Borneo’s mind-blowing natural heritage - pristine forests that are 4 million years old!

The necessity of preserving forest cover is not just essential from the environment point of view but also because they are pristine. Recently, fossils of leaf found in Borneo have been studied for the first time in detail and it came up with a startling revelation – these rainforests covering the island have been in place for at least 4 million years and nurturing life as per a report in sciencealert.com!

The present look of the forests – dominated by dipterocarp trees – is what it was 2.6 and 5.3 million years ago, that is in the Pliocene Epoch, making it necessary to preserve this invaluable ecosystem for the future, said the scientists.

Home to more than 50 per cent of the total species in the world, Borneo has 270 types of dipterocarp trees and considering that tropical biodiversity in Asia is under threat, it is essential to help in its preservation.

Talking about this find, Peter Wilf a palaeobotanist from Pennsylvania State University said: "This is the first demonstration that the characteristic dominant life form of Borneo and the entire Asian wet tropics, the dipterocarp trees, was not only present but actually dominant. We found many more fossils of dipterocarps than any other plant group."

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