Helmeted Hornbills Rhinoplax vigil are used to clashes. When a tall forest tree is in fruit, rival individuals launch into one of the most remarkable skirmishes seen among birds anywhere. The mighty hornbills, up to 1.5 m in length, take off from their high perches with deep beats of their enormous wings. Just above the […]
“Many parks advertise themselves as sanctuaries but they are not,” says Maria Mossman, founder of non-profit group Action for Elephants UK. “Never go to a park that advertises shows, unnatural behaviour, tricks or painting – and please, never ride an elephant.” Mossman, who has been involved in elephant activism since 2013, and also organises global […]
The smell was ghastly and the sight even worse. Twenty-five elephants lay dead in a riverbed in the Ayeyawady (Irrawaddy) delta in southwestern Myanmar. “The stench is what led villagers to the bodies in the first place,” says Aung Myo Chit, the Smithsonian Institution’s Myanmar country coordinator, who also leads a local NGO, Growth for […]
The critically endangered Indochinese tiger has been found to be breeding in a Thai jungle, providing hope for a subspecies whose total population may number only a couple of hundred. Conservation authorities in Thailand, along with two international wildlife organisations, released photographs of new tiger cubs in the country’s east. The images support a scientific […]
The Indochinese leopard is struggling to survive. Once widespread across southeast Asia, the leopard subspecies has been wiped out from much of its habitat, and now occurs only in six percent of its historical range, a new study published in Biological Conservation has found. “Nobody was expecting this,” co-author Jan F. Kamler, Southeast Asia Leopard Program […]
Scientists found the Myanmar Jerdon’s babbler alive and well during a recent expedition. A bird thought to have gone the way of the dodo decades ago has been rediscovered in Myanmar (Burma), scientists reported Thursday. A team led by the Wildlife Conservation Society stumbled upon the bird, a Myanmar Jerdon’s babbler, last May while studying […]
Myanmar is home to at least 1,114 bird species after researchers identified 20 previously undocumented species during recent surveys, reports The Myanmar Times. The discoveries were made between 2010 and 2014 by bird watchers from Myeik University, Myanmar Bird and Nature Society (MBNS), the Wildlife Conservation Society, Bird Tour Asia, Wildlife Sanctuary (Putao), and Flora […]
Sai Yok bent-toed gecko found on forested hill near Myanmar border, researchers think more species await discovery in biodiverse region A research team based in western Thailand has discovered a new gecko species in the Kanchanaburi Province, a region renowned for its number of species found nowhere else in the world. A recent publication in […]