A tropical forest considered too damaged to be worth conserving has been found to be teeming with rare species.
Camera traps laid in a 772 square mile (2,000 sq km) area of Sumatra have recorded a host of creatures thriving in the degraded forest.
Tigers, elephants, golden cats and banded linsangs were among the animals that were photographed by the traps placed in parts of the secondary forest.
The area’s pristine ancient forest had been stripped of the big, valuable trees by loggers and was considered to have been destroyed as an important home for wildlife. But photographs, taken by cameras triggered as the animals wandered past, have established that such land maintains its value for animals.
“This is the first time anyone has come up with concrete evidence that wildlife is surviving in these altered habitats,” said Sarah Christie, of the Zoological Society of London.
“These areas have been written off as worthless but these pictures show they are valuable for many species. Just because forests have been logged does not mean they have lost their value for biodiversity.”
The area where the camera traps were placed has been designated by the Indonesian Government for agriculture, including oil palm cultivation and tree plantations.
Conservationists hope that the research will persuade officials that secondary forest should be reassessed for its value to wildlife, instead of being automatically regarded as suitable for development.
The degraded forest could, researchers argued, be used to link untouched forests as animal corridors.
