Cambodia’s mangrove forests and the wetlands associated with them provide critical refuge for several threatened and elusive species, including fishing cats and hairy‑nosed otters, according to a recent study. Researchers from the Phnom Penh-based private company Fishing Cat Ecological Enterprise (FCEE) deployed camera traps across 156 coastal and riverine mangrove sites within the Peam Krasop Wildlife Sanctuary and the adjacent Koh Kapik Ramsar site between 2017 and 2023. Both the sanctuary and the Ramsar site form Cambodia’s largest mangrove expanse. The camera footage revealed that the mangrove forests are a rich habitat of threatened species: Fishing cats (Prionailurus viverrinus) slipping through mangrove thickets away from shores, smooth‑coated otters (Lutra perspicillata) patrolling fringe river channels, leopard cats (Prionailurus bengalensis) and hairy‑nosed otters (Lutra sumatrana) favoring mangroves by rivers, and large‑spotted civets (Viverra megaspila) moving through swamp forests dominated by paperbark trees (Melaleuca spp.). Researchers also found that four threatened species had declined over the seven-year study period. These included the endangered long‑tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis) and large‑spotted civet, and the vulnerable fishing cat and smooth‑coated otter. Only the common palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus), an adaptable species, showed signs of increase. The critically endangered Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica) and the endangered hairy‑nosed otter remained difficult to detect. “Our results also showed that it’s essential to protect not just the mangrove forests, but [also] the surrounding Melaleuca forests which are important for the Endangered large-spotted civet, and the riverine mixed mangroves which are critical for the Endangered hairy-nosed otter, considered the rarest otter…This article was originally published on Mongabay

From Conservation news via This RSS Feed.