Wild Pygmy Elephant in Borneo, Sabah, Malaysia

While taking a wildlife boat tour in Sukau, Sabah, Malaysia we spotted a wild Pygmy Elephant. We heard there were some wild Pygmy Elephants in the area of Sukau migrating along the Kinabatangan River. So we decided to take a morning boat trip to explore in hopes to spot these wild elephants. I have never seen wild elephants in their natural habitat, so being able to see them was quite special. This particular Pygmy Elephant seems to be a little curious of us. We were able to find the small herd along an inlet of the Kinabatangan River. This was in the month of October 2019. Pygmy Elephants are some of the smallest elephant breeds. They are a subspecies of Asian Elephants and are currently listed on the endangered list. Wild elephants, in general, can be hard to spot since they try to avoid interacting with humans. This is why the boat tours offered on the Kinabatangan River can not guarantee you will be able to see wild Pygmy Elephants. Even if you are not able to see them, you will most likely encounter some proboscis monkeys, macaques, hornbill birds, and in some cases even orangutans. We were lucky enough to be able to see all the aforementioned animals in the wild.