11 Awesome Native Animals You Can See in Indonesia

Indonesia’s rich diversity extends beyond the people, culture, and ethnicities. The sprawling
archipelago is also home to a myriad of wildlife that will fascinate anyone. From birds to
primates, discover awesome native animals you can only see in Indonesia.

Komodo
There are many ways to describe this peculiar
species found in the exotic islands of Komodo, Rinca,
Padar, and Flores in Indonesia. Some observe the
measurements and conclude it is the tallest and
biggest lizard in the world at three meters long. Others
focus on the evolution of this dragon, labeling
Komodo as one of dinosaurs’ close relatives and the
oldest ancient species still living today. It’s safe to venture off the Komodo Islands to spot
one of these carnivorous big lizards while enjoying the picturesque landscape of the exotic
islands, just make sure you learn the safety rules thoroughly.

Orangutan
This adorable primate with large black eyes and
almost humanlike manners is the prima donna of
Indonesia’s lush and extensive forest. Tourists can’t
get over how exotic and precious these friendly
creatures are, hanging about the trees or feeding
their infants. Unfortunately, deforestation has led to
the endangerment of this species, so if encountering
orangutan is something you’d be interested in, you might as well volunteer to help build and
rehabilitate their habitat. That’s much more meaningful and interactive than observing them
from outside the rails of a zoo.

Maleo
Sulawesi is home to thriving wildlife, especially a myriad of endemic birds. Even so, the
Maleo birds still set themselves apart for many reasons. First, there are the bizarre physical
features, with turkey-like body structures, cheery tail, a bleak black body feather, peach belly,
 and a curiously more colorful head and casque. Then
there are the peculiar manners that make observing
these birds so pleasing — their swift feet movements
and nesting habits are surely captivating.

Helmeted hornbill
This bird’s physique is indeed fascinating, with its iconic bright helmet and extensive
wingspan. But perhaps what makes this helmeted hornbill so remarkable is the cultural
meanings given to the species. In West Kalimantan or Borneo, this hornbill species is
celebrated as a symbol of the divine realms, often manifested in traditional arts and carvings.
While it may be challenging to spot one of these peculiar birds nowadays, you can hear their
uncanny shrieking sound, which many say sounds like loud laughter, from two kilometers
away.

Babirusa
In the Indonesian language, the name of this
species is composite of pig (babi), and deer (rusa).
And that’s one valid way to describe this striking
creature. At a glance, babirusa looks like an odd
jumble of a pig’s head and deer’s legs, and savage
tusks. Babirusas do belong to the pig family, but
the deer-like features extend to the physical and
even digestive systems, making this species so fascinating to observe. Babirusa can be
spotted in North Sulawesi and some of the province’s nearby islands.

Anoa
Often described as midget buffalo, anoa’s physique resembles a scaled-down water buffalo,
with a hint of a deer in its appearance. Different species of anoa live in the mountain and
lowland, typically in lush rainforests in Sulawesi, Indonesia. With two sharp backward-facing
horns, the world’s smallest buffalo is a fascinating creature to observe. Unfortunately, locals
are increasingly hunting anoas for their meat, pushing them onto the dreaded endangered list.
The Black Ape
Officially the Celebes crested macaque or black macaque, this
stunning primate is almost entirely black, with the exception of
some silver-ish feathers on the shoulder range. Being a social
animal, black macaques live in groups of five to 25 or more,
where female adults usually outnumber the males. Human
population has been a great threat to the black apes’ sustainability,
but many of these creatures live somewhat more freely in the small neighboring islands of
Sulawesi, compared to the ones in the mainland.

