Wildlife of Batang Gadis
47 mammal and 247 bird species in one stretch of the Barisan mountains.
Mammals
Surveys in Batang Gadis have recorded 47 mammal species. The key ones:
- Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae). In 2013 the population here was estimated at 23–76 animals. Rangers monitor tigers with camera traps in the forests of Sopotinjak, Ampung Padang and Siabu.
- Malayan tapir (Tapirus indicus), the largest tapir and the only one in Asia, easy to recognise by its white "saddle". In 2015 camera traps at Sopotinjak recorded tapirs at three points.
- Sumatran serow (Capricornis sumatraensis), a mountain goat-antelope threatened by poaching for high prices.
- Sun bear, sambar deer, muntjac, porcupine, mouse-deer, binturong.
- Wild cats: Asian golden cat, leopard cat and clouded leopard. Also the dhole (wild dog) and two species of otter.
Primates
The park has agile gibbons (Hylobates agilis), siamangs, langurs, pig-tailed macaques and long-tailed macaques. The gibbon and the siamang are protected. The siamang is also threatened because many are kept as pets.
Birds
247 bird species have been recorded, 47 of them protected and 13 endemic, including Salvadori's pheasant (Lophura inornata) and Schneider's pitta (Hydrornis schneideri). There are eight hornbill species, among them the rhinoceros hornbill and the helmeted hornbill. Also the masked finfoot (Heliopais personatus), five barbets, twelve woodpeckers and three trogons.
Watching wildlife responsibly
Your chance of seeing a tiger in the rainforest is close to zero, and that is how it should be. More realistic: siamangs calling in the morning, hornbills overhead, tapir tracks in soft ground. Don't feed animals, never buy wildlife or wildlife parts, and report trapped animals to rangers. In 2019 the park team rescued a siamang caught on a power line, and in 2021 they moved a tapir that had wandered into Simpang Banyak Jae village.
The tapir in the photo above was not photographed in Batang Gadis. It illustrates the species.