And now for our Friday post on the kouprey!! The kouprey has been widely regarded as one of the worlds most endangered mammals, and is now considered effectively extinct. Despite several surveys during the 90’s over the main range where kouprey were expected to occur in recent past – including an aerial and ground survey for kouprey in the Mondolkiri and Stoeng Treng Provinces of eastern Cambodia in 1994 – no evidence of the existence of any kouprey were collected. The species’ small range, local hunting pressure, trophy trade, and the decades of war and its ravages (including soldiers hunting for food) have very probably decimated the last koupreys. Land mines along the border of Cambodia might also have caused the deaths of some Kouprey as well. The population of kouprey was estimated at no more than 800 individuals in 1938, 500 individuals in 1952, and only 200 individuals in 1964. A herd of three kouprey were spotted at the Thai border in 1982, coming from Cambodia; a team tried to catch up with them but stopped after a ranger was severely injured by a landmine. Thus, the kouprey completely vanished some time during the late 1980s. In 1964, Prince Sihanouk of Cambodia, who kept the last captive kouprey in the palace ground as a child, declared the kouprey to be the national animal and created three protected areas (Kulen Prum Tep, Lomphat, and Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuaries) for the kouprey. Unfortunately long periods of political unrest in Cambodia have not allowed effective protection of the small remnant populations. The Asian Wild Cattle Specialist Group of the IUCN/SSC completed an Action Plan for the conservation of the Kouprey in 1988, but the implementation of its recommendations has been impeded by ongoing insecurity problems in Indochina. In 1964 Wharton launched a mission to capture live kouprey for ex situ conservation. His team was able to capture five individuals, but lost them all (two died and three escaped). Other attempts to develop a captive breeding program for this species were also unsuccessful due to the war in Cambodia and then the impossibility of capturing any founder individuals in the wild. This species is listed as Critically Endangered, is listed in CITES Appendix I, and is legally protected in all range states. If the species is still extant it is most likely to be in eastern Cambodia in one of four protected areas (Lomphat Wildlife Sanctuary, Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary, Mondulkiri Protection Forest and or Siema Biodiversity Conservation Area). There are no kouprey in captivity. Hunting, both for local consumption and for trade (meat and body parts, especially horns and skulls), is the major threat throughout the koupreys range. Diseases from domestic and/or free-ranging livestock could have disastrous consequences given the already severely reduced kouprey population. Habitat loss as a result of the rapidly increasing land clearance for cultivation (local and commercial), mining and logging. Knowledge of the kouprey is widespread among rural people in Cambodia, concerning its rarity and the value of trophies and perhaps other body parts; as such it is a more desirable target than most in Cambodia. It is unlikely that specific survey work for kouprey would produce any better evidence than has already been documented, and the best conservation measures for the species now would be to concentrate on in situ protection activities for large mammal communities in eastern Cambodia, especially building upon and strengthening the existing projects within the Srepok Wilderness Area of the Mondulkiri Protection Forest and the Siema Biodiversity Conservation Area. Special thanks to ARKive for the one of the only videos of the kouprey!
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 03:00:00 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015