Cendrawasih
Cendrawasih is an endemic species that belongs to the
family Paradisaeidae, or birds-of-paradise. These majestic, vibrantly
colorful birds can be found in Papua, the easternmost island of
Indonesia. These birds, especially the males, have very ornate and
delicate feathers with bright inviting colors and long tails that hang
gracefully from their bodies. Cendrawasih can have multiple mixes of
colors, from yellow, brown, red, orange, to different hues of blues and
violets.
Javan rhinoceros
Similar to common rhinoceros, this species from Java has the firm armor-like skin and strong
anterior structure. One distinctive bodily feature of the Javan rhinos is their relatively small
one horn, in contrast to two, as usually boasted by other rhino species. Once one of Asia’s
most widespread rhino, illegal hunting and deforestation have killed most of its population,
leaving just a couple of dozen in the western tip of Java.

Sumatran tigers
Sumatran tigers are distinguishable from their relatives by
their darker fur color with stronger contrast of orange to
reddish brown and black stripes. They are also known for
being the smallest tiger sub-species, but not any less
ferocious. The populations of Sumatran tigers are scattered
across the island of Sumatra, typically in deep forests and national parks, but sadly their
population is rapidly declining due to habitat loss and illegal trade.
Bali starlings
This stunning avifauna has been the emblem bird of Bali, mostly found in their pristine
habitat in the northwestern part of the island paradise, far away from the much more touristy
spots. The endemic bird has mostly clear white feathers, with a striking bright blue patch
around each eye and varyingly spiky feathers on the top of their heads. The Bali starlings are
often part of temple ceremonies, where several of them are being released as a traditional
ritual.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

National Geographic (formerly the National Geographic Magazine, sometimes

branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by the National
Geographic Society. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely read
magazines of all time. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine months
after the establishment of the society, but is now a popular magazine. In 1905, it began
including pictures, a style for which it became well-known. Its first color photos appeared in
the 1910s. During the Cold War, the magazine committed itself to presenting a balanced view
of the physical and human geography of nations beyond the Iron Curtain. In later years, the
magazine became outspoken on environmental issues. Since 2019, controlling interest has
been held by The Walt Disney Company.
Topics of features generally concern science, geography, history, and world culture.
The magazine is well known for its distinctive appearance: a thick square-bound glossy
format with a yellow rectangular border. Map supplements from National Geographic
Maps are included with subscriptions. It is available in a traditional printed edition and an
interactive online edition.
As of 1995, the magazine was circulated worldwide in nearly 40 local-language
editions and had a global circulation of at least 6.5 million per month (down from about 12
million in the late 1980s), including 3.5 million within the U.S. As of April 2022, its
Instagram page has 216 million followers, the most of any account not belonging to an
individual celebrity. As of 2015, the magazine had won 25 National Magazine Awards.

History
The first issue of the National Geographic Magazine was published on September 22,
1888, nine months after the Society was founded. It was initially a scholarly journal sent to
165 charter members; currently, it reaches the hands of 40 million people each month.
Starting with its January 1905 publication of several full-page pictures of Tibet in 1900–01,
the magazine changed from being a text-oriented publication to featuring extensive pictorial
content, and became well known for this style. The June 1985 cover portrait of the presumed
to be 12-year-old Afghan girl Sharbat Gula, shot by photographer Steve McCurry, became
one of the magazine's most recognizable images.[citation needed]
National Geographic Kids, the children's version of the magazine, was launched in 1975
under the name National Geographic World.
In the late 1990s, the magazine began publishing The Complete National Geographic,
an electronic compendium of every past issue of the magazine. It was then sued over
copyright of the magazine as a collective work in Greenberg v. National Geographic and
other cases, and temporarily withdrew the compilation. The magazine eventually prevailed in
the dispute, and in July 2009 resumed publishing all past issues through December 2008.
More recent issues were later added to the collection; the archive and electronic edition of the
magazine are available online to the magazine's subscribers.
In September 2015, the National Geographic Society moved the magazine to National
Geographic Partners, in which 21st Century Fox held a 73% controlling interest.
From December 2017 until March 2019, Disney acquired 21st Century Fox, including the
latter's interest in National Geographic Partners. NG Media publishing unit was operationally
transferred into Disney Publishing Worldwide.

