Third edition of ‘A Field Guide to the Frogs of Borneo’ launched
KOTA KINABALU: Minister with Special Functions, Datuk Seri Panglima Teo Chee Kang, yesterday launched the third edition of the book ‘A Field Guide to the Frogs of Borneo’, co-written by Robert F. Inger, Robert B. Stuebing, T.Ulmar Grafe and J. Maximillan Dohling.
In his launching speech, Teo congratulated Natural History Publications (Borneo) for producing such a wonderful array of natural history documentations, assisting scientists to bring their work to light, and, most of all, to provide the people of Sabah with high quality, educational references on Sabah’s extraordinary natural heritage.
He said, the presence, or the absence, of frogs tells volumes about the health of the environment.
Of about 180 plus species of frogs, he said, only about 10 are able to survive in the habitats that humans have made for themselves. Besides the frog’s ability to provide a guide to conservation, many are wonderful, beautiful works of nature, with spectacular colours or ingenious survival tricks.
“If these are all we see, it will mean that we have lost most of the natural habitats, and that many of Sabah’s majestic, mature old forests have disappeared. Fortunately, Sabah has had several things going strongly in its favour.
“Firstly, a long history of dedication to the conservation of nature, certainly among the best in Asia. Secondly, the Sabah Museum and Sabah Parks, whose staff and associated scientists have made an excellent contribution to our knowledge of the natural history of frogs, not just in Sabah, but now in Borneo and neighbouring Kalimantan in Indonesia.
“Thirdly, Natural History Publications, the means by which Sabahan, Malaysian and international public have been apprised of the huge and wonderful diversity of fauna and flora in Borneo,” he said.
The particular series of books began in 1989 with the publication by Sabah Parks of ‘Frogs of Sabah’, followed by ‘A Field Guide to the Frogs of Borneo’, which is now in its third edition.
The number of known species has just about doubled since the appearance of that first book.
Also present at the book launch at Sabah State Museum yesterday were the publisher, Datuk CL Chan, and acting director of Sabah Museum, Arif Abd. Hamid.