Siamese Crocodile Conservation in Cambodia

2010-07-13
New Tang Dynasty TV

Conservationists are trying to protect thirteen endangered baby Siamese crocodiles in Cambodia.

They will care for the crocodiles for about a year then release them into the wild.

Conservation group Fauna and Flora International, or FFI, says uncontrolled hunting and habitat loss has reduced the number of Siamese crocodiles to less than 250 in the wild.

Cambodia will flood most of the Areng River Valley, a critical breeding habitat for the crocodile, in order to build a hydroelectric dam.

FFI and the Cambodian government are working to develop a long-term survival strategy for the crocodiles.

[Adam Star, Fauna and Flora International]:
"They are an important species and Cambodia has what is believed to be the largest population left in the world. And the amount of care that has been given to this shows that the government is interested. I'm hoping though that we can make the right decisions in the future, that we can be able to move these crocodiles safely and others like them to safe areas where they will not be harmed by hydro dams."

It's a concern shared by others who work closely with the animals.

[Lon Deth, Conservationist]:
"I'm worried that when they build the hydro dam, the water level in this area will not be stable."

The FFI works to train locals to protect crocodiles from poachers and improve management of natural resources, for the benefit of future generations.

Siamese crocodiles are among the smaller species of freshwater crocodile, with males averaging almost 10 feet in length.

New cryptic gecko species is discovered in Cambodia

Cnemaspis neangthyi reveals itself

Wednesday, 24 March 2010
By Matt Walker
Editor, Earth News
BBC

A new and extremely well camouflaged species of gecko has been discovered hiding in the forests of Cambodia.

Scientists working for Fauna & Flora International found the olive-green coloured gecko in the foothills of the Cardomom Mountains.

Called Cnemaspis neangthyi, the gecko is only the second species of its kind known to live in the country.

Scientists suspect it has lain hidden for so long due to its camouflage and habit of foraging in rocky crevices.

The new species was found during a reptile and amphibian survey led in June 2007 by Dr Lee Grismer of La Sierra University in Riverside, California, US and conservation organisation Fauna and Flora International (FFI).

Since then, scientific studies have revealed it to be a species new to science, due to its unique combination of colour pattern and scale characteristics.

There are currently 75 species of Cnemapsis known to science, of which 30 live in South East Asia, with only one other species present in Cambodia.

They have a relatively ancient body plan characterised by a broad flattened head, large forward and upward directed eyes, flattened body, long widely splayed limbs, and long inflected digits that help them to climb trees and rock faces and seek refuge within crevices.

Cnemaspis are diurnal species that usually go unnoticed because of their cryptic coloration and habit of foraging on the shaded surfaces of trees and overhanging rock faces.

Cnemaspis neangthyi was found living in the rocky foothills of Cambodia's Cardamom Mountains, and is thought to live nowhere else.

The new species is olive-green with light coloured blotches containing a central black dot.

It also has a distinct light green chevron marking on its nape and a head with a distinct black parietal spot and radiating black lines extending from its eyes.

Its digits also have light yellow and black bands.

The Cardomom Mountains support one the largest and mostly unexplored forest regions in southeast Asia, which are thought to shelter at least 62 globally threatened animal and 17 globally threatened tree species, many of which are endemic to Cambodia.

New hopes for Siamese croc in Cambodia ... not the Thaksin kind, but the real animal kind

The discovery in Cambodia of rare Siamese crocodiles has excited conservationists

New crocodile hopes in Cambodia

Tuesday, 10 November 2009
By Guy De Launey
BBC News, Phnom Penh

Conservationists say there is fresh hope for one of the world's rarest reptiles.

DNA tests have found 35 pure-bred Siamese crocodiles at a wildlife sanctuary in Cambodia.

There are fewer then 250 of the species left in the wild, but the crocodiles at the sanctuary could now form the basis of a captive-breeding programme.

Siamese crocodiles may be smaller than some other species, but they're easily capable of breaking human limbs.

So for the conservationists at the Phnom Tamao wildlife rescue centre, taking DNA samples was a hazardous task.

In February this year, they wrangled and wrestled 69 of the beasts so they could gather genetic information.

And now it turns out all the hard work was worth it.

Thirty-five crocodiles have been confirmed as pure-bred Siamese - including six adults which may be suitable for starting off a captive breeding programme.

And more than two dozen younger crocs may be released into the wild when they are old enough.

The discovery continues a remarkable comeback for the species.

Siamese crocodiles were declared extinct in the 1990s - before a small population was discovered in Cambodia's Cardamom Mountains.

But the conservation organisation Fauna and Flora International has warned that any celebrations would be premature.

Siamese crocodiles mature slowly.

So it will take 15 years before the breeding programme comes to fruition.

And in the meantime, everything from poaching to hydroelectric projects pose a threat to crocodiles and their habitats.

"Damned" Chinese dam project in Cardamom mountains threatens rarest wildlife

'Unnecessary' dam project threatens rarest wildlife

Monday, 29 September 2008
By Michael McCarthy, Environment editor
The Independent (UK)

One of the world's rarest reptiles, the critically-endangered Siamese crocodile, is gravely threatened by a proposed dam in an unspoilt region of Cambodia, British conservationists warn.

Construction of the Chay Areng dam in the Cardamom mountains will wipe out a fifth or more of the remaining population of the crocodiles, which stands at fewer than 200 individuals in the wild, according to Fauna and Flora International (FFI), which is based in Cambridge.

It will displace hundreds of indigenous people from their homes, and do enormous damage to the wildlife in a valley which alone holds more than 30 globally threatened species of mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and amphibians, ranging from tigers, Asian elephants and pileated gibbons to the white-winged duck, the yellow-headed temple turtle and one of the world's rarest and most prized freshwater fish, the Asian arowana.