Administration
The current editor-in-chief of the magazine is Susan Goldberg.[1] Goldberg is also
editorial director for National Geographic Partners, overseeing the print and digital
expression of National Geographic's editorial content across its media platforms
including National Geographic magazine. She is responsible for the news, National
Geographic Traveler magazine, National Geographic History magazine, and maps. She is
also responsible for all the editorial digital content with the exception of National
Geographic Books and Kids. Goldberg reports to Gary Knell, CEO of National Geographic
Partners.

Editors-in-chief
The magazine had a single "editor" from 1888 to 1920. From 1920 to 1967, the chief
editorship was held by the president of the National Geographic Society. Since 1967, the
magazine has been overseen by its own "editor" and/or "editor-in-chief". The list of editors-
in-chief includes three generations of the Grosvenor family between 1903 and 1980.
 John Hyde: (October 1888 – September 1900; Editor-in-Chief: September 1900 –
February 1903)
 Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor (1875–1966): (Editor-in-Chief: February 1903 – January
1920; Managing Editor: September 1900 – February 1903; Assistant Editor: May
1899 – September 1900)
 Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor: (1920–1954) (president of the society and editor-in-chief at
the same time)
 John Oliver La Gorce (1879–1959): (May 1954 – January 1957) (president of the
society at the same time)
 Melville Bell Grosvenor (1901–1982): (January 1957 – August 1967) (president of
the society at the same time) (thereafter editor-in-chief to 1977)
 Frederick Vosburgh (1905–2005): (August 1967 – October 1970)
 Gilbert Melville Grosvenor (born 1931): (October 1970 – July 1980) (then became
president of the society)
 Wilbur E. Garrett: (July 1980 – April 1990)
 William Graves: (April 1990 – December 1994)
 William L. Allen: (January 1995 – January 2005)
 Chris Johns: (January 2005 – April 2014) (first "editor-in-chief" since MBG)
 Susan Goldberg: (April 2014 – April 2022)
 Nathan Lump: (May 2022 – present)

Articles
During the Cold War, the magazine committed itself to presenting a balanced view of
the physical and human geography of nations beyond the Iron Curtain. The magazine printed
articles on Berlin, de-occupied Austria, the Soviet Union, and Communist China that
deliberately downplayed politics to focus on culture. In its coverage of the Space
Race, National Geographic focused on the scientific achievement while largely avoiding
reference to the race's connection to nuclear arms buildup. There were also many articles in
the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s about the individual states and their resources, along with
supplementary maps of each state. Many of these articles were written by longtime staff such
as Frederick Simpich. There were also articles about biology and science topics.
In later years, articles became outspoken on issues such as environmental
issues, deforestation, chemical pollution, global warming, and endangered species. Series of
articles were included focusing on the history and varied uses of specific products such as a
single metal, gem, food crop, or agricultural product, or an archaeological discovery.
Occasionally an entire month's issue would be devoted to a single country, past civilization, a
natural resource whose future is endangered, or other theme. In recent decades, the National
Geographic Society has unveiled other magazines with different focuses. Whereas in the past,
the magazine featured lengthy expositions, recent issues have shorter articles.

