The elongated ear lobe that could be found in Borneo is a dying art. Ear lobes were elongated by piercing at an early age and brass weights ear rings are put on for the sole reason of elongating the ear lobes. It was suppose to signify beauty for the wearer and men and women can be found to have elongated ear lobes. Maybe men’s grooming did not start with the modern age after all.

Elongated ear lobes also signify status. The longer it is the more significant that person is to the tribe. Perhaps the length is due to age as the ears can only be elongated over time. In Eastern tribal communities, elders are respected. So the longer the ear lobes are, the older the person is.

It is a dying art form because as the tribes emerge from the jungle to join the modern world, long ear lobes were found to be impractical in the city. Stories are told that it was cumbersome for youngster to play basketball with their dangling ear lobes. Often the ears were caught and injuries caused. Is it any wonder that it is no longer practiced in the urban society? You can still get a glimpse of such body art in the jungle villages where these tribal people can still be found.

The Dayak or Dyak are a people indigenous to Borneo.It is a loose term for over 200 riverine and hill-dwelling ethnic subgroups, located principally in the interior of Borneo, each with its own dialect, customs, laws, territory and culture, although common distinguishing traits are readily identifiable. Dayak languages are categorised as part of the Austronesian languages in Asia. Estimates for the Dayak population range from 2 to 4 million.

The Penan are a nomadic aboriginal people living in Sarawak and Brunei. They are one of the last such peoples remaining. The Penan are noted for their practice of 'molong' which means never taking more than necessary. Most Penan were nomadic hunter-gatherers until the post-World War II era when many they were settled mainly in the Ulu-Baram district but also in the Limbang district of Sarawak. They eat plants, which are also used as medicines, and animals and use the hides, skin, fur, and other parts for clothing and shelter.

The Kelabit people, who has close similarity to the Lun Bawang people, maintain that Lun Bawang people were once Kelabit people who originally resides the Kerayan-Kelabit highland of Central Northeast Borneo. In the seventeenth and eighteenth century, they gradually migrated to the low lands near today's Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei.

Orang Ulu ("remote people") is an ethnic designation politically coined to group together roughly 27 very small but ethnically diverse tribal groups in Sarawak, with a population ranging from less than 300 persons to over 25,000 persons.

The Kenyah, traditionally being swidden agriculturalists and living in long houses (uma dado'), is an umbrella term for over 40 sub-groups that mostly share common migration histories, customs and related dialects. Kenyah lived in long houses in a small communities. Each long house consists of families who choose their own leader (headman).