Kota Kinabalu: Not many people may know that Dr Maklarin Lakim (pic), who was appointed Sabah Parks Director in January last year, is an expert on the red leaf monkey or “lotong merah”, one of Borneo’s endemic primate species. The first phase of his study on the species was from 1996 to 1998 while he was doing his Master’s degree at University Kebangsaan Malaysia, and the focus of his research was the separation of the niche red leaf monkey species. Maklarin, 53, who holds a degree in zoological science, then spent another six years from 2002 to 2008 studying the primates’ ecology for his PhD degree.