Posted on January, 15 2021

The Eastern Plains Landscape (EPL) in Eastern Cambodia and central Viet Nam comprises one of the largest remaining expanses of lowland Deciduous Dipterocarp Forest, a type of forest that is severely threatened. The EPL harbours globally significant populations of endangered wildlife, including the largest population of wild banteng (Bos javanicus) in its native range, critically endangered ibis and vulture species, Cambodia’s largest population of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus), one of the last Siamese crocodile populations (Crocodylus siamensis), and the only remaining Indochinese leopard population (Panthera pardus delacouri) in Indochina.

Robust monitoring of wildlife populations is critical to assess the impacts of threats to wildlife, to support evidence-based conservation decision-making, and for effective protected area management. In the Phnom Prich and Srepok Wildlife Sanctuaries (PPWS and SWS, respectively), located in the heart of the EPL, a long-term ungulate monitoring programme is being implemented, the results of the first ten-year period (2010–2020) of which are presented in this report. Using a standardized distance-sampling statistical framework, this programme assessed the population status and trends for banteng, northern red muntjac (Muntiacus vaginalis) hereinafter referred to as red muntjac, and Eurasian wild pig (Sus scrofa), all are important prey species for the diverse assemblage of large carnivores in the landscape.