Siberut Island is the largest island in the Mentawai Islands, West Sumatera, apart from Sipora, North Pagai, and South Pagai. Experts call the Mentawai Islands the Asian Galapagos because they are similar to the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean which have rich biodiversity.
Siberut Island along a series of other islands in the Mentawai Islands have a unique geological history. A World Wild Fund for Nature or WWF research report entitled “Saving Siberut: A Conservation Master Plan” in 1980 states, during the Pleistocene or Ice Age, roughly one million to 10 thousand years ago, sea levels in Southeast Asia were 200 meters lower than now.