Photography
In addition to being well known for articles about scenery, history, and the most
distant corners of the world, the magazine has been recognized for its book-like quality and
its standard of photography. It was during the tenure of Society President Alexander Graham
Bell and editor Gilbert H. Grosvenor (GHG) that the significance of illustration was first
emphasized, in spite of criticism from some of the Board of Managers who considered the
many illustrations an indicator of an “unscientific” conception of geography. By 1910,
photographs had become the magazine's trademark and Grosvenor was constantly on the
search for "dynamical pictures" as Graham Bell called them, particularly those that provided
a sense of motion in a still image. In 1915, GHG began building the group of staff
photographers and providing them with advanced tools including the latest darkroom.
The magazine began to feature some pages of color photography in the early 1930s,
when this technology was still in its early development. During the mid-1930s, Luis
Marden (1913–2003), a writer and photographer for National Geographic, convinced the
magazine to allow its photographers to use the so-called "miniature" 35 mm Leica cameras
loaded with Kodachrome film over bulkier cameras with heavy glass plates that required the
use of tripods. In 1959, the magazine started publishing small photographs on its covers, later
becoming larger photographs. National Geographic photography quickly shifted to digital
photography for both its printed magazine and its website. In subsequent years, the cover,
while keeping its yellow border, shed its oak leaf trim and bare table of contents, to allow for
a full page photograph taken for one of the month's articles. Issues of National
Geographic are often kept by subscribers for years and re-sold at thrift stores as collectibles.
The standard for photography has remained high over the subsequent decades and the
magazine is still illustrated with some of the highest-quality photojournalism in the world. In
2006, National Geographic began an international photography competition, with over
eighteen countries participating.
In conservative Muslim countries like Iran and Malaysia, photographs featuring
topless or scantily clad members of primitive tribal societies are often blacked out; buyers
and subscribers often complain that this practice decreases the artistic value of the
photographs for which National Geographic is known.
In association with Trends Publications in Beijing and IDG Asia, National
Geographic has been authorized for "copyright cooperation" in China to publish the yellow-
border magazine, which launched with the July 2007 issue of the magazine with an event in
Beijing on July 10, 2007, and another event on December 6, 2007, in Beijing also celebrating
the 29th anniversary of normalization of U.S.–China relations featuring former
President Jimmy Carter. The mainland China version is one of the two local-language
editions that bump the National Geographic logo off its header in favor of a local-language
logo; the other one is the Persian version published under the name Gita Nama.
Worldwide editions are sold on newsstands in addition to regular subscriptions. In
several countries, such as Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Turkey and Ukraine National
Geographic paved the way for a subscription model in addition to traditional newsstand sales.
In the United States, newsstand sales began in 1998; previously, membership in the National
Geographic Society was the only way to receive the magazine.

Awards
On May 1, 2008, National Geographic won three National Magazine Awards—an
award solely for its written content—in the reporting category for an article by Peter
Hessler on the Chinese economy; an award in the photojournalism category for work by John
Stanmeyer on malaria in the Third World; and a prestigious award for general excellence.
Between 1980 and 2011 the magazine has won a total of 24 National Magazine Awards.
In May 2006, 2007, and 2011 National Geographic magazine won the American
Society of Magazine Editors' General Excellence Award in the over two million circulation
category. In 2010, National Geographic Magazine received the top ASME awards for
photojournalism and essay. In 2011, National Geographic Magazine received the top-award
from ASME—the Magazine of the Year Award.
In April 2014, National Geographic received the National Magazine Award ("Ellie")
for best tablet edition for its multimedia presentation of Robert Draper's story "The Last
Chase," about the final days of a tornado researcher who was killed in the line of duty.
In February 2017, National Geographic received the National Magazine Award ("Ellie") for
best website. National Geographic won the 2020 Webby Award for News & Magazines in
the category Apps, Mobile & Voice. National Geographic won the 2020 Webby Award and
Webby People's Voice Award for Magazine in the category Web.

Controversies
On the magazine's February 1982 cover, the pyramids of Giza were altered, resulting
in the first major scandal of the digital photography age and contributing to photography's
"waning credibility". The cover of the October 1988 issue featured a photo of a large ivory
male portrait whose authenticity, particularly the alleged Ice Age provenance, has been
questioned.
In 1999, the magazine was embroiled in the Archaeoraptor scandal, in which it
purported to have a fossil linking birds to dinosaurs. The fossil was a forgery. In 2010, the
magazine's Your Shot competition was awarded to William Lascelles for a photograph
presented as a portrait of a dog with fighter jets flying over its shoulder. Lascelles had, in
reality, created the image using photo editing software. In March 2018, the editor of National
Geographic, Susan Goldberg, said that historically the magazine's coverage of people around
the world had been racist. Goldberg stated that the magazine ignored non-white Americans
and showed different groups as exotic, thereby promoting racial clichés.