The Crocker Mountains () form a

range Range may refer to: Geography * Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra) ** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands * Range, a term used to i ...

that separates the West Coast and Interior divisions of

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah has land borders with the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and Indonesia's North Kalima ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. At an average height of , it is the highest mountain range in the state. It is named after a 19th century British administrator of

North Borneo North Borneo (usually known as British North Borneo, also known as the State of North Borneo) was a British Protectorate, British protectorate in the northern part of the island of Borneo, (present-day Sabah). The territory of North Borneo wa ...

, William Maunder Crocker.

Geology

The mountain range is made up of uplifted and folded

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock (geology), rock formed by the cementation (geology), cementation of sediments—i.e. particles made of minerals (geological detritus) or organic matter (biological detritus)—that have been accumulated or de ...

s consisting of weathered soft

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

s and

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of Clay mineral, clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g., Kaolinite, kaolin, aluminium, Al2Silicon, Si2Oxygen, O5(hydroxide, OH)4) and tiny f ...

s. The highest point is

Mount Kinabalu Mount Kinabalu ( Dusun: ''Gayo Ngaran'' or ''Nulu Nabalu'', ) is the highest mountain in Malaysia and Borneo. With a height of , it is the third-highest peak of an island on Earth, the 28th highest peak in Southeast Asia, and 20th most prom ...

at . Most of the park boundary lies above with its lowlands used for

cash crop A cash crop, also called profit crop, is an Agriculture, agricultural crop which is grown to sell for profit. It is typically purchased by parties separate from a farm. The term is used to differentiate a marketed crop from a staple crop ("subsi ...

s and paddy field. On the eastern side of the mountain range lies the Tambunan Valley at which is mainly terraced paddy fields, and groves of

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...

border the north-eastern part of the protected park. The park area is important as a water catchment to supply water to various rivers in the west coast and interior districts of Sabah including the

Papar River The Papar River () is a river in West Coast Division, northwestern Sabah of Malaysia. It has a total length of from its headwaters in the mountains of northwest Sabah to its outlet at the South China Sea, northwest of Papar, Malaysia, Papar to ...

, the Kimanis River, the Bongawan River, the Membakut River, the Padas River and the Melalap River that flow west to the park while the Pegalan River, the Pampang River, the Apin-Apin River, the Tendulu River, the Melalap River, the Liawan River and the Tikalod River flow in the opposite direction.

History

The area surrounding

has been a state park since 1964 and was the country's first

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

. Part of the mountain range has been gazetted for protection as

Crocker Range National Park Crocker Range National Park () was established in 1984, although the area had previously been under protection as a forest reserve. It covers the north-south Crocker Range, of 1200-1800 metre mountains in Sabah, Malaysia. In the vicinity of pa ...

since 1984. Through the Bornean Biodiversity and Ecosystems Conservation Programme (BBEC), a technical co-operation existed between the

government of Sabah The Sabah State Government is an authority governing Sabah, one of Borneo states of Malaysia, based in Kota Kinabalu, the state capital. The state government adheres to and is created by both the Federal Constitution of Malaysia, the supreme law ...

and the

Japan International Cooperation Agency The Japan International Cooperation Agency (), also known as JICA'','' is a governmental agency that delivers the bulk of Official Development Assistance (ODA) for the government of Japan. It is chartered with assisting economic and social gr ...

(JICA) to innovate the Community Use Zone (CUZ) concept as a management option to address the issues concerning indigenous communities living and utilising resources within the protected areas. Mount Kinabalu, one of the highest mountains in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

, is a part of this mountain range. In 2014, the range was recognised as a

UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) is an intergovernmental scientific program, launched in 1971 by UNESCO, that aims to establish a scientific basis for the 'improvement of relationships' between people and their environments. MAB engages w ...

, becoming the second Malaysian site to be so designated, after Chini Lake in the state of

Pahang {{Infobox political division , name = Pahang , official_name = Pahang Darul Makmur , native_name = , settlement_type = States and federal territories of Malaysia, State , image_skyline = , imagesize ...

on the peninsular side.

Biodiversity

The Crocker Mountains Forest Reserve area has a wide range of

flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

l and

fauna Fauna (: faunae or faunas) is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding terms for plants and fungi are ''flora'' and '' funga'', respectively. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively ...

l diversity and has the highest diversity of

nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...

insects in all the 20 forest reserves surveyed within the

Heart of Borneo The Heart of Borneo is a conservation agreement initiated by the World Wide Fund for Nature to protect a 220,000 km² forested region on Borneo island. The agreement was signed by the governments of Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia in Bali on ...

area in Sabah; it has recorded a number of endemic species.

Gallery

File:Crock Range map.png, Map of the mountain range File:Sabah CrockerMountainRange-02.jpg, The mountain range with a

sea of clouds A sea of clouds is an overcast layer of stratocumulus clouds, as viewed from above, with a relatively uniform top which shows undulations of very different lengths resembling waves on the sea. A sea of fog is formed from stratus clouds or fog ...

File:Nabalu Sabah CrockerMountainRange-01.jpg, The mountain range as seen from Ranau District File:Sabah CrockerMountainRange-06.jpg, View of the mountain range from Ranau–Tamparuli Road File:Tuaran Sabah ViewsFromLingSanPagoda-09.jpg, The mountain range as seen from Ling San Pagoda in

Tuaran District The Tuaran District () is an Districts of Malaysia#Sabah, administrative district in the Malaysian state of Sabah, part of the West Coast Division which includes the districts of Kota Belud District, Kota Belud, Kota Kinabalu District, Kota Kina ...

References

External links

* {{Geography of Sabah Mountain ranges of Malaysia Landforms of Sabah Important Bird Areas of Sabah Biosphere reserves of Malaysia Borneo montane rain forests