MOST residents of Bukit Damansara today would not imagine that some 100 years ago their precious plots of land were homes to elephants and even the grandiose wild Seladang. In spite of the almost complete occupation and annihilation of wildlife habitats by the species called Homo sapiens, blessedly there are a few of the smaller species of wild mammals, birds, and reptiles around for us to adore. This is possible because of the tiny green patches and a few vacant housing lots that are still around in Damansara.
It won’t be for long when all will be lost to the single dominant species or will the Kuala Lumpur Master (Local) Plan help save some wildlife that is still thriving in the green patches here and there? For now, besides the green patches, a small number of free-living wildlife are on plots of land, earmarked as temporary occupation land (TOL), to brighten our lives.
We should not expect these multimillion dollar pieces of land in Bukit Damansara to remain vacant for long.
But while they lay vacant, some feathered friends are enjoying high living by building homes on these RM450 per sq ft land for free.
One of them is the migratory Bluethroated Bee-eater (Merops viridis) which build 3-5 ft deep nest-tunnels into the cut surfaces of hilly slopes or man-made terraces.
Being gregarious by nature they nest in colonies of anything from a few nesting holes to about a dozen nests. Colonies of several thousand birds had been reported in this country at one time — not in urban areas of course.
These chatty birds are colourful and full of life, flying with grace and skillfully grabbing flying insects in midair to feed their siblings down the 3-5 ft tunnels.
When not on their wings, they are frequently seen perched on telephone wires resting or bashing insects against it and wiping their beak clean.
They breed in our country from April to June before taking off to Sumatra in August/September to return again in February. Some northwards migration occurs in April and May.
We are the custodian of our natural national heritage by virtue of our position in the hierarchy of living organisms.
So far we have failed to live up to our claims of having superior intellect to the rest of other creatures, by our actions.
Why does a superior organism ignore or even destroy the web of life support-system that will result in its own extinction? Everyone knows the commercial value of land in urban areas and understand the needs to meet human demands but I cannot accept the neglect of other species that contribute to the quality of our life especially in stressful city environment.
Kuala Lumpur must not only keep all her green patches intact, but make sincere attempts to enlarge them.
They (green patches) should also be connected to each other by tree clusters and tunnels so that the small population of small mammals, birds and reptiles can continue to thrive in the urban environment.
