Some visits to Batam Island
C. Boden Kloss, a Fellow of the Zoological Society, published this field account in 1908 documenting two short collecting expeditions to Batam Island (1905 and 1906), situated nine miles off Singapore. The article presents the first naturalist investigation of the island’s fauna, arguing that Batam’s mammal assemblage is predominantly Sumatran rather than Peninsular in character, and that the island group of Batam, Bulang, Rempang, and Galang forms a distinct faunistic unit more closely allied to the western islands than to Bintang to the east (pp. 61, 70–71).
Summary
Kloss’s account takes the form of journal extracts from two visits: the first in September 1905, a week-long stay at Senimba Bay where he established a base in a deserted Chinese shop and set traps across the island’s hills; and the second in March–April 1906, a longer expedition initially aimed at Bulang Peak but redirected back to Senimba Bay after finding the peak’s forest cleared and devoid of animal life. The narrative is driven by the practical difficulties of collecting on a small, partly cleared island—poor jungle, swampy terrain, unreliable native reports of game, and the persistent elusiveness of the bearded pig (Sus oi), which Kloss repeatedly observed but never successfully shot (pp. 61–67).
The core argument emerges in the taxonomic list that follows the journal entries. Kloss identifies thirteen mammal species obtained and two more observed, while nine additional species were reported by locals but unconfirmed. He notes that only Mus concolor and Cynopterus montanoi are Peninsular forms, whereas Mus lingensis, M. firmus, and Sus oi are known from Sumatra and the Riau-Lingga Archipelago alone, and that Arctogalidia simplex, Sus rhionis, and Tragulus perflavus are otherwise restricted to the archipelago (pp. 67–70). Two new taxa are described: Tupaia ferruginea batamana (a subspecies distinguished by skull measurements) and Mus batamanus, a jerdoni-type rat from damp littoral forest (pp. 68, 69).
Kloss also records two new plant species later described by H. N. Ridley—Neckia klossii and Didymocarpus battamensis—the latter notable for growing at sea level, contrary to the expected altitudinal habitat of the genus (p. 71).
Key Findings
- Thirteen mammal species were obtained across the two visits, two more were observed, and nine further species were reported by locals but unconfirmed (p. 67).
- Tragulus javanicus perflavus, a new mouse-deer species, is distinguished by its bright pelage and pure orange neck free from black shading; it is also recorded from Pulo Galang and Bulang, and contrasts sharply with the dark, black-collared T. formosus of Bintang Island only five miles away (p. 70).
- Mus batamanus, a new species of the jerdoni type, was captured in damp littoral forest; all rats in this group appear to favour swampy ground (p. 69).
- Arctogalidia simplex (small civet) was the third known specimen of the species, shot while running along a high tree branch (p. 68).
- The 10-fathom contour lines break the Riau-Lingga islands into distinct faunistic groups, with Batam, Bulang, Rempang, and Galang forming one of the largest such groups, connected to both Sumatra and the Peninsula by a bank of less than 20 fathoms (p. 71).
- Two new plant species, Neckia klossii and Didymocarpus battamensis, were collected and subsequently described by H. N. Ridley in JSBRAS No. 49 (p. 71).
Conclusion
Kloss concludes that Batam’s mammal fauna is decisively Sumatran in affinity, and that the small island group of Batam, Bulang, Rempang, and Galang constitutes a coherent faunistic unit more closely related to the western islands than to Bintang. He anticipates that Bintang, when fully investigated, will prove the most interesting island of the entire archipelago, and notes that the interior of Batam—where good jungle may still exist—remains unexplored and would require a camping expedition to yield its full complement of species (pp. 70–71).
Context
- Kloss was a professional naturalist operating within the colonial scientific infrastructure of the Straits Settlements; his access to the island was facilitated by the Dutch colonial administration (the Controleur at Pulo Boyan), and his collecting was conducted among Chinese and Bugis plantation communities and a tribe of Proto-Malays he describes as “still little affected by outside influences” (pp. 61, 64).
- The article represents an early contribution to the biogeographical delineation of the Riau-Lingga Archipelago, a region whose faunistic boundaries were still being established at the turn of the twentieth century.