News
Hundreds of endangered baby giant turtles released into Cambodian river
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 ...
AFP
Massive stingrays may live in Mekong’s deep pools
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 ...
Ry Sochan
Myanmar online wildlife trade on rise, says WWF report; threat to public health and endangered species
A report by the World Wildlife Fund shows illegal purchases of wildlife online are growing in Myanmar in a threat both to public health and to endangered species. The report issued Friday found that enforcement of bans on such transactions has weakened amid political turmoil ...
Agence France-Presse
Greater Mekong primates struggle to cling on amid persistent threats: Report
When scientists described the Popa langur (Trachypithecus popa) as a species new to science in 2020, it was already staring extinction in the face. Fewer than 260 of the fluffy gray leaf-eating monkeys are estimated to remain across four precariously isolated patches of forest on Myanmar’s central ...
Carolyn Cowan
Endangered ‘barking deer’ strikes a pose for conservationists
The spots on the back of the large-antlered muntjac may have given it away as a fawn, but the photo of the deer suckling from its mother served as confirmation. Photographs of the moment are the first known images of a large-antlered muntjac fawn in Cambodia. ...
ANTON L. DELGADO
Scientists step up hunt for ‘Asian unicorn’, one of world’s rarest animals
Weighing 80-100kg and sporting long straight horns, white spots on its face and large facial scent glands, the saola does not sound like an animal that would be hard to spot. But it was not until 1992 that this elusive creature was discovered, becoming the first ...
Veronika Perková
Sixth Irrawaddy dolphin calf for 2021
Conservationists are celebrating the discovery of a sixth Irrawaddy dolphin calf born last year in Kratie province’s Mekong river. This finding came to light following research completed by the Fisheries Administration and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The calf recorded on December 31 is the latest ...
Mao Chanvireak
How does political instability in the Mekong affect deforestation?
Myanmar’s rainforests, home to the endangered Malayan tapir (Tapirus indicus), critically endangered Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica) and endangered lar gibbon (Hylobates lar), are some of the most biodiverse in the world. But the relative flatness of the terrain, and the valuable timber species found here, ...
Sheryl Lee Tian Tong
Farmers tempt endangered cranes back – by growing their favourite food
Several years ago, I counted more than 300 cranes in the wetlands near my rice field,” says farmer Khean Khoay, as he reminisces about the regal-looking eastern sarus crane. Khoay’s village, Koh Chamkar in Kampot province, lies on the outskirts of the Anlung Pring protected landscape in ...
Anne Pinto-Rodrigues
Kingdom’s vulture number a ‘positive’ sign
In Cambodia’s four sanctuaries with vulture populations, there are 140 vultures currently present – a number considered small but encouraging among relevant ministries and partner organisations involved in the protection and preservation of the species. According to a joint press release on the results of a ...
Voun Dara