Scientist confident of finding new species at Penang Hill

GEORGE TOWN: A canopy ecology scientist leading the effort to survey the biodiversity of Penang Hill is confident of finding new species while doing so.

California Academy of Sciences biologist Professor Meg Lowman said the canopy of the 130 million year old rain forest of Penang Hill has not been surveyed before.

She said that it was unlikely the species here would be the same as those found in the Amazon rain forest for example.

“Perhaps some moss, or orchid, or something that is not easily seen on the ground level could also be new,” she said at the sidelines of the Second Symposium on the Study of Biodiversity at Penang Hill today.

Lowman, who spoke of naming a new species after Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng in her keynote address earlier, said the process of giving a new species a name would take about six months.

She said scientists who found something new needed to check with other researchers before giving a name.

“Am sure there will be new species,” she added.

The survey is part of efforts to get Penang Hill listed as a UN biosphere reserve and is done in collaboration with the state, eco-tourism attraction The Habitat (located on Penang Hill), the Forestry Department and Penang Hill Development Corporation.

If successfully listed, Penang will join two sites in Malaysia - Tasik Chini (Pahang in 2009) and the Crocker Range (Sabah in 2014 ) - as having its own UN biosphere reserve.

On the completion of The Habitat, director Allen Tan said work was about 70% to 80% completed for the RM35 million project.

He said the treetop canopy walk, one of the attractions of the park, is set to be completed before October, prior to the start of the survey.

In his opening speech earlier, Lim said his administration was serious in preserving the environment, pointing out the state was not only one in the country which gazetted its water catchment areas.

He described talk of forests disappearing in Penang as “alternative facts” and that the environment will be protected and preserved.

“That is totally fake news, you can see for yourself,” he said.