Check out our live stream from the Boreno rain forest! We spotted many interesting creatures!

LIVE: ANT WALK IN THE BORNEO JUNGLE (Amazing Creatures Spotted!)

Hey, what’s up, AC Family! Welcome to another episode of the AntsCanada Ant Channel. Now, this week is going to be a little different. It’s not going to be a video, and the reason for that is because I was invited here for a kind of last-minute trip into the Borneo jungle.

Yes, we’re here in Sandakan, and it’s in Malaysia on the island of Borneo, and we’re here in the jungle — like literally in the jungle. So I wanted to do a livestream. We’re looking for ants here; there are so many amazing species of ants in the jungle, and you can find many of them at night. So here we go! Thanks for tuning in, AC Family.

We found our first species of ant up there! It looks like a Camponotus species. Great! It’s kind of far, but there — see it? It’s a soldier Camponotus climbing up this tree. Camponotus happens to be a very large genus of ant distributed widely in a lot of places around the world.

Now, on this excursion through the jungle at night, we will definitely run into other creatures, so we’re going to be looking for ants, but we will also find other cool creatures, and I’ll try to feature them. And sorry, guys, if we cut out — I apologize because we’re in the jungle, so internet isn’t the best. I’m going to try my best to stay connected. There’s a spider right here, but it seems like we’re having problems with focus.

Joining us today is our good friend Ariantho. Yes, hello! He is from here and is very well-versed in the species that are here in the jungle. Now, AC Family, this is kind of an adventure for us because in this jungle are all sorts of monkeys. You’ll find orangutans; you’ll even find a species of leopard around here.

So yes, thank you guys for tuning in! Who knows what will happen in this livestream here in the jungle? You just never know. Wow, guys, look at the size of that millipede! You guys see that? Have you seen our millipede episode where I introduced millipedes into the Golden Empire’s Hacienda Del Dorado? Well, these millipedes here are huge! They’re about three times the size and contain a toxin to most animals — hydrogen cyanide and hydrochloric acid. Very toxic! Yes, cool, right? Very neat.

We’re just walking down this path here. I hope we’re safe. Are we safe, Ariantho? Oh yeah, we’re safe, he says. Okay, great! And there’s also a river close by which is full of crocodiles, so hopefully, we don’t find any crocodiles here waiting to pounce on us. But Borneo is really a huge, diverse, lush jungle.

Oh wow, do you guys see that? See that tarantula? Guys, it’s an arboreal species of tarantula. See how big that is? Wow! Do you guys see that? It is incredible, and it is a female. Oh, I’m not sure actually; the pedipalps — oh, we have a bad connection. Sorry, guys, our connection isn’t the best, but take a look at that spider. That’s great! Wow! For all of you spider lovers, it’s amazing the number of creatures you’ll find here.

What do we see here? Oh, is that sap? Oh, interesting. So this tree is emitting some kind of sap, and I see isopods down there. See that? That’s incredible! Wow, you just never know what you’ll find here in the jungle.

As I was saying, the Borneo jungle is very lush. It’s truly a rainforest. We’re actually staying overnight here in this rainforest, and it is so lush and so full of biodiversity that it’s — how many, 140 million years older than the Amazon rainforest, Ariantho? 140 million years old? Wow, that’s crazy!

Oh, he’s pointing at something else. What do we have here, Ariantho? Ooh, we have ants! Check out these ants, guys! Wow, they’re living in the tree and have created some kind of tunnel. Wow, they’re black ants, but they have this yellow thorax — their mesosoma is yellow. Sorry, guys, for the bad connection; I’m getting notifications that the connection is poor, but hopefully, you can see that. Wow, they are just living exclusively on this tree. Look at that! They’ve created a sort of tunnelway out of mud. I have no idea what species they are, and I’m not about to stick my finger on them either!

Guys, don’t forget to like, comment, and share this livestream if you’re enjoying it. Invite your friends to come watch because this is really an opportunity to see some creatures you don’t see every day. I wonder where the queen is. So far, I just see workers, and it’s not a polymorphic species; it seems like a monomorphic species as all the workers are the same size. Very cool! Ariantho here has a very good eye.

Oh, we see some here as well on this tree. See them? Great! Cool! Ariantho, so that’s the species you were talking about, right? The one you’ve seen. I wish we had some kind of taxonomist here to help us identify these species because I’ve seen species here so far that I’ve never seen before. I don’t know if you guys can hear, but there are all sorts of different sounds of creatures all around.

Today, a large orangutan actually came so close to us. It just walked on the path and walked right by us; I could have touched it. You guys will see that if you are following my personal vlogs on my channel, Mikey Bustos Vlogs. So subscribe to that channel too, guys! Don’t forget to like, comment, and share if you enjoy this livestream — let people know about it! We’re just venturing deep into this Borneo jungle here.

So far, we’ve seen a giant millipede, a giant tarantula, and some ants. I wonder what else we’ll run into here. I apologize once again for the bad connection, and if it’s blurry or pixelated, I apologize as we are out in the jungle, so internet isn’t the best.

Wow, so we were river boating earlier this afternoon, and I learned that there were so many crocodiles in that river that just two weeks ago a man lost his arms to the crocodiles. The jungle can be a very hostile place if you’re not prepared. Oh, hear that noise? Wow! And it’s actually pretty cool in the evening, at night.

So, Ariantho, are the monkeys asleep at this hour? Yeah, they’re asleep. Okay, so I understand that the monkeys here are crepuscular, which means they are awake at dusk and dawn. They’re most active during those times, and at other times, they’re asleep unless disturbed. So I don’t think we’ll be seeing monkeys at this hour.

