Nipa Palms Nypa fructans grow in muddy river estuaries throughout the hot wet tropics along the line of the equator.
Nipa Palms are ubiquitous bushy palms with no trunk growing in brackish water at the mouths of Bornean rivers, including the deltas of the Kinabatangan and Segama Rivers in N.E.Borneo where there are relatively large populations of orangutans. Recent records indicate that large male orangutans have learnt to break open and eat both the very hard fruits and the growing bud of Nipa Palms in the Kinabatangan River delta.
