Extinction of the Malayan large mammals
A veterinarian makes a passionate case for the currently unfashionable idea of captive breeding to save animals threatened with extinction.
AFTER working with Malaysian wildlife for 40 years, I have decided to have a go at waking up Malaysians in general, and the authorities specifically, along with nongovernmental advisers, local and international alike, to the real situation here in Malaysia.
History has taught us many lessons, over and over again, repeating extinction events, but the lessons mostly fall on deaf ears. The phrase “pekak badak” (deaf as a rhinoceros) comes to mind. The Javan rhino became extinct in the 1930s, one generation before me, an era with many limitations to saving those large mammals.
In my time, another species, the Sumatran rhino, is succumbing to extinction in Malaysia, witnessed by many, in a time of seemingly unlimited resources to secure its survival.
Although some are still in denial, rest assured, those three-toed prints will never again stamp our forest floor. That chance is gone, due to humankind’s serial incompetence and failure to see the signs and understand the science.
Science not understood
The authorities, politicians and many nongovernment organisations (NGOs) attribute this impending extinction primarily to habitat loss, deforestation and poaching. To me, that’s strange.
In Peninsular Malaysia, the rhino habitats of my early professional years included EndauRompin National Park (870sq km), Royal Belum State Park (1,175sq km) and Taman Negara (4,343sq km), totalling 6,388sq km on the peninsula. In Sabah, there is the Danum Valley Conservation Area (438sq km) and the Tabin Wildlife Reserve (1,200sq km) – and it’s all still unchanged except for the absence of those footprints and the rhinos’ high-pitched calls.
This habitat destruction quoted for the last three decades will also be quoted as the cause of the extinction of other species to come. (Oh yes, more extinctions will come.)
Each time that “habitat loss “is mentioned in the public domain and people don’t realise that there are not enough breeding individuals in those habitats, it’s another nail in the coffin for another species.
When will we come to terms with the practical reality and the science of what is happening inside these habitats and inside the species within the habitats?
Of the last four known female Sumatran rhinos that died in Sabah, all wild-caught, three had incurable reproductive pathologies that resulted from chronic lack of breeding.
This is why I cannot forsee the recovery of endangered species in Malaysia.
The 3Ms
We are still blessed by the presence of another odd-toed species, the Malayan tapir, which is declining in numbers but not yet seriously endangered. For now, the tapir population does not seem to be in need of a recovery plan and the population has stabilised at between 1,200 and 1,600 individuals, or so they say. However, never ending road kills and displacement will invariably negatively impact the population.
Unlike the Malayan tapir, the Malayan tiger and the Malayan gaur (the three large mammals, or 3Ms) are in a much more critical situation, with very low numbers that are dwindling rapidly. They will soon be sucked into the vortex of extinction, driven mainly by the Allee effect and lackadaisical human reaction. (The Allee effect refers to “a decline in individual fitness at low population size or density below which populations crash to extinction”, from Allee Effects in Ecology and Conservation.)
The current wild Malayan tiger population is below 200 animals, possibly 100 or fewer. The Malayan gaur (known locally as seladang) stands at around 200 animals that are scattered in small clusters that can no longer meet and interbreed. In the last decade, their numbers were equal to or less than 500.
I am focusing on the 3Ms because, as their names indicate, they are clearly defined as Malaysian and not Javan or Sumatran, and we, being Malaysians, are responsible for their continued survival and existence. But with each day that passes, each month and each year, the same actions and inactions are dragging these species towards extinction.
Strangely, many are still in denial despite the surveys and counts that cannot explain the reasons for their decimation. It is the science that needs to be understood, and it is never difficult.
The authorities should be better at listening and broadening the scope of their efforts to reverse these impending extinctions.
Equally, civil society organisations should be better at giving the right advice. Blaming habitat loss and poaching have become mantras that do not address the current needs of reversing declines in numbers.
