Understanding Borneo: Fauna
Animals do not form the structure of the landscape. They move through it. This series introduces fauna as systems of movement, timing, presence, and interaction within Borneo’s environments.
What we observe is often partial. Absence, delay, and uncertainty are integral to understanding animal life.
The world is not static
Unlike plants, animals are not fixed in place. They move across ground, through vegetation, into water, and out of sight. Observation captures only moments within longer sequences of activity.
This series begins with how animals pass through space and time, rather than with species names or checklists.
The observer is part of the system
Observation is not neutral. Human presence alters sound, movement, and behavior. Animals may pause, withdraw, or remain unseen.
In FAUNA, what is not observed can be as meaningful as what is seen.
Movement
How bodies move through space: walking, climbing, gliding, flying, swimming, or drifting. Many animals participate in multiple movement systems.
Time
When activity occurs: day and night cycles, seasonal windows, brief events, or rare appearances. Absence at one moment does not imply absence overall.
Presence
How animals are detected: direct sighting, partial glimpse, sound, tracks, disturbance, or tool-mediated observation.
Interaction
How animals relate to plants, other animals, humans, and built structures within shared environments.
Absence is information
Many animals are known through indirect signs rather than direct observation. Tracks, sounds, damaged vegetation, and fleeting traces are treated as valid data within this series.
FAUNA recognises that incomplete visibility is a defining feature of living animal systems.
How to use this series
- Begin with situations you have experienced, not animals you recognise.
- Observe movement, timing, and traces before identifying species.
- Accept uncertainty as part of understanding living systems.
Species-focused pages appear later as examples and applications, not as the conceptual foundation.
Saturday, 24 January, 2026 11:13:51 PM