Meet the Bornean ferret badger: a creature that sounds like it was stitched together from a few different animals, and frankly, looks the part too. With the sleek, slinky body of a ferret and the masked face of a badger, this little carnivore is officially a true Bornean exclusive. A new study confirms it lives only in the mountains of Sabah, the Malaysian state on Borneo island. Talk about an exclusive club.
Now, ferret badgers in general are a nocturnal bunch, spread across Southeast Asia. But Melogale everetti – the Bornean kind – is apparently quite the homebody. It prefers the high life, specifically the Kinabalu-Crocker-Trusmadi mountain landscape of Sabah. Which, if you think about it, is both impressive and slightly terrifying for a creature this specific.
Unmasking Their Mountain Domain
Researchers from the Bornean Carnivore Programme, the University of Oxford’s WildCRU, Sabah Forestry Department, and Sabah Parks decided it was high time to figure out exactly where these elusive little guys were hanging out. Between 2021 and 2024, they deployed a whopping 188 camera traps across Sabah’s western highlands. The result? Over 400 sightings of the badgers. Apparently, they're not camera shy.
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Start Your News DetoxThis extensive surveillance led to the discovery of a brand new population in the Nuluhon-Trusmadi Forest Reserve. A significant find that expanded their known stomping grounds, but didn't change the overall narrative: these badgers are strictly mountain dwellers within that specific Sabah range. They're not venturing to the lowlands for a beach vacation anytime soon.
Mohammad Aliyuddin bin Jaini, a field manager for the Bornean Carnivore Programme, was particularly chuffed. “I grew up in Tambunan and had never seen or even heard of the Bornean ferret badger,” he admitted. He even set up camera traps near his family farm and was genuinely amazed to spot one in the photos. Finding an endangered species practically in your backyard? That's quite the conversation starter at dinner.
