The Rafflesia, as it is named after the expedition leader Sir Thomas Stanford Raffles, has been voted as one of the world’s top 10 ugliest plant in July 2009. The corpse flower only blooms every four to six years within its 40-year life expectancy. The flower is described as the world’s largest; reaching 5ft high and 4ft wide. It only blooms for 3 days and for 8 hours of these 3 days, the flower gives out the rotting flesh smell.

You can find the corpse flower only in the rainforests of Sumatra or in Bogor Botanical Garden.

The Corpse Flower

After one year of research and study the new found fish in the shallow waters of Indonesia finally bounced into the books as a new species.

The fish is a fish family called the frogfish because of it’s bouncing moves in the water. But it has several traits that are not usually found in frogfish, according to Ted Pietsch.

Each time the fish strike the seabed, for instance, they push off with their fins and expel water from tiny gill openings to jet themselves forward. That and an off-centered tail cause them to bounce around in a bizarre, chaotic manner.

To watch the video about the new species of Indonesia, click here.

The Komodo Dragon has survived through ages and harsh climates for millions of years, from the time when dinosaurs still roamed the earth. Amazingly it was not until only 100 years ago that these creatures were known to exist. They are dominant predators, eating about anything that lives on the islands, including carrion, deer, pigs, smaller dragons, and even large water buffalo and humans. When hunting, they camouflage and lie waiting for passing prey. They can run up to 11 mph or 18 km/ hour in short bursts.

The Komodo National Park was established to conserve the unique endangered Komodo dragon and its habitat. But over the years, the goal has expanded to protecting its entire biodiversity. In 1986, the Park was declared a World Heritage Site and a Man and Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO, both indications of the Park’s biological importance.

Komodo Dragon

Among the indegenous people of Central Kalimantan, called the Dayak, the hornbill is a special animal as it is believed to be the one in charge of their world since “God left us behind”. To read more about this story, go to Myth & Legend and find the article, “The Tree of Life of Palangkaraya.”

Orangutans can be found in Sumatra and Borneo (both in the Indonesian and the Malay part of the island). The Sumatran species of orangutans are now critically endangered and the Borneon species is endangered. It is reported that total number of the Bornean species is estimated to be less than 14% of what it was in the recent past (from around 10,000 years ago until the middle of the twentieth century) and this sharp decline has occurred mostly over the past few decades due to human activities and development.

Major conservation centres in Indonesia include those at Tanjung Puting National Park and Sebangau National Park in Central Kalimantan, Kutai in East Kalimantan, Gunung Palung National Park in West Kalimantan, and Bukit Lawang in the Gunung Leuser National Park on the border of Aceh and North Sumatra.

There is also the Borneo Orangutan Survival center in Central Borneo, 25 minutes out of the capital city of the province, Palangkaraya, where tourists can see them being in rehabilitation programs. BOS sponsors the reintroduction programs for confiscated orangutans at the Wanariset Station near Balikpapan and the Nyaru Menteng station near Palangkaraya, both on the island of Borneo.