Rare species discovered

 Camera traps discovered Rare animals creeping within remote Cambodian mountains       

The rugged Annamite Mountains, which stretch across Laos, Vietnam and northeast Cambodia, are renowned for their rich biodiversity. Nestled in the southwest of the range lies Virachey, Cambodia’s largest national park. The remote region is vast, covering more than 3,000 square km's, yet despite it being a protected area, it is largely unexplored and understudied. The first comprehensive biodiversity survey of the park was published on Tuesday, revealing the rare and threatened species that live there, including the Sunda pangolin, the clouded leopard and the sun bear. Led by conservation organization Fauna & Flora, which describes the Annamites as the “Amazon of Asia,” the survey also documented nine species that have never been recorded in Cambodia before, such as the critically endangered large-antlered muntjac, Sokolov’s glass lizard and the Vietnamese leaf-toed gecko.

The large-antlered muntjac was one of a number of species recorded for the first time ever in a recent survey of Cambodia’s Virachey National Park. The critically endangered large-antlered muntjac was photographed by camera trap in Virachey National Park. “The area had been virtually unexplored and there was almost no information about the biodiversity of Virachey National Park,” Pablo Sinovas, country director of Fauna & Flora’s Cambodia program, said. “We found several threatened species that, by definition, are not doing very well globally or within the country. This park has the potential to provide a good stronghold to make sure that they don’t go extinct. In a way, it’s kind of a Noah’s Ark of wildlife,” he added. Nine species have been recorded in Cambodia for the first time during the first ever comprehensive biodiversity survey of Virachey National Park. They include the critically endangered large-antlered muntjac, a species of glass lizard, a gecko, two bat species, an edible mushroom and three other plant species (an orchid, an arum and a ginger). Large-antlered muntjac are commonly found in evergreen forests and can weigh up to 50kgs, they are  the oldest known deer, appearing 15-35 million years ago/Fauna & Flora. “Discovering nine species that were not previously recorded in the country is incredibly exciting,” says Pablo Sinovas, Country Director for Fauna & Flora’s Cambodia Programme. "It reaffirms just how special this landscape is and how much there is still to uncover and protect. For me, the most exciting find was the large-antlered muntjac, one of the rarest and most threatened deer species. The fact that the camera trap photographing this species was in the most remote, hardest-to-reach corner of the national park made the huge logistical and physical effort to get there absolutely worth it.”

But the park faces a range of threats including deforestation, forest degradation, habitat fragmentation and snaring (using thin wire nooses to catch animals). Over the past three decades, Cambodia has lost more than 30% of its primary forest cover, and despite being established as a national park in 1993, investigations by non-profits claim to have uncovered large-scale illegal logging within Virachey. Sinovas hopes that the biodiversity data will help to strengthen the management of the park and conservation strategies. “(The survey) confirmed the relevance of the area as a biodiversity hotspot and put some of these species on the map, so to speak, which means we can conserve them in a more targeted way,” he said. “It’s the first step: knowing what is present is necessary to be able to protect it.” Common jays are a species of colourful swallowtail butterflies. Here, a group is pictured mud-puddling, a behaviour where butterflies take up essential nutrients from fluid deposits on rocks, soil or dung, for example. The species are living in the rugged and remote mountains of Cambodia. The camera traps filmed numerous other species, too, including the sambar deer/Fauna & Flora. Led by Fauna & Flora, in collaboration with Cambodia’s Ministry of Environment and local communities, the survey’s findings highlight the importance of Virachey National Park, a south-western extension of the Annamite Mountain range - a relatively untouched haven for biodiversity that stretches around 1,100 kilometres through Laos, Vietnam and northeast Cambodia.

The remoteness of the park made gathering data a challenge, so the team used a range of methods over several years, compiling multiple studies. It worked closely with local indigenous communities, who Sinovas said “know the forest best,” but even they had never set foot in some of the areas that were being surveyed. More than 150 camera traps were deployed to record elusive species, such as the large-antlered muntjac, which was caught on camera in 2021. While the deer species was first described in 1994, it had previously only been documented in Laos and Vietnam. “To find a large mammal in a country for the first time is really quite rare and exciting,” said Sinovas.

Referred to by Fauna & Flora as the ‘Amazon of Asia’, the Annamites is home to a vast array of species found nowhere else in the world. Researchers believe there are likely to be many more species present that are yet to be discovered. Located at the point where the Annamite Mountains and Cambodia’s lowlands meet, Virachey National Park is part of one of the largest expanses of forest in mainland Southeast Asia. The survey also confirmed the presence of many threatened species, such as the red-shanked douc langur, Sunda pangolin, clouded leopard, dhole and sun bear. The camera traps also helped identify threats, for instance the presence of domestic dogs in some areas and the use of snare traps; some threatened species, like the Asiatic black bear and the northern pig-tailed macaque, were photographed with missing limbs. 

Three species of frog recorded during the survey had only been seen in Cambodia once, two of which had never been seen as adults. As well as serving as a sanctuary for iconic wildlife, the park sustains Indigenous communities who have relied on its resources for generations. While Virachey is officially a protected area and one of only two Cambodian ASEAN Heritage Parks, its vast expanse, covering 4,057 km2, is still largely unexplored and understudied, largely due to the difficulty of accessing much of the park’s remote, challenging terrain, including steep slopes, thick vegetation and rivers. The team extracted DNA from water samples and tested it to reveal the presence of 161 species, including the dwarf loach (an endangered freshwater fish), the Asiatic softshell turtle and the Asian black bear. It also carried out specific population assessments for some species, such as the northern yellow-cheeked crested gibbon, an endangered primate only found in forested areas of southern Laos, northern Cambodia and central Vietnam. The new survey used a range of techniques and technology to overcome the challenges, including camera traps and eDNA (environmental DNA sampling). E. denticulus, one of the two bat species recorded for the first time in Cambodia, seem to be relatively common within the park. There also appear to be around 2,000 groups of the endangered northern yellow-cheeked gibbon in Virachey National Park, confirming the park as the most significant stronghold for the species globally. The park remains the only location in Cambodia where many regionally endemic reptiles and amphibians exist. The tree-focused section of the survey also identified at least eight rare tree species. 

Sinovas also highlighted the park’s value in providing a livelihood to local people and as a carbon sink. “This park sits at the core of one of the largest forests in mainland Southeast Asia: that’s important for biodiversity, but also for climate in terms of carbon absorption,” he said. “It’s also important from a human perspective, around the borders of the park, there are indigenous communities that had been relying on the natural resources from the area for a long time. It is essential that those resources are preserved and continue to be managed sustainably.” With threats to the park’s wildlife including hunting, including snares, habitat loss, and the presence of domestic dogs, data from the new survey is critical in “strengthening the case for protecting the park,” says Sinovas. “We’re working with the Ministry of Environment and local communities to translate the data into action, to identify and implement the best possible outcomes for the park’s biodiversity and for the people who depend on it. By knowing what’s at stake, we’re better equipped to highlight the park’s values and to define suitable management options that will secure the park’s future.”