Lying at the nexus of South Asia, Southeast Asia and China, Myanmar hosts an extraordinary mix of ecosystems that represent some of the last refuges of an ever-lengthening list of imperiled species: tigers, leopards and pangolins to name a few. But the combination of teeming biodiversity and notoriously lax law enforcement also makes the country […]
Tag: myanmar
For border-crossing Thai tigers, the forest on the other side isn’t as green
Big cats require big home ranges. In February 2016, a young male Indochinese tiger (Panthera tigris corbetti) walked from Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary in western Thailand to Kayin state in Myanmar. After crossing mountains, rivers, roads and national borders over the course of its 170-kilometer (105-mile) journey, he ventured out of the forest into […]
How ethical is the elephant ‘sanctuary’ you’re visiting?
“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 […]
Asian Elephants Are Now Being Killed for Their Skin
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 […]
Video: Rare Indochinese tigers caught on camera in Thai jungle
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 […]
Indochinese leopard has disappeared from 94% of its historical range
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 […]
‘Extinct’ Bird Rediscovered in Myanmar, Surprising Scientists
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’s bird species count jumps to 1114
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 […]