Rare Giant Muntjac Deer Spotted in Virachey National Park, Cambodia

[CEOCambodiaNews]

Good news!

Rare giant barking deer seen in Cambodia
published : 25 Jun 2021 at 15:25

This giant barking deer was photographed by a hidden camera trap in Cambodia's Virachey National Park.
PHNOM PENH: A critically endangered giant barking deer has been spotted in Cambodia for the first time, in a boost for the country's wildlife preservation efforts, officials said on Friday.

The giant muntjac -- known for its long antlers -- was photographed by a hidden camera in April in northeast Cambodia's Virachey National Park in Ratanakiri province, environment ministry spokesman Neth Pheaktra said.

But the discovery was only made recently after Cambodian authorities retrieved the camera and trawled through months of footage from the forest, which has long been a site of illegal logging.

"This is the most exciting news for Cambodia and for the whole world that such a rare and most critically endangered species was discovered in Cambodia," he said.

"This is a positive result for the government's efforts to protect natural resources."

The species was first found in forests in neighbouring Vietnam and Laos in 1994.

Muntiacus vuquangensis, as it is scientifically known, is on the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature as critically endangered.

Illegal logging remains a major environmental hazard in Cambodia, with vast tracts of forest under threat since the country's civil war ended in 1998.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/21385 ... n-cambodia

[FrankReynolds]

It always shits me how they applaud the sighting of an endangered animal, yet turn a blind eye to the devastation of the rainforest. Like somehow wildlife and deforestation CAN coexist, and we have the photographic evidence to prove it!!!!

[bossho]

@FrankReynolds "It always shits me how they applaud the sighting of an endangered animal, yet turn a blind eye to the devastation of the rainforest. Like somehow wildlife and deforestation CAN coexist, and we have the photographic evidence to prove it!!!!"

This article is a quick and balanced piece that discusses the rainforest preservation AND the critically endangered species, the Muntac or muntiacus vuquangensis. Not really that giant but in comparison to other ungulates in the region he is.

[FrankReynolds]

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@FrankReynolds "It always shits me how they applaud the sighting of an endangered animal, yet turn a blind eye to the devastation of the rainforest. Like somehow wildlife and deforestation CAN coexist, and we have the photographic evidence to prove it!!!!"

This article is a quick and balanced piece that discusses the rainforest preservation AND the critically endangered species, the Muntac or muntiacus vuquangensis. Not really that giant but in comparison to other ungulates in the region he is.

OK, you convinced me.

[Owen]

You sure don't see antlers like that just every day

[Anchor Moy]

Beautiful beast in a world of brutes. It's good to have some positive news from time to time.

[bossho]

@ SternAAlbifrons or equal cut out ( ha 2x) any chance you'd have any audio of these creatures barking?

[rasputin]

That species was "discovered" in the nineties (though I suspect the local people may have known long before). Anyway, this archived site has interesting information. https://wwf.panda.org/discover/our_focu ... t_muntjac/

Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using Tapatalk

[Username Taken]

Here, you can listen to these ones.

[CEOCambodiaNews]

Mongabay Series: Global Forests
Cambodia’s first giant muntjac sighting highlights key mountain habitat
by Carolyn Cowan on 30 June 2021

Camera trap surveys in Virachey National Park in northeast Cambodia have recorded the country’s first sightings of a critically endangered deer, the large-antlered muntjac (Muntiacus vuquangensis). The species, also known as the giant muntjac, was first described nearly three decades ago, and up until now had only been recorded in Laos and Vietnam. The surveys also recorded a suite of other increasingly rare species, highlighting the importance of the national park, which experts say is in need of additional protection to safeguard its unique and diverse wildlife.

Virachey National Park is located in the Annamite mountain range, which weave a chain of precipitous peaks and forested valleys along the border between Laos and Vietnam, terminating at the south in a flourish of high ground that sweeps into northeast Cambodia. The national park was established in 1993 and spans more than 3,300 square kilometers (1,270 square miles) of this remote and rugged terrain, locally named “the dragon’s tail.”

The Annamite mountains are a global biodiversity hotspot: over the last three decades, scientists have identified many unique species, including the Annamite striped rabbit (Nesolagus timminsi), the saola ox (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis) and the large-antlered muntjac, that occur nowhere else on the planet. Recent camera trap surveys in Phong Dien Nature Reserve, Vietnam, roughly 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Virachey, also recorded a host of rare and threatened species, including as-yet-unidentified muntjac deer, underscoring the importance of the high-elevation Annamite forests as important refuges for rare and common species alike.

Trekking

Although camera traps have been used in Virachey National Park before, the recent surveys, led by Pin Chanratana, an environmental officer at Cambodia’s Ministry of Environment, with support from Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, were the first large-scale systematic camera-trapping initiative in the national park.

“The survey was initially targeting large cats, specifically clouded leopard,” Chanratana told Mongabay. “But camera traps will not just capture one single species, they photograph anything that comes along as well; we were lucky and we got the large-antlered muntjac, which is critically endangered.”

In an effort to establish the population density of clouded leopards (Neofelis nebulosa) in the park, Chanratana and his team of local field assistants trekked into the dense forest for 14 days to deploy some 100 camera traps at 50 locations, covering an area of 160 km2 (60 mi2). Two cameras were set up at each location, so that animals could be viewed from multiple angles to facilitate identification of individuals. The team left the cameras in place for three months, from March to May 2021.

According to Chanratana, the recent surveys recorded several of the 12 known muntjac deer species, but documenting the large-antlered muntjac for the first time in Cambodia was the crowning glory. “Common muntjac (Muntiacus muntjak) was recorded at 33 of the 50 locations, and we had over 160 encounters with it. The large-antlered muntjac appeared at only one location, with one encounter. It is very rare.”

Fortunately, that single encounter secured enough evidence to unequivocally identify the deer. When Chanratana reached out to experts for corroboration, he initially sent two photographs of the deer, one from the side and one from the front. They told him that “It’s 95% certain it’s a large-antlered muntjac, but if we can have a picture of the tail then we can confirm it to 100%.” Happily, Chanratana could send them that crucial picture of the view from the rear. “It was just so lucky to me that the camera trap took every angle of the animal that was needed to confirm its identity — from the front, the back and the side — perfect!”

The large-antlered muntjac was first described from Laos and Vietnam in 1994. It is now scarcely seen in the wild. Many records of its continued existence are based on antlers found in villages in Laos, Vietnam and eastern Cambodia. Based on such scant available records, the IUCN calculates that the population is in rapid decline and recommends the establishment of a captive-breeding program to safeguard it against extinction.
More text and photos here: https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/cambo ... n-habitat/