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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 in Peninsular Malaysia. En route, he also stopped for birdwatching/wildlife viewing national parks and protected areas in Vietnam and Cambodia (see discussion below). In 2011, Dr. Harding went bird- and wildlife-watching in Borneo and while there gathered enough observations to publish three Short Communications on Bornean mammals (already published; see below and see his publication list).
VietnamIn Vietnam, Dr. Harding visited the Endangered Primate Research Centre (EPRC), the Van Long Nature Reserve (where he saw Delacour's Lutungs, or 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, three species of crested 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
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. Dr. Harding has submitted two Accounts of Vietnamese mammals to Mammalian Species: one on Delacour's Lutung and one on the Northern White-cheeked Gibbon; one is published and one is in press (August 2011). Species Accounts are authoritative descriptions of all aspects of a species' biology, behaviour, ecology and taxonomy; authorship is invited and exclusive: Harding, LE. 2011 (in press). Nomascus leucogenys. Mammalian Species Harding, LE. 2011. Trachypithecus delacouri. Mammalian Species 43(880):118-128. Abstract at: http://asmjournals.org/ (enter Trachypithecus in Search box). Full text here. CambodiaIn 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. Mainland MalaysiaMalaysia 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. With a Sri Lankan Colleague, Dr. Harding published a paper on behaviour of the Silvered Lutung, a leaf monkey that he saw in Malaysia and also occurs on Borneo and Sarawak. He also published an Account of this species in Mammalian Species. Species are authoritative descriptions of all aspects of a species' biology, behaviour, ecology and taxonomy including a complete synonymy and key to the species in the genus, and a synonymy of the species. (A synonymy is a listing of all the names by which a genus or a species has been known since Linnaeus in 1777.): Amarasinghe, AAT, Botejue WMS, Harding LE. 2009. Social behaviours of captive Trachypithecus cristatus (Mammalia: Cercopithecidae) in the National Zoological Gardens of Sri Lanka. Taprobanica 01:66-73. (full text). Journal at http://www.taprobanica.com/. Harding, LE. 2010. Trachypithecus cristatus. Mammalian Species. 42(1): 149–165 (online: http://www.asmjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-abstract&doi=10.1644/862.1). Download full text. BorneoAlthough SciWrite has never had projects in Borneo, Dr. Harding traveled there for eco-tourism in 2011. While there, he added 215 birds to his life list, observed enough rare primates to generate three Short Communications in the South- and Southeast Asian natural history journal, Taprobanica (http://www.taprobanica.com/), and contribute eight images to the American Society of Mammalogists Mammal Image Library (http://www.mammalsociety.org/committees/mammal-images-library). Some of his Borneo bird, mammal and flower photos are posted at https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/myphotos. Harding, L.E. 2011. Red morph of silvered lutung (Trachypithecus cristatus) rediscovered in Borneo, Malaysia. Taprobanica 3(1): 47-48. Journal at http://www.taprobanica.com/. Harding, L.E. 2011. Unusual Affiliative Behaviour in Orangutans. Taprobanica 3(2):110–111. Harding, L.E. 2011. Rare Mammals Recorded in Borneo, Malaysia. Taprobanica 3(2):107–109. References Cited AboveMittermeier, R.A., et al., Primates in Peril: The World’s 25 Most Endangered Primates, 2006 – 2008. Primate Conservation, 2007. 22: p. 1–40. Nadler, T., Endangered Primate Rescue Center, Vietnam - Report 2004 to 2006. Vietnamese Journal of Primatology, 2007. 1(1): p. 89-103.
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