As the authorities and NGOs alike put most effort into in-situ conservation, I see small but critical captive populations being underutilised and, to a certain extent, neglected. Simply looking at the current population decline of large mammals in their intact habitats, we can see that the ex-situ populations must become a big part of our insurance policy in the coming years.
Malayan tiger’s future
Let’s talk Malayan tigers. The Malayan tiger population in the wild lives precariously despite efforts to connect forest habitats, create awareness, and increase enforcement of poaching. They number below 200, more realistically 100.
The latest attempt by the authorities to save tigers is to increase the penalty for tiger poachers. But once a poacher is apprehended with a dead tiger, that tiger is already gone.
No one exactly knows tiger demographics, breeding and what goes on in the wild population, apart from decimated numbers. In contrast, what’s happening with captive tigers is well documented: currently there are eight captive facilities with 36 males and 34 females.
Unlike those in the wild, these are within reach and could be bred quite easily. I used to breed them like domestic cats, an easy task.
Realistically, they are our insurance policy, in case those in the wild become biologically extinct. Therefore, whatever we are planning now is for the future Malayan tiger conservationist, reproductive biologist, veterinarians and fellow Malaysians.
In 2070 or 3020, reproductive technology will, hopefully, be super advanced and those working on Malayan tigers will thank us for maintaining a captive population after the last wild tiger died.
Some will say that there is no point, because there will be no more habitat; also, that captive-bred tigers will not know how to hunt. Well, if there will be no more habitat, why are any of us wasting our time now? And would a super carnivore that evolved long before human beings existed really lose the knowledge of how to find meat?
The question is, could we maintain the numbers of Malayan tigers in captivity over the next 50 or 100 years? It is possible but it has to be planned for now. However, despite having been proven to prevent the extinction of several large mammal species in the 20th century, the concept of captive breeding currently fails to inspire a global response, even though a reality check would show again and again that in-situ conservation has failed, here, on our doorstep.
Focus on selective breeding
With all the necessary information already available, Malaysians must realise the inconvenient truth and treat these 3Ms with the highest priority, failing which they will be pushed over the cliff to extinction.
With any living thing, many factors decide the “fitness” of an individual or a group. For those working with wildlife, fitness means not only the health of the individual but, equally, how many offspring they will produce. The most common setback is inbreeding, an effect of any small, isolated and vulnerable population.
Therefore, the first and crucial step is to identify the parentage of each individual. By reorganising breeding plans, we can stop a further increase in the inbreeding coefficient. This can easily be done by Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) staff.
The short-term plan is to sustain the current captive population of Malayan tigers far into the future. The long-term strategy is to have a supplementary and back-up plan, an insurance policy, in the form of frozen gametes and embryos that would last in perpetuity.
Sounds easy! Technically, it is, but first we have to accept the situation we are in, share the best lessons learned, locally and globally, link with other experts, address the bottlenecks, and sort the details out.
The Malayan gaur or seladang, the most majestic of the bovids, a progenitor of modern-day cattle is also in dire need of help. The current small captive population of 25 males and 18 females, established from six founders (between 1982 and 2001) is now struggling, with each generation being less fit than the former.
The inbreeding coefficient of this small captive herd demonstrates an upward trend and, to date, interventions have not been fast enough to be effective. Inbreeding depression decreases fecundity and increases susceptibility to disease and mortality, resulting in population decline.
Neonatal mortality was seen to exceed 50% with an inbreeding coefficient of ≥ 0.25. With each year that goes by, the cows and bulls become less productive and after the age of only 15 years, they are equivalent to humans in their 60s.
This circumstance that I have described now requires us to refocus our collective decision on priority areas, to boost the numbers of the 3M species through targeted management and selected breeding.
Once again, we must reset our goals to sustain a minimum number of living individuals, with additional genomes frozen in -196°C liquid nitrogen that can last forever and be used when the time is right.
As Malaysians, we need to do our part to save our Malaysian species for 100 years to come.