A dozen of the elephants from Sabah state on Borneo island will find themselves in Chinese and Japanese zoos after having been captured in the wild by an animal trader, The Star newspaper said.

The trader convinced the Sabah Wildlife Department to allow the elephants to be exported as they were deemed problematic animals because they encroached into human settlements and they would be sent to captive breeding programmes in China and Japan within a week, the paper reported.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) announced early last month that a smaller and tamer subspecies of "pygmy" elephant had been discovered in Borneo island following DNA tests.

Found in Malaysia's Sabah state on Borneo, the elephants have significantly different characteristics from their cousins in mainland Asia and Sumatra, WWF Malaysia said.

"They are relatively tame and mild-tempered when compared to other Asian elephants. Borneo's elephants are also smaller in size," said its chairman Tengku Zainal Adlin.

The WWF said dung samples it collected were sent to Columbia University for DNA analysis, and evidence showed the Borneo elephants were isolated about 300,000 years ago from their cousins in mainland Asia and Sumatra.

During that period, they became smaller with relatively larger ears, longer tails and relatively straight tusks.

The WWF said Borneo's elephants were genetically distinct, making them one of the top priority populations for conservation. They must not be crossbred but be managed separately from other Asian elephants.

The Star said it is estimated that their population is not more than 2,000 in the wild, making the species a highly endangered one and any removal from the wild could trigger the extinction process.

TERRA.WIRE