In revision; please be patient

SciWrite's first foray into Southeast Asia came in 2007 when Dr. Harding presented a paper on arid rangeland ecology at a symposium and attended a meeting of the AMETEC Steering Committee in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

While there, he took the opportunity to visit a number of national parks and protected areas. En route, he also stopped for birdwatching/wildlife viewing national parks and protected areas Vietnam and Cambodia (see discussion below).

Click on the following thumbnail images to see a medium-resolution photo; full resolution images are available for scientific and educational purposes (contact Dr. Harding).

Vietnam

In Vietnam, Dr. Harding visited the Endangered Primate Research Centre (EPRC), the Van Long Nature Reserve (where he saw Delacour's Langurs, one of the rarest primates in the world with a surviving population of only about 260 individuals) and the Cuc Phuong National Park. Vietnam has 24 species of primates, including langurs (leaf monkeys), macaques, gibbons, lorises, duoc langurs, and snub-nosed monkeys. Five of these are among the 25 most endangered primates in the world (Mittermeier et al., 2007). The Endangered Primate Research Centre receives primates that have been confiscated from poachers and rehabilitates them for return to the wild in addition to studying their ecology while captive, in large enclosures. The centre has most of the country's species of langur, all species of duoc langurs, both of its loris species, and most of its gibbon species. Several are endemic to Vietnam, and a few have fewer than 100 individuals. The central problem for primate conservation in Vietnam is poaching. Live monkeys, monkey meat and other monkey parts fetch a high price in China. Vietnam passed a new wildlife protection law in 2004, but it

"...allows the selling of confiscated animals back to the animal trader or hunter...this regulation makes the law about the protection of rare and endangered animals completely useless. With the licensed purchase of confiscated but protected animals, these animals return legally to the animal trade. The reselling of the confiscated animals - which can be very lucrative...is a good income for a ranger station."(Nadler, 2007).

Besides illegal hunting, legal and illegal logging and other sources of deforestation and forest fragmentation are important causes of habitat loss in some areas. Vietnam has an incredible amount of avian and mammalian diversity, and it would be a world crime not to devote national and international resources to prevent it from diminishing further.

Cambodia

In Cambodia, also, illegal hunting is a problem. For example, Dr. Harding saw a long mist net strung up in tall trees beside the temples of Angkor Watt to illegally capture bats; he later saw roasted bats for sale in the market at Siem Reap. Nevertheless, birdwatching in Angkor Watt, the Ang Trapeang Thmor (ATT) Nature Reserve near the Thai border, and Prek Toal Nature Reserve on the edge of Ton Le Sap ("Great Lake") where incredible experiences for a wildlife biologist.

Malaysia

Malaysia also has the problems of illegal hunting, mainly by indigenous but non-Malay peoples such as the Orang Asli people. Dr. Harding encountered several of their camps while hiking in a mountainous protected area - a research forest of the Putra Malaya University - near Kuala Lumpur, where they were drying wild meat. Additionally, logging and, especially, oil palm plantations, are removing habitat wholesale.

References