The Sarawak Museum and Usun Apau, with a list of mammals collected by the Oxford University Exploration Club Expedition of 1955-1956

Abstract

Tales of Usun Apau attracted Tom Harrisson in 1932, when he led an Oxford University Exploration Club expedition. In 1951 Harrisson (Curator of Sarawak Museums 1947-1966) with the Director of Lands and Surveys and Museum staff, crossed Usun Apau from the Tinjar river to the Plieran and Murum tributaries of the Belaga river. In 1955 Harrisson encouraged a further Oxford University Exploration Club expedition to revisit Usun Apau. Mammals were collected by Tom C. Chavasse and Gaun ak Sureng. After being sorted at the Sarawak Museum, the collection was donated to the Chicago Natural History Museum (now Field Museum). Table 1 combines the list made at the Sarawak Museum and the Field Museum digital catalogue. It also charts the collectors’ progress from Long Luar, on the Plieran river, across Usun Apau to the upper Selio, a tributary of the Baram, ending at Long Akah on 2nd February 1956. Diurnal tree squirrels form the largest ecological group, most numerous being endemic subspecies of Prevost’s squirrel Callosciurus prevostii, together with seven Bornean endemic species in the genera Sundasciurus, Dremomys and Rheithrosciurus. Also in the collection are six endemic treeshrews (Scandentia) and three endemic primates. Ten carnivore species include the endemic Hose’s civet Hemigalus hosei; ungulates include the endemic Bornean yellow muntjac Muntiacus atherodes. The Usun Apau National Park has already attracted new scientific investigations. This mammal collection of 1955-56 offers a historic baseline. New technologies, including live trapping (and releasing) and photography, will add to the list of mammals.