Furthermore, says FFI, an economic assessment showed that the 120ft dam, which is being promoted by a Chinese power company, is not necessary for Cambodia's future electricity demand and is in effect surplus to requirements. FFI is calling on the Cambodian government to cancel the scheme.

Were it to go ahead, the Siamese crocodiles would be the most notable casualties of the project in wildlife terms. The stocky, 10ft-long reptile, which feeds largely on fish and snakes, is extinct over 99 per cent of its original range, with tiny remaining groups in Laos, Thailand and Vietnam apart from Cambodia, where the Areng river habitat is the most secure and significant breeding site in the world, harbouring between 40 and 50 individuals.

If the Areng river is dammed, says FFI, this fragile population will be seriously reduced or wiped out. The inundation will destroy vital lakeside nesting areas, shallow feeding zones, sandy basking areas along the river, and essential lakeside burrows used for shelter. The organisation also fears that the 1,000-plus Chinese workers who will be brought in to build the dam will begin poaching the other wildlife in the valley, saying that this has happened in similar schemes elsewhere.

The whole range of the Cardamom mountains in western Cambodia has hitherto been one of the best unspoilt areas of montane rainforest in South-east Asia, having been protected from exploitation for decades by the region's wars. FFI says it is "the untouched jewel in the crown of Asian biodiversity".

But now it is being opened up, especially by the Chinese, who are offering to build hydropower and other generating infrastructure for the Cambodians in exchange for a future share in the country's untapped natural resources, which include oil and gas. Many of the rivers of the Cardamom range have dams proposed for them, and one, at O'Som, is already going ahead.

FFI says its recognises that Cambodia needs more electricity and some of it will come from hydropower. But it says that a 2007 report, the Master Plan Study of Hydropower Development in Cambodia, commissioned by the Japan International Co-operation Agency and the Cambodian Ministry of Mines and Energy, identified 10 priority sites that would be sufficient to meet the projected national demand – and significantly, these did not include the Chay Areng.

"The Areng dam is unnecessary and surplus to requirements," said Jenny Daltry, a senior conservation biologist with FFI. "Hundreds of households of an indigenous people, the Khmer Daeum, will be displaced and have to move. These are people who have been there for hundreds of years and who really do live in harmony with nature and have set up their own protected areas in the forest, and six villages of them will go, and possibly seven.

"In wildlife terms, it will be a disaster. The crocodiles, which represent at least a fifth of the world's population in the wild, will disappear and there will be catastrophic damage to other wildlife.

"It is still up to the Cambodian government to approve or reject the proposal from the Chinese company and we strongly feel it should be rejected."

Sicence comes to the rescue of Cambodian elephants in the Cardamom Mountains

In this photo released by Fauna and Flora International, Cambodian elephant conservationists train trackers to identify elephant dung during a field survey in a remote area in southwestern Cambodia, on Jan. 11, 2007. Conservationists said Friday, Aug. 3, 2007, they plan to send some 520 samples of elephant dung to Australia for DNA analysis, hoping the results will help them estimate more accurately the number of elephants in the Cambodian wild. (AP Photo/Fauna and Flora International)

In this photo released by Fauna and Flora International, a Cambodian elephant tracker measures the size of elephant dung during a survey in the jungle in southwestern Cambodia, on Dec. 7, 2006. Conservationists said Friday, Aug. 3, 2007, they plan to send some 520 samples of elephant dung to Australia for DNA analysis, hoping the results will help them estimate more accurately the number of elephants in the Cambodian wild. (AP Photo/Fauna and Flora International)

Prum Sovanna, left, a Cambodian elephant conservationist, prepares to place a bundle of tubes containing elephant dung in a box at his office in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Friday, Aug. 3, 2007. Conservationists said Friday they plan to send some 520 samples of elephant dung to Australia for DNA analysis, hoping the results will help them estimate more accurately the number of elephants in the Cambodian wild. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Matt Maltby, an elephant conservationist, shows a tube containing elephant dung at his office in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Friday, Aug. 3, 2007. Conservationists said Friday they plan to send some 520 samples of elephant dung to Australia for DNA analysis, hoping the results will help them estimate more accurately the number of elephants in the Cambodian wild. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Cambodia sends elephant poo to Australia

August 3, 2007
AP

Conservationists said they plan to send some 520 samples of elephant dung to Australia for DNA analysis, hoping the results will help them estimate more accurately the number of elephants in the Cambodian wild.

The samples will be sent to a laboratory in Melbourne in the next few weeks, said Matt Maltby, the technical adviser of the US-based Fauna and Flora International's Cambodian Elephant Conservation Group.

DNA from the dung can reveal the age, sex and health of the individual elephant that produced it, the group said in its statement.

DNA Solutions, the Australian firm that will analyse the samples, said a population profile can be compiled from DNA analysis.

"By looking at the number of unique profiles from the samples, and using statistical calculations, we plan to be able to find the population of Cambodian elephants left in the wild," DNA Solutions said in a statement on its website.

Tuy Sereivathana, project manager for Fauna and Flora International, said researchers began collecting the samples in January this year from various sites in the Cardamom Mountains, southwest of the capital Phnom Penh.

The mountains include forests stretching over 10,000sq km, the US-based conservation group said on its website.

The mountains are believed to be home to the largest population of elephants in Cambodia. Various estimates have put the total nationwide at between 200 to 500 elephants, Maltby said.

He said a technique using cameras strapped to trees has proven ineffective in helping keep an accurate count. "Usually you just get a camera shot of the leg or not good enough shots to identify individual elephants," he said.