20:34 25-11-2025

Taman Negara: Malaysia’s 130‑million‑year rainforest

Изображение сгенерировано нейросетью Dall-e

Discover Taman Negara, Malaysia’s 130‑million‑year rainforest—among the oldest on Earth. Learn about its biodiversity and threats from logging and climate.

When we think of truly ancient corners of the planet, pyramids and prehistoric rock art usually come to mind. Yet Malaysia has a place that predates those cultural landmarks: the tropical rainforest of Taman Negara, among the oldest on Earth. Its age is estimated at roughly 130 million years, making it a living witness to epochs when the continents themselves looked different.

Where is this forest?

Taman Negara stretches across three Malaysian states—Pahang, Kelantan, and Terengganu—covering more than 4,000 square kilometers. The scale is easy to picture: an area the size of four Moscows fused into one vast green expanse.

What sets it apart is its continuity. For millions of years, it has remained largely unchanged, spared the upheavals that rewrote other landscapes: no volcanic turmoil, no glaciers, no ruinous natural shocks. Season after season, it evolved quietly, preserving an ancient character that feels almost timeless.

What makes it special?

That extraordinary age explains why Taman Negara harbors many rare plants and animals found nowhere else. Scientists note that forests like this act as a natural archive, effectively recording nature’s story through new species that emerged over tens of millions of years.

Taman Negara is not alone in its longevity. Malaysia’s Belum–Temenggor forest, also about 130 million years old, took shape in the same era—when dinosaurs still roamed the Earth.

A forest under threat

Eternity is an illusion. Today, such ecosystems face stark pressures: road building, logging, and a shifting climate. Each blow lands on a system that took an almost unimaginable span of time to form.

The hard truth is that forests like this do not simply grow back. If they vanish, nothing equally rich and singular will replace them. What is lost would be gone for good.

Why it matters to everyone

These forests are a global public good. They cleanse the air, steady the climate, and regulate the water cycle—functioning as a kind of planetary lungs that sustain life far beyond their borders.

One hundred and thirty million years is the age of a natural giant that outlasted dinosaurs, ice ages, and the rise and fall of civilizations. Whether it survives even the next thousand years now hinges on human choices.