Distribution and abundance of non-flying small mammals in Kota Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia / Nor Bazilah Razali

The term "non-flying small mammals" in Borneo refers to 4 taxonomic orders : Erinacemporpha, Soricomorpha, Scandentia, Mustelidae, and Rodentia. A study was conducted on the non-flying small mammals at 6 different trails namely Liwagu, Kiau, Mempening, Bukit Burung, Silau-Silau and Bundu Tuhan within 4 months from January to April 2014 inside Kinabalu Park. The objectives were to identify the species of non-flying small mammals, determine its distribution and abundance in Kinabalu Park. Total trapping effort was 130 traps used with 46 individuals of small mammals comprising 6 species and 4 families caught at all trails. The distribution of non-flying small mammals was not evenly distributed in Kinabalu Park. This might due to the many factors such as human activities, heavy rainfall, traps design, traps placement and bait used (Fonturbel, 2009) that contribute to such distribution. The diversity of the non-flying small mammals in the study area is 0.8318 which below than fair level (Kruger, 2005). Tupaia montana that was the most abundance in Kinabalu Park and it dominance (Kobayashi et ai, 1980) has influence the species index diversity in the study area. It is recommend that this study to be conducted more specific on the vegetation, microhabitat, macrohabitat and habitat preferences of the non-flying small mammals to determine more accurately the distribution and abundance for conservation purpose.