Assessment on different animal preservation techniques based on systematic decision tree for the development of natural history gallery in Pulau Tinggi Malaysia

Natural history collection is significant to examine the environmental impacts from human activities. The contribution of the natural history collection has been discussed and praised in recent years. Yet in the scientific literature, there are lack of public records and publication regarding the management of natural history specimens especially in the aspect of preservation techniques. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the perception of subject matter experts (SMEs) on various preservation techniques, analyse the time taken and the cost of each technique, develop the systematic decision tree (SDT) model that analysed by practitioners and come out with a development plan of Natural History Gallery in Pulau Tinggi. Interview sessions with five SMEs were done and questionnaire was distributed to 13 practitioners by using semi-structured and structured questionnaire to collect qualitative and quantitative data. Five types of preservation techniques namely taxidermy, resin, pinning, preservation in alcohol and diaphonization were conducted and analysed using SDT. The outcomes from the analysis showed that there are three types of SDT model which are difficulty level, time taken and cost spent. The SDT model of difficulty level shows that pinning technique was found to be the easiest method while taxidermy is the most difficult technique. Practitioners agreed on taxidermy being the easy method, but they think preservation in alcohol is easier. As for the SDT model in term of time taken, diaphonization takes the longest time to complete the process while pinning takes the shortest time in preservation. Practitioners concur for diaphonization but they think preservation in alcohol takes the shortest time. While SDT for costing aspect shows that pinning requires the lowest expense while diaphonization needs the highest cost and practitioners do agree with the statement. All data acquired from this study is important and will be used as a guide for the development and improvement of natural history gallery in Malaysia

Diversity of Non-Volant Small Mammals in Pulau Tinggi, Johor, Malaysia

A non-volant small mammal survey was conducted at Pulau Tinggi between July and September 2019. This study aimed to provide baseline data for non-volant small mammals in Pulau Tinggi by setting 55 cage traps and 20 pitfalls for 44 trapping nights. A total of 20 individuals of non-volant small mammals were documented, representing five species from three families: Soricidae, Sciuridae and Muridae. The Rajah spiny rat (Maxomys rajah) and the Red spiny rat (Maxomys surifer) were the most abundant species (n=6) of non-volant small mammals in Pulau Tinggi. The Malayan field rat (Rattus tiomanicus) was the least species (n=1). The Malayan shrew (Crocidura malayana) is the only shrew recorded on the island. The analysis of similarities between our study site and other Malaysian islands reveals that Pulau Tinggi shares more similarities with Pulau Pangkor and Pulau Perhentian than Pulau Tioman. The small mammal richness on Pulau Tinggi is relatively low compared to other islands, most likely due to the study site’s limited coverage and time constraints. Long-term monitoring is required to determine the true diversity of species and distribution of small mammals on Pulau Tinggi

Bats of Pulau Tinggi, Johor, Malaysia

A series of bat surveys took place in Pulau Tinggi from July 2019 to September 2019. A total of 242 individuals representing 15 species from six families were captured from a cumulative effort of 462 trap nights. The most caught species for frugivorous bats was Cynopterus brachyotis (n = 150) while for insectivorous bats, it was Hipposideros cervinus (n = 20). Pulau Tinggi has a high density of bat species per area (1.01 sp/km2) when compared to other tourist islands on Peninsular Malaysia’s east coast [e.g., Pulau Tioman (0.13 sp/km2), Pulau Perhentian (0.5 sp/km2) and Pulau Redang (0.4 sp/km2)]. As a result, high levels of disturbance such as tourism and habitat loss may negatively affect the diversity of bat species on the island. Because of time constraints and the study did not cover the entire island, information on the diversity of bats in Pulau Tinggi is still inadequate. Long-term monitoring of bat diversity covering forest areas throughout the island needs to be conducted immediately to identify the number of species, their distribution and ecology. This information is important in formulating a strategic plan for bat conservation in Pulau Tinggi