Siberut
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Siberut is the largest and northernmost of the Mentawai Islands, lying west of Sumatra in the Indian Ocean. A part of Indonesia, the island is the most important home for the Mentawai people. The western half of the island is set aside as the Siberut National Park and covered with rainforest, but much of the island is subject to commercial logging.
The Simatalu are also indigenous inhabitants of the island of Siberut, and were featured in a Travel Channel documentary called "Simatalu: House of Spirits."
The island is known for its range of primates, including the Kloss Gibbon (Hylobates klossii), pig-tailed langur (Simias concolor), Mentawai Langur (Presbytis potenziani) and Mentawai Macaque (Macaca pagensis).
Siberut was affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake tsunami, but without any known loss of human life. One report stated that the island may have been raised up to two metres by the earthquake.
