Current view: Text account
Site description (2003 baseline):
Site location and context
(I) Physical CharacteristicsThe mountain range of Trus Madi follows a major north-east-south-west trend and is strongly dissected into steep sided valleys and narrow-crested ridges. It is separated from Banjaran Crocker by the Tambunan-Keningau-Tenom plain. Banjaran Trus Madi forms the watershed between three of the largest rivers in Sabah State namely the Pagalan, Labuk and Kinabatangan. Gunung Trus Madi (2,642 m asl), the second highest mountain in Sabah State, is located this range. The mountain itself was formed from mudstone, shale and argillite mildly metamorphosed in places to slate with subordinate beds of quartzite, sandstone, siltstone and limestone breccias (Collenette, 1958 cited in Acres, 1972).
A total of 143 species of birds were identified in a survey in 1983 (Sheldon and Francis, 1985). The highlands is the second most important area for Bornean endemics and montane species after Kinabalu supporting globally threatened birds like the Mountain Serpent-eagle
Spilornis kinabaluensis and the Near Threatened Bornean Frogmouth
Batrachostomus mixtus (Smythies, 1999).
Non-bird biodiversity: Thirty-six species of mammals identified in a survey in 1983 (Payne and Francis, 1985; Sheldon and Francis, 1985). (I) Globally threatened mammals (IUCN, 2002): ENDANGERED: Mountain Spiny Rat Maxomys alticola; VULNERABLE: Smooth-tailed Treeshrew Dendrogale melanura, Pig-tailed Macaque Macaca nemestrina, Jentink's Squirrel Sundasciurus jentinki, Common Porcupine Hystrix brachyura; NEAR THREATENED: Brooke's Squirrel Sundasciurus brookei, Bornean Gibbon Hylobates muelleri, Long-tailed Macaque M. fascicularis, Pangolin Manis javanica; DATA DEFICIENT: Malayan Sun Bear Helarctos malayanus (II) Globally threatened reptiles (IUCN, 2002): No information.(III) Globally threatened plants (IUCN, 2002): CRITICAL: Nepenthes macrophylla; VULNERABLE: Nepenthes lowii
The flora of Banjaran Trus Madi is less well known than that of Gunung Kinabalu. Lowland and hill dipterocarp forest occurs at the foothill of the highland whereas on the higher plane montane oak forest and montane ericaceous forest dominates with its floral species composition typical of that on Gunung Kinabalu (Acres, 1972). Endemic pitcher plants such as
Nepenthes trusmadiensis, rhododendrons and orchids can be found in the area (Henry Colman, 2001). Eighty-seven species (47 genera, 16 families) of ferns including as new species have been recorded between 300-1,400 m asl (Jumaat H. Adam and Abdullah Muhammad, 1989).
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Logging activities occur at the foothills of Trus Madi and the logging road has reached almost to its summit (Stuebing,
pers. comm.).
Not gazetted as a protected area.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Trus Madi Range (Malaysia). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/trus-madi-range-iba-malaysia on 22/11/2024.
