ABSTRACT
The island of Sulawesi (sometimes still known internationally as Celebes) is the third largest island of the Greater Sundas and of Indonesia, located between Kalimantan (Borneo) and the Moluccas or Maluku Islands. The island has a peculiar shape, resembling a hand with four fingers. Some describe the shape of this island as an orchid. In other words, there are four narrow peninsulas separated by three great gulfs. The northern gulf, Tomini, is bisected by the Equator. The island is surrounded by deep seas and, because it has been separated from the neighbouring land connection to the continents of either Asia or Australia since before the last great Ice Age, Sulawesi has unique flora and fauna (see below). Sulawesi lies at the heart of the Indonesian archipelago, with the Maluku Islands to the east, Nusa Tenggara (Lesser Sunda Islands) to the south and Kalimantan to the west. To the north, beyond the Celebes Sea, is the Philippines.