Wow, guys! Don’t forget to like, comment, and share this livestream. We are here live in the jungle of Borneo! AC Family, I love that you guys are joining us right now, checking out these awesome ants.

For those of you who are ant enthusiasts, here in Borneo you’ll find the giant Camponotus gigas, which is native here. I hope we get to see them; they are massive! So, what are we looking at here? Oh, wow! See that limb right there that we’re shining the light on right now? That’s an ant nest. I don’t see any ants, but I’m assuming they’re inside. Wow, that’s great!

On the forest floor, this one is pretty high up. Ariantho, what’s that? Could there have been a flood? Is that why they moved up? Oh, I see. Normally, this mud nest is on the floor, but Ariantho is saying there possibly was a flood recently, which is why they’ve moved it up here. Interesting. I wonder what species of ant they are.

Earlier, I was trekking around, and we saw various species of ants. We saw Diacamma, some species of Polyrhachis, and some species I didn’t recognize. I also saw a lot of Anoplolepis gracilipes, lots of yellow crazy ants. They’re actually dominating a lot of the places here in Sandakan — they’re quite invasive.

Someone asked if we’re planning on catching ants and bringing them back. No. For those of you who watch our videos, AC Family, as you know, we only keep native ants, so keeping ants and bringing them out of Malaysia is not allowed.

Oh, a harvestman! Cool! You got a harvestman right there. And look at these trees; let me show you how amazing these trees are. They extend way up high — it’s unbelievable.

As I was saying, on AntsCanada, we always promote the keeping of native ants, so I won’t be taking any Malaysian ants back to the Philippines. Nope. Wow, look at this — the web of some sort of spider. Interesting.

Thank you guys for tuning in to this livestream! We are here venturing into the jungle of Borneo, yes, Malaysia, for those of you who are tuning in. Sorry if there are times when the picture is blurry — we are in a very remote jungle, so I’m trying my best to make sure we stay within range. Oops! Now we’re going to actually step onto the ground here.

Whew! Should we worry about snakes, Ariantho? “Yes, we should worry about snakes.” Okay, great. Thanks for letting me know! I’m wearing shorts, and I believe, as mentioned before, there are also leopards in this jungle. But as is the case with any place you venture for the first time, it’s always good to be with someone knowledgeable, and Ariantho here is very knowledgeable.

What do we see here? Oh, wow! Look at the size of that ant. That is one massive ant. I don’t even know what species that is; it’s huge! That ant is huge. Let’s lift that again — it looks like it stings too. There, wow. I don’t know if you guys can see that, but sorry for the poor quality. It’s quite large, big, and black. I’m trying to see if I can… No, it’s quite big. There’s another one! Oh, okay, this one I know. This is Diacamma, right here. I wonder if that’s like a different species of Diacamma. Oh, wow, look at this! This is a forest cockroach of some kind — a nymph, right there. Yeah, great! Unbelievable!

It’s amazing. So, here’s a log. I’m pretty sure if you turn that over, we’ll find all sorts of creatures. Interesting. And look at the jungle, guys! Look at how dense it is, and just the floor — it sinks in. It’s so muddy, and there are lots of forest cockroaches. The soils are so rich and moist.

Alright, well, AC Family, I think I’m going to wrap up here… Uh-oh! We see something — maybe not wrap up! What was it? A lizard? Oh, it sounds little… Arientho thinks it’s a gecko. I see! You think it’s… oh, wow, this is just unreal — animals everywhere, guys!

Sadly, we haven’t found any Camponotus gigas yet. Oh, wow, check out the leaf insect! Oh, they’re mating now — or they’re already mating! That’s two of them. Yep, oh wow, yeah, that’s two of them, and there’s another one there. Interesting. They belong to the order Phasmatodea, right? And here’s another species of forest cockroach. It’s beautiful — it’s smooth.

For those of you who are kind of antsy with cockroaches — no pun intended — most species of cockroaches are actually not pests if they live out here in the forest and not in homes. Oh wow, that is one massive Diacamma ant. Where is it? Where’d it go? Oh, there it is. It is huge — that has to be at least 2 centimeters. That’s big! Wow, unreal. Malaysia is just full of amazing species.

Alright, AC Family, thank you so much! If you haven’t already, please, please hit the like button, leave a comment — I try to answer as many comments as I can. When we have more ants here, it’s a lot of Camponotus here I see. Leave a comment, and if you’re not subscribed yet, please do subscribe because we’re a big, growing family of nature lovers and ant lovers. There’s a lot to discover in just the simplest of creatures like ants.

So on this channel, we take a look at the lives of ants, and we film some of the colonies that I own. And if you haven’t checked out the videos on our channel, please do. Oh, we have another creature here. Don’t touch it! Whoa! RJ, this is RJ, my friend — do not touch that! That’s a centipede — it’s laying eggs. Eww, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say “eww” — it’s gone now. One of those centipedes almost flew on my face today, so you have to be careful with those.

Anyway, please subscribe, guys, and check out the videos on our channel. We upload every Saturday at 8 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. And again, apologies for the quality of this livestream. I eventually would like to start a livestream on this channel of my colonies over 24 hours, maybe on a Wednesday, perhaps. But I do have to arrange things first to make sure that the quality is good for the livestreams.

Alright, guys, thanks again! And Ariantho, thank you so much for your help! Reporting live and signing out from Borneo, Malaysia, this is AntsCanada signing out. Bye, guys!