- A survey of a little-known patch of forest on Cambodia’s border with Thailand has uncovered a “treasure of wildlife,” including potentially new-to-science plant species.
- The Samlout Multiple Use Area was established 30 years ago to conserve natural resources while also developing economic activities, but deforestation rates in the region have matched the national average.
- The survey, conducted by Fauna & Flora and commissioned by the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation, found about 140 bird, 30 mammal, 15 bat and 50 orchid species.
- But camera traps used in the survey also recorded the presence of armed humans in the area and evidence of snare traps, prompting calls for improved protection by law enforcement agencies.
The first biodiversity survey ever conducted in one of northwestern Cambodia’s last forest frontiers has found potentially new-to-science species and recorded direct threats to what conservationists call a “small but precious” ecosystem.
Spanning roughly 40 kilometers (25 miles) of the Cambodian-Thai border, the 60,000-hectare (148,300-acre) Samlout Multiple Use Area is part of the greater Cardamom Mountain Range and straddles the provinces of Battambang and Pailin.
Samlout was one of the three first multiple-use areas declared in Cambodia more than 30 years ago. This designation indicates that the management of the protected area is meant to conserve natural resources, while also developing economic activities. Since then, however, the kingdom’s northwest has experienced deforestation at a rate matching a national, decades-long trend of forest loss.
Munichan Khan, country director of the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation, told Mongabay that people had previously thought “Samlout was too small, too remote and too degraded. They didn’t believe there was such a treasure of wildlife inside the area.”
The Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation — started by U.S. actress Angelina Jolie and named after her adopted son from Cambodia — has funded projects in Samlout for more than two decades. The foundation commissioned the NGO Fauna & Flora to lead surveys on bats, plants, reptiles, amphibians, insects, birds and mammals.
The results of the survey found a plethora of wildlife, including more than 140 bird species, nearly 30 mammal species, close to 15 distinct bat species, and 50 types of orchids. These findings set new Cambodia country records, as well as identifying plants that are potentially new to science.
“The report’s results give us strong leverage,” Khan said. “We can tell everyone — including ministries and businesses who have the intention to develop the forest — that Samlout is small but precious.”
‘So much left to still discover’
Pablo Sinovas, country director for Fauna & Flora in Cambodia, told Mongabay that a better understanding of the biodiversity in “one of the last remnants of forest” in Cambodia’s border region with Thailand is crucial to collaborative conservation.
“This new species understanding in Samlout — which includes threatened mammals, like Asian elephants, that depend on large landscapes — highlights the importance of maintaining transborder connectivity,” said Sinovas, who spent around 20 days in Samlout conducting four of the main surveys. Even with this flurry of recent discoveries and a clearer picture of their challenges, Sinovas said he’s “practically certain” that there are more species to uncover in Samlout.
“We know this is not a comprehensive list,” Sinovas said “There is so much left to still discover.”
Plants and threats
The results from a monthlong orchid survey during the 2021 rainy season were “among the biodiversity survey’s most interesting,” according to Sinovas.
He said the identification of 50 species of orchids was “quite remarkable” considering the limited survey time, the relatively small area surveyed, and the fact that “many orchids also wouldn’t have been in flower at that time of the year.”
The orchid findings included two species, Begonia afromigrata and Begonia longifolia, that hadn’t previously been recorded in Cambodia. Three other potentially record-setting plants are still under review. The survey also found an unidentified species of Hoya dogbane, which researchers are still studying and believe could possibly be a new species.
But these three discoveries came hand in hand with the discovery of their threats.
Orchids, desired for decoration or for perceived medicinal benefits, are one of the most traded plants in the world. The survey found that three of the most common species in Southeast Asia’s orchid trade grow in Samlout.
Habitat destruction and forest degradation also remain an ever-present threat, exemplified by another notable find: Three rare, Indochina-endemic aroid Pycnospatha arietina were discovered on a logging trail where “rapid forest clearance for agriculture” was occurring. In a unique move, the report advised a “careful removal and replanting.”
While Sinovas confirmed it’s “not as common that we provide such specific recommendations,” he said that “rather than risk losing the plant within the next year, having it translocated makes sense to preserve the species within Samlout.”
‘Neglected taxa’
More than 100 bats were captured for the biodiversity survey, which found 14 species — a quarter of Cambodia’s known bat species — reside in Samlout.
Neil Furey, lead author of the bat survey, told Mongabay that “there is an almost certain possibility of finding more undiscovered gems in Samlout.”
“The border areas of Cambodia are a stone that has been left very much unturned,” Furey said. “It is fair to say, what we have confirmed in Samlout is a fraction of the true total. I would not be surprised if the species richness in Samlout is actually double.”
Alice Hughes, a professor at Hong Kong University’s School of Biological Sciences, told Mongabay that “it is nice to see the comprehensive nature of the report and that it is covering taxa that frequently get forgotten.”
Hughes, who wasn’t involved in the survey, said including “neglected taxa” in biodiversity surveys is of the utmost importance, especially since Southeast Asia, a global biodiversity hotspot, has some of the highest rates of forest loss in the world. “Cambodia is no exception,” she added.
“We need to know which areas to protect and we can’t know that if we don’t know what species are present,” said Hughes, who has conducted bat surveys across the border from Samlout in Thailand. “To determine key areas, especially at a time when we are seeing such rapid biodiversity loss, doing an inventory is absolutely critical.”
A forest ‘full of life’
Nearly 50 camera traps were set across Samlout for the wildlife survey. In total, 44 species were detected: 28 mammals, 15 birds and one reptile.
Nearly 30% of the surveyed wildlife are listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
The cameras documented the critically endangered Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica) and the endangered Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), Indochinese silvered langur (Trachypithecus germaini), coral-billed ground cuckoo (Carpococcyx renauldi) and dhole (Cuon alpinus). Vulnerable species present included the gaur (Bos gaurus), serow (Capricornis sumatraensis), Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) and greater hog badger (Arctonyx collaris).
The camera trap that photographed the silver langured, black bear, Asian golden cat (Catopuma temminckii) and northern pig-tailed macaque (Macaca leonina) also documented a very real and present threat in the very same location: a pair of men, armed with a homemade firearm and a scythe.
A different camera also photographed a sambar deer (Rusa unicolor) that had lost a leg “almost certainly due to a snare wound,” according to the survey report.
“We cannot say we are free from hunting or free from natural resource offenses,” Khan said. “We still have natural resource crimes to suppress here. We are still part of a developing country, with many pressures.”
But since the survey, he said, law enforcement in Samlout has improved.
“We are receiving better signs and more cooperation from rangers, military and local authorities in protecting the natural resources of Samlout,” Khan said. “This report has changed the previous perception of Samlout. We have proof conservation is worthwhile, proof our forest is not empty forest but actually full of life.”
Banner image: A Trimeresurus cardamomesis photographed in Cambodia’s Samlout Multiple Use Area. Image courtesy of Jeremy Holden with Fauna & Flora.
Camera trap survey in Cambodia’s Cardamom Mountains finds 108 species
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