Irian Jaya, Indonesia is one the richest countries in the world for mammalian biodiversity. I have produced a checklist of them at http://www.bart.nl/~edcolijn/mammals.html.
The endangered orangutan is particularly well represented on the web. Orangutan rehabilitation centres ask for your support at:
The Balikpapan Orangutan Society, which supports the work of Willie Smits - see elsewhere in this issue of Inside Indonesia: http://www.redcube.nl/bos/. Orangutan Foundation International, founded by Birute Galdikas, who is well-known for her book Reflections on Eden about her experiences with the great apes in Tanjung Puting National Park, Kalimantan: http://www.ns.net/orangutan/index1.html.
Other info about Indonesia's monkeys and orangutans can be found at the Primate Information Center (http://www.primate.wisc.edu/), set up as a meeting point for people studying them. It includes links to several news letters. They also operate the free Primate Talk mailing list - where primate lovers and scientists share their knowledge and experiences. Any primate-related question that you might have will be answered on the list.
The best information about tigers anywhere in the world is presented by the Tiger Information Center (http://www.5tigers.org/). The site has an extensive report on tiger conservation in Indonesia. Indonesia once had three tiger species, but the Bali and Javan Tigers have become extinct. Stories still circulate about the last Javan Tigers roaming the forests of Meru Betiri National Park, southeastern Java, but no sightings have been reported recently. The Sumatran Tiger, the only species left in Indonesia, is critically endangered.
Other cats are served by the Cat Specialist Group (http://lynx.uio.no/catfolk/) working on world-wide carnivore conservation. Indonesia's nine cat species are confined to the western part of the country. Most are nocturnal and your chances of seeing them in the wild are low, but the Cat Specialist site offers you pictures of all.
The International Rhino Foundation does the same for the rhinoceros. Their web site (http://www.rhinos-irf.org/) gives pictures and information about the Sumatran Rhino and, with only about 50 animals left one of the rarest mammals on Earth, the Javan Rhino.
Sheryl Todd, web master of the Tapir Gallery (http://www.tapirback.com/) is waiting for your information about the Malayan Tapir. Tapirs occur both in South America and Southeast Asia, but most is known about the South American species. In Indonesia the endangered Malayan Tapir can only be found in Sumatra. The site has some beautiful Tapir pictures.
Reptiles
The only site on the reptiles of Indonesia, still under construction, is The Herpetology of Indonesia - Biawak's Page at http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/6785/index.htm. Biawak is Indonesian for lizard. The web master, Frank Bambang Yuwono, is a business man active both in the Indonesian sustainable reptile trade and reptile conservation. The site will list all Indonesian reptiles, has a piece on the sustainable reptile trade and offers some nice pictures of reptiles occurring in Indonesia.
A general site about crocodiles, including information and some terrifying pictures of the five species occurring in Indonesia, can be found at http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/natsci/herpetology/crocs.htm.
For those interested in the scientific stuff, a world reptile checklist is on the web at http://www.embl- heidelberg.de/~uetz/LivingReptiles.html .
Ed Colijn is a dedicated amateur in the Netherlands.
