Cambodia mangrove forests provide refuge for threatened wildlife

Researchers from the Fishing Cat Ecological Enterprise (FCEE), a private company in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, identified mangrove forests as critical habitats for several threatened animal species.

The team monitored these areas between 2017 and 2023 by placing camera traps across 156 coastal and riverine sites within the Peam Krasop Wildlife Sanctuary and the Koh Kapik Ramsar site. These areas comprise the largest mangrove expanse in Cambodia. The camera footage showed various animals using the mangroves for shelter and movement.

These included fishing cats, smooth-coated otters, leopard cats, hairy-nosed otters, and large-spotted civets. While some species like the fishing cat and smooth-coated otter appeared near villages, others such as the hairy-nosed otter and the Sunda pangolin remained difficult to detect and tended to avoid human settlements. The study found that four threatened species declined in number over the seven-year period, including the long-tailed macaque and the large-spotted civet. Only the common palm civet showed an increase.

Vanessa Herranz Muñoz, the FCEE director and study author, stated that protecting the mangroves is not enough, as the surrounding Melaleuca forests and riverine mixed mangroves are also essential for the survival of specific species like the hairy-nosed otter, which is the rarest otter in the world. The researchers noted that human activities such as poaching, urbanization, and forest fires continue to threaten these habitats.

They called for the Cambodian government, conservation groups, and local communities to collaborate on protecting these ecosystems from degradation.