FRIM

There is one ecological organization that specializes in the research of Malaysian rainforest and native flora. The organization is the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM).When FRIM is mentioned, it is often in reference to different geo-tourism locations and events you can participate in the Kuala Lumpur area. An example of this is FRIM’s canopy walk through a tropical forest park that has views of the skyline.

FRIM also gives donations and support to Zoo Negara and P&G. They give funds for new landscaping and for new enclosures like the panda exhibits. But they also have been providing support for the zoo’s desire to include more educational spots on the native tropical trees that are around the grounds. The reason that the trees are tagged throughout the zoo is so they can keep track of the different species and provide some labeling. Some of the trees around the park already have genus-species tags provided by FRIM.

Since I have been at the zoo, FRIM has visited a couple of times. The first time was to check the number tags of trees along the pathways to get a working list of species needing labels and to view the bamboo areas and panda exhibits for which they have been giving funds. The second time they visited the new labels were placed on a couple of trees and the size of tags needed for each of the trees was tested along the visitor areas.