The great 19th century naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace (1823 – 1913) was the first to observe that the Indonesia archipelago is inhabited by two distinct sets of wildlife. Wallace’s Line, as this boundary is still known, is drawn between Bali and Lombok and between Kalimantan and Sulawesi, and continues South of the Philippines and North of Hawaii to mark the difference in the fauna and flora which belonged to the separate land masses in the last ice age.
Sulawesi is believed to have been isolated from both continental shelves and therefore has its own special flora and fauna. Although Kalimantan and Sulawesi are not separated by any significant physical barrier, birds and mammals of these two islands are different. From the botanical standpoint the line is less apparent, Sulawesi’s plants appear to be more closely related to those of other dry parts of the archipelago.
Indigenous to Sulawesi are the Anoa (dwarf buffalo), Babi Rusa (a wilds boar with tusks growing through the roof of its mouth), black tailless macaques, kuskus, maleo bird (which incubates its 250 gram eggs in mounds of soil warmed by sunlight, hot springs or volcanic vents), tarsier (tarsius spectrum -world’s smallest primate) with its head and body length of just 10 cm, brightly colored Red – knobbed Hornbill, etc. Many of these species may seen in Tangkoko Batuangus Nature Reserve and Bogani Nani Wartabone (formerly known as Dumoga Bone) National Park.
Several high-quality woods can be found in these two natural reserves, such as Ebony, Ironwood, linggua, gopasa, nantu, meranti, etc. Rattan and colorful orchids as well as various wild palms and other plant species grow in abundance in the forest throughout the region.
