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Kinabalu National Park Facts

Kinabalu National Park Facts
Kinabalu National Park is a 754 square kilometer park located in Sabah, Malaysia on the island of Borneo. Kinabalu was designated a national park in 1964, and contains some of the world's most important biological flora and fauna. It is home to the highest mountain - Mount Kinabalu - located between New Guinea and the Himalayas. Kinabalu National Park was the first UNESCO World Heritage Site to be designated as such in Malaysia, in 2000. There are four climate zones in the park because of Mount Kinabalu in the park, and there are a variety of endemic species present as well.
Interesting Kinabalu National Park Facts:
Kinabalu National Park is located on Borneo's northern end.
Mount Kinabalu is one of the world's youngest mountains in the world that was not created by a volcano. It was created by tectonic activity.
Mount Kinabalu is 4,095 meters in height and continues to grow. It is believed to have been formed somewhere between 10 and 35 years ago and is still growing each year by approximately 5 millimeters.
The peak of Mount Kinabalu was first reached by Hugh Low, a British colonial, in 1851. The mountain's highest peak was later named Low's Peak, after him.
The four climate zones in Kinabalu National Park create an environment for a rich and diverse plant life. The vegetation regions include the lowland dipterocarp forest, montane forest, cloud forest, and the sub-alpine zone.
There are tarsiers, Bornean gibbons, and orang-utans in Kinabalu National Park but it is rare for visitors to actually see these mammal species. The most commonly seen creatures are the squirrels, mouse deer, and tree shrews.
Kinabalu National Park is home to more than 11 species of land snails. It is also home to 326 bird species and at least 100 mammal species.
In the lowland dipterocarp vegetation region is the tropical forest section of Kinabalu National Park and includes bamboos, palms, mango trees, rattan, hundreds of fern species, and more than 1000 orchid species.
In the lower montane vegetation region is temperate forest section of Kinabalu National Park and includes chestnut trees, eucalyptus trees, ferns, pitcher plants including the plant Nepenthes rajah, which is a carnivorous plant and has even been known to trap and drown small mammals.
In the cloud forest vegetation region is the section where rhododendrons are most prevalent. 26 of the 50 species in Borneo grow in this region of Kinabalu National Park.
In the sub-alpine vegetation region is the alpine meadow section of Kinabalu National Park and includes buttercups, grassy meadows, mountain orchids, and mosses.
There are two birds in Kinabalu National Park that are not seen elsewhere in the world - the Kinabalu mountain blackbird and the Kinabalu friendly warbler. There are also eagles, hornbills, and the Malaysian tree pie which has a tail that reaches one foot in length.
Visitors to Kinabalu National Park are often there to climb Mount Kinabalu - which is a trip that must be done with a guide.
Only 130 people are given permission to climb Mount Kinabalu in one day.


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