Wildlife & Natural Reserves

A vast archipelago with a total of 17,508 islands has made Indonesia the home of a large variety of plant and animal life, both terrestrial and aquatic. As the land mass is divided into islands, often mountainous, many terrestrial species are endemic, originating and living in one particular island or part of a larger island. Zoologists divide Indonesia into three zones. Zone 1, nearest the Asian continent, was defined by British Naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace in the 19th century.

Climate did not appear to be the deciding factor. In his theory Wallace postulated that because the islands of Sumatera, Java and Kalimantan were joined to Asia by the now submerged Sunda Shelf, the Indo Malayan fauna had not spread beyond the shelves eastern boundary which came to be known as the Wallace Line. Zone II, is the intermediate zone between the Indo-Malayan zone and Zone III where Australian animal and plant-life predominate. Sulawesi, in particular has an unusually high proportion of endemic species and there is even a marked difference between the flora and avifauna of Zone I and Zone III.

In Zone III, both the fauna and flora are predominantly Australian in character and affinity, as these islands share the same continental shelves, the Sahul Shelves with Australia.