With your help, Tasikoki Wildlife Rescue Centre working with the Nature Conservation Agency of North Sulawesi (BKSDA) have released cuscus during the celebration of 2019 Earth Day. Two bear cuscuses (Ailurops ursinus) and a dwarf cuscus (Strigocuscus celebensis) were released into Batu Putih Nature Tourism Park forest in North Sulawesi. The cuscus is native to that area.
Kelly, a female bear cuscus, was confiscated by the Nature Conservation Agency from Gorontalo on July 2018. Another bear cuscus, a male named Unyil, was saved from Kotamobago on September, 2018. Both of these cuscus were part of the illegal ‘pet’ trade. Imut, a male dwarf cuscus, was saved by residents from a restaurant in Manado and submitted to Tasikoki Wildlife Rescue Centre on April, 2nd, 2018. After going through a health examination (including endoparasite and ectoparasite examination) and having a period of rehabilitation so they could recover from their experience, the cuscus were ready to return to the wild.
Each year, Tasikoki Wildlife Rescue Centre rescues cuscus and other wildlife, rehabili tates the animals, and returns them to the wild, if possible.
Photographs below show the release of the Imut, the dwarf cuscus.
We are grateful that some areas in Indonesia ensure that cuscus are protected.
Just a few days ago the city of Bitung, near Tasikoki, prepared a new regulation to ensure that cuscus and other species that had been removed from the protected list were reinstated. This meeting was attended by staff of Tasikoki. We are very pleased that the city of Bitung has made this decision.
What is a cuscus?
Even if you’re not a big wildlife enthusiast, it’s probably fair to assume that many of the species housed at the Tasikoki Wildlife Rescue and Education Centre are very well known to you. Orangutans, parrots, deer, macaques. These are all charismatic animals that are recognised and loved across the world, especially by those who come to Tasikoki to volunteer with them.
Ironically though, the animal that Tasikoki has as its symbol is one that the vast majority of people (including myself until recently) know almost nothing about. Many probably wouldn’t even be able to identify it on the centre’s sign. That animal is the Sulawesi Bear Cuscus (Ailurops ursinus).
It’s certainly a strange looking animal, with its big claws, dense woolly fur and a prehensile tail that is almost as long as the rest of its body. But its peculiarities aren’t purely aesthetic. Despite its name it is not in fact a bear or even a close relative of one, but a marsupial. Though mostly confined to Australia, members of this group of mammals are also found in parts of Asia and the Americas due to the continents being connected to each other in prehistory. In Asia, cuscuses (of which there are multiple species) are found on several Indonesian islands including Papua New Guinea, Waigeo and of course, Sulawesi.
Though the Sulawesi bear cuscus is far from the most extensively studied mammal, we do nonetheless know a fair bit about its ecology. It lives high up in the canopy of primary rainforests in the lowlands of Sulawesi island, usually in pairs or groups of three to four. As with all marsupials, the young are born only partially developed and spend the rest of their development growing inside their mothers’ pouch until they are old, large and strong enough to leave it, which in the case of this species is at around 8 months old. Like the koala, it feeds largely on leaves, although it is nowhere near as specialised in its dietary preferences, being known to feed from at least 31 different plant species and to supplement its diet with flowers and unripe fruit. In another similarity to the koala, this low nutrient diet leads to it spending over 60% of its day resting and sleeping in order to digest its food, and any movement it does make is usually very slow.
However, while this slow paced lifestyle works as an evolutionary strategy, it is also part of what is driving the cuscus towards extinction. Like many of the species housed at Tasikoki, the cuscus is hunted for the bushmeat trade –as well as for its fur–and this intensive hunting pressure has reduced its population by as much as 95% in some areas. Needless to say, its slowness makes it easy to catch. Its strong affinity for primary rainforest makes it particularly vulnerable to the rampant deforestation happening across its range, as it cannot easily colonise modified or disturbed landscapes. When it does venture into such landscapes like, say, cocoa plantations, it suffers from persecution by farmers who perceive it as a crop raider, despite it receiving protection by the Indonesian government as a protected species.
At present, the Sulawesi bear cuscus is listed as ‘Vulnerable’ on the IUCN Red List. However, if the threats it faces are not soon curbed, it could quickly reach population lows worthy of ‘Endangered’, ‘Critically Endangered’ or worst of all, ‘Extinct’ thanks to its specific habitat requirements and slow reproductive rate (each female only raises a single joey at a time).
Fortunately, Tasikoki is doing what it can to help both the bear and the dwarf cuscus and we are grateful for your help and support.
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