What’s new: The first ever camera trap study from Cambodia’s Central Cardamom Mountains has captured footage of 108 wildlife species, including 23 that are threatened with extinction. This survey confirms the area’s importance as a biodiversity hotspot, a recent report says.
What the study says:
- The Central Cardamom Mountain Landscape (CCML), part of the Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot, has long been known to harbor hundreds of animal and plant species, several of which are considered threatened under the IUCN Red List. However, there’s never been a systematic survey of the region to document its biodiversity, the report notes. Previous surveys “were ad hoc, opportunistic, or targeted at certain species”, the authors write.
- The camera trap survey, supported by the Cambodian Ministry of Environment, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the NGO Conservation International and others, was part of efforts to establish an initial biodiversity baseline for the Central Cardamom REDD+ project, launched in 2021.
- From December 2022 to December 2023, the network of 143 camera traps captured more than 22,200 images of 108 species, including 65 bird, 38 mammal and five reptile species. These included the critically endangered Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica) and five endangered species: Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), dhole (Cuon alpinus), long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis), pileated gibbon (Hylobates pileatus) and green peafowl (Pavo muticus). The survey also captured elusive species like the clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa), marbled cat (Pardofelis marmorata), Asiatic golden cat (Catopuma temminckii), sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) and Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus).
- Dholes, or Asian wild dogs, were widely detected, which means the CCML is a key refuge for the species. However, there were fewer detections of Asian elephants, “likely due to poaching,” the authors say.
- The cameras also captured humans and domestic dogs, suggesting that people may be bringing dogs to the region for hunting, the report notes, although their occurrence was relatively low.
What this means:
With more than 95% of its forests intact, the Cardamom Mountains are one of the least deforested areas in Cambodia. However, they face increasing threats such as habitat loss due to forest clearing for agriculture, hydropower projects, poaching, illegal logging, and unsustainable hunting and collection of forest products.
The report says the diversity captured by the camera traps shows “CCML’s crucial role in maintaining high conservation value habitats that are pivotal for the survival of many threatened species.”
It adds that the low detection of some species like elephants suggests “challenges of habitat suitability and poaching, necessitating targeted conservation actions.”
Moreover, the cameras “couldn’t capture insects, canopy habitat birds, aquatic species like amphibians and fish,” Thaung Ret, research lead at Conservation International, said in a statement. “Extensive research is needed to truly understand the species richness and adequately conserve this treasure trove of biodiversity.”
Banner image of dholes recorded via camera trap in CCML in 2024, courtesy of Conservation International.
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