Biodiversity

Abnormally high-water levels in the Mekong River at the end of May indicate that dams on the river must release less water during the dry season to protect the ecosystem, experts said at an online panel Monday.  Rain levels during the dry season this year have ...

Weighing in at 661 pounds, a giant stingray hooked by a fisherman in Cambodia’s Mekong River earlier this month has taken the title of world’s largest freshwater fish. Nicknamed “Boramy,” or “full moon” in the Khmer language, the female ray — which was released — raises ...

With hydrological projects now a daily reality along Southeast Asia’s most important waterway, the Mekong River Commission and its partners have introduced new technology to measure if one large project will have significant impact on the river’s water quality, flow or fish population. At the Don ...

Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos have agreed to take concrete action and apply more effective measures against wildlife law offenders, and have committed to treating wildlife offences as serious crimes, although the number of cases referred to court in the three countries remains low. On June 2-3, ...

A report from conservation charity WWF said the unusual finds in the region of Southeast Asia showed it was a “hotspot” for wildlife diversity but also highlighted the threats they faced and the need to protect species and habitats from being lost. In total 155 plants, ...

Hundreds of critically endangered baby giant turtles were released into Cambodia’s Mekong River to mark World Turtle Day on Monday. Cantor’s giant softshell turtles have all but vanished across their former territory in Vietnam and Thailand thanks to poaching and illegal trade, and were only rediscovered ...

US scientists have suggested that unexplored deep pools in the Mekong River in an area of Stung Treng could potentially be home to significant populations of giant freshwater stingrays, one of the world’s largest freshwater fish species. This comes as a fisherman hooked a 180kg stingray ...

When Myanmar’s military staged a coup more than one year ago and seized power from a democratically-elected civilian government, not only did it undo a decade of opening up the country that brought a degree of freedom and prosperity to ordinary citizens, it also condemned ...

Thai officials are worried about the low number of dolphins of a particular breed in Thailand. Despite campaigns in past years to preserve Irrawaddy dolphins, only 14 of them were found in Songkhla Lake, and 89 in the Mekong River, according to a 2020 survey. Natural ...

ee Pael, one of Cambodia’s few captive female elephants, lived a peaceful life in a forest sanctuary until the day a wild bull appeared, chased away her handler and ran off with Gee Pael. “I had to run up a tree,” recalled Yel Yan, the elephant’s ...