Nature 189, 166 (14 January 1961); doi:10.1038/189166a0

An Extinct Giant Pangolin and Associated Mammals from Niah Cave, Sarawak

TOM HARRISSON, D. A. HOOIJERMEDWAY

Sarawak Museum, Kuching.
Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leyden.
Department of Anatomy, University of Birmingham. Oct. 18.

EXAMINATION of the mammalian remains excavated from the west mouth of Niah Cave, Sarawak¹, in 1954–58 down to a depth of 72 in., which corresponds to a carbon-14 date of about 32,000 years B.P. (ref. 2), established a fauna containing only the lowland evergreen rain forest species of modern south-east Asia³; of those identified, only the Malay tapir⁴ and the tiger (an unerupted canine from Neolithic levels (E/G1, 6–12 in.)) are to-day unknown from the wild in Borneo.

1. See Harrisson, T. , Man, 59, 1 (1959), and Sarawak Mus. J., Nos. 12–14 (New Series), for earlier progress reports of this excavation.
2. Harrisson, T. , Sarawak Mus. J., 9, 137 (1959).
3. Medway Lord , Sarawak Mus. J., 8, 627 (1958).
4. Medway Lord , Sarawak Mus. J., 9, 146 (1959).
5. By extrapolation from figures given by Harrisson , l.c., ref. (2).
6. Still found in the cave; Medway Lord , Sarawak Mus. J., 8, 667 (1958).