A couple of weeks ago, I was browsing through a copy of "
Johor Bigfoot: The Beginning of A True Story
(in Chinese)" There was the mentioning of search results in
Johor, about the speculation of the ape's biology and many more so-called physical evidence of footprints and hair samples typical to Bigfoot-themed books. And then, there came the mentioning of its habitat. The accompanying photographs proved so unbelievable that I was convinced the author faked the entire story out just to attract people's attention to some Malaysian folklore. The picture shows a cliff face surrounded by dense
rainforest while the other, an ink-dark void with tree roots and rocks around it - a cave. A cave in
Johor? A limestone cave? The description is even more intriguing. Apparently, the
bigfoot researchers guided by the
Orang Asli (natives) had came to a rock face and walked around it to a hidden cave in the thick
rainforests of
Gunung Sumalayang's peak. They have had even collected rock samples for the Geological Department of Malaysia to identify the rock type. And voila, it's limestone! Previously, it's a well
established fact that the southern most limestone hill is Batu Caves in
Selangor, some 370km northwest of
Gunung Sumalayang.
(Now you understand why I'm shocked?)
I googled it up and found the scientific evidence I needed - "The Malaysian
Stratigraphy (in Bahasa Malaysia) ". According to the papers,
there're minor intrusions of limestone in
Gunung Sumalayang. Photographs showing small
stalactites and stalagmites on the cliff face backed up the findings.
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Now, the big question is - are there any endemic snails living there? Since it's just a minor limestone intrusion and not the huge
karsts like those in Central and Northern Peninsula Malaysia, it could have only supported a small population of endemic
molluscs, if any at all. But, given the amazing diversity of
microsnails discovered in just some tenths of metres of limestone in
Sabah, it's worth exploring this potential site, right?
Further Reading:
1.
Norazhar Ngatimin and Teh G.H., 1993. Geology of the G.
Sumalayang area,
Johor. [abstract].
In: GSM Annual Geological Conference 93,
Langkawi,
Kedah, 12-13 June 1993,
Warta Geologi 19(3):139.
2. STAG20022
Stratigrafi Malaysia:
Stratigrafi Semenanjung Malaysia -
Geologi Johor Timur,
UKM.
(link)
3.
Menno Schilthuizen, Hsieh-Nee Chai and Tracey Elaine Kimsin,2003. Abundance and diversity of Land-snails (
Mollusca:
Goastropoda) on Limestone Hills of Borneo. The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 2003 51(1):35-42. National University of Singapore.
(link)