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SWG Survey of Khoun Xe Nong Ma Reveals Surprisingly Intact Saola Habitat

It was bedtime in late September when SWG member Chanthasone Phommachanh (better known as Olay) turned from his notebook to see what was rustling near his jungle hammock. It had been a long day deep in the forests of Khoun Xe Nong Ma, a provincial-level protected area in Laos against the border of Vietnam where Phommachanh and an expedition team were collecting information about the area–species observed, signs of poaching, and data on the habitat.

This evening, the wildlife came to Phommachanh. He shined his flashlight at the noise and there, just 1.5 meters away, stood an Annamite Striped Rabbit. “I could see the stripes, the black and yellow stripes like a tiger, and I knew it was an Annamite Striped Rabbit for sure,” Phommachanh says with a certain excitement reserved for wildlife lovers. “It was amazing. I watched it for 20 seconds and then when he saw me, he took off in one jump, one very long jump.”

The Annamite Striped Rabbit is a rare Annamite endemic discovered shortly after the Saola. (Photo courtesy of Andrew Tilker)

This encounter gives Phommachanh the distinction of being among the only biologists to ever see an Annamite Striped Rabbit in the wild. But the moment also underscores the unexpected findings of an expedition that, over the course of about a month, revealed a relatively healthy community of biodiversity and a surprisingly intact core of habitat. And if an animal as elusive and rare as the Annamite Striped Rabbit can be found here, then maybe, just maybe, the Saola can, too.

Hope Unexpected

SWG member Rob Timmins is no stranger to the rapid and pervasive waves of poaching devastating populations of wildlife across the Annamite Mountains. He has been doing these kinds of expeditions in the area for more than 20 years, and as the years have gone by, he has learned to expect surveys to reveal fewer animals and more snares.

“There’s basically no forest in Indochina that has escaped at least some level of exploitation,” Timmins says. “There’s no area that you could find today that still has the most valuable species in any abundance. In general these days, I go into an area with considerably lowered expectations and in most of the areas I’ve surveyed in the last 10 years, those expectations have actually turned out to be even more optimistic than what we find in reality.”

Phommachanh and Timmins’ expedition to Khoun Xe Nong Ma, however, surprised them, defying their generally lowered expectations. Timmins says he’s been lucky to see primates once a week on past expeditions to other habitat in the Annamites, but reports seeing primates daily on this trip. Timmins also says the team came across signs of ungulates more frequently than on expeditions anywhere else in recent years. And in addition to the Annamite Striped Rabbit—an Annamites endemic discovered by none other than Rob Timmins shortly after the discovery of the Saola—Phommachanh reports seeing muntjacs, serows, Sambar Deer, gibbons and doucs, and hearing the rare Crested Argus call.

The survey team. (Photo by Chanthasone Phommachanh)

The team was also surprised to find very little evidence of hunting, especially snaring, in the forests. They determined that an area of core habitat about 200 square kilometers in size hasn’t yet experienced the kind of industrial-level snaring that is pushing Annamites endemics–rare, near-mythical species–to the brink of extinction, including the Saola. Timmins calls this discovery in today’s age of poaching unprecedented.

“I went in with an expectation that we would find snares pretty much throughout, and that maybe, if we were lucky, we’d find some sort of areas where the snaring had only been going on for a few years,” Timmins says. “Khoun Xe Nong Ma has experienced some of these waves of poaching, but it hasn’t experienced this kind of newest wave of industrial-level snaring. I was really surprised to find as large an area as we did without snares. It was really fantastic.”

A Future for Khoun Xe Nong Ma

While still in the field, Phommachanh and Timmins sent message by satellite out to the Lao government and its partner, Integrated Conservation of Biodiversity and Forests (ICBF),  and the Saola Working Group to alert them of the snares the team did find. ICBF had already sent a team to clear snares from a nearby area where Phommachanh had done a preliminary survey in July, and is in the process now of carrying out a snare-removal mission based on the most recent survey. In the next step, ICBF, which helped to fund the Khoun Xe Nong Ma expedition, will be adding patrolling stations and developing and organizing permanent patrol teams for the forest with the aim of preventing future threats. And the government plans to upgrade Khoun Xe Nong Ma from a provincial-level protected area to a national-level protected area sometime in the next year.

“It’s really encouraging that this project is ready to act, and it’s ready to act quickly,” Timmins says. “Unless there’s good protection for the area, just like everywhere else these species are going to disappear and it’s going to happen quickly. It is still possible at this point that we can actually do something.”

Phommachanh in the field. (Photo courtesy of Chanthasone Phommachanh)

In the meantime, Phommachanh and Timmins are eagerly awaiting the retrieval of photos from the more than 100 camera traps they set throughout the area. Phommachanh will be collecting data from the cameras’ SD cards in mid-November, and, as part of the urgent next phase of the survey, adding another 150 camera throughout the 200 square kilometers of relatively pristine habitat. They expect photos of Large-antlered Muntjacs, Owston’s Civets, Hog Badgers, Large Indian Civets, Crested Argus, macaques and maybe even the rare Edwards’s Pheasant.

“It would be very nice if there were Saola on there,” Timmins says, “but I won’t be disappointed if it isn’t. We need more of a focused effort to increase the odds of detecting them. But the SWG will keep this process going until we do detect Saola in the area.”

For Phommachanh, this expedition meant hope.

“Seeing animals in the wild in the thick forest of Laos is very difficult,” Phommachanh says. “Yet I saw so many species–muntjac, serow, Sambar, doucs and others. I even saw the Annamite Striped Rabbit. It gives me great hope that the Saola is here, too.”

Help support this crowdsourcing campaign to raise $41,000 for new cameras by Dec. 16 in the next vital step of this survey. Thanks to SWG supporter Kristine Karnos for making the campaign happen.

(Top photo: Khoun Xe Nong Ma habitat, photo by Chanthasone Phommachanh)

A Q&A with illustrator and SWG holiday card designer Eric Losh

For the last five years, Brooklyn-based artist Eric Losh has used his incredible talent as a volunteer to design SWG’s beautiful, Saola-themed holiday cards that go out to members, supporters and partners this time of year. Losh is also author and illustrator of “Wonders of the Annamites,” a children’s book that highlights the beauty of the species living in the Annamites Mountain range. Check out his work at www.elosh.com.

We had an opportunity to chat with Losh about his love for Annamites species, his 2017 holiday card, and the upcoming Vietnamese launch of his book “Wonders of the Annamites:”

2015 SWG holiday card

Q. How did you develop your interest in the species of the Annamites?
A: I saw a talk online in 2012 that was given by Bill Robichaud, coordinator of the Saola Working Group, about the work being done to protect the Saola. I was inspired by the talk, and felt compelled to contribute my talents toward the cause. After contacting Robichaud, he gave me the opportunity to create the artwork for that year’s SWG’s holiday card, which has now turned into an annual project. I’ve come to learn a lot about the ecology of the Annamites from Robichaud and his colleague, a wildlife expert for the IUCN, William Duckworth, throughout the years.

In 2015, Robichaud put me in touch with Camille Coudrat, founder of the Laos-based NGO, Project Anoulak. With her partnership, I went on to write and illustrate “Wonders of the Annamites,” which is the first children’s book about the wildlife found in the Annamites. The book features 60 animal species and the diverse mountain habitats in which they live, as seen by a local family as they travel through the highlands to visit their grandmother. I’m selling an English edition of the book in the United States, and Project Anoulak has released it in French and Lao. We’re also really excited for an upcoming Vietnamese release of the book by Vietnam’s Nha Nam Publishing this December.

Q. Where do you get the inspiration for each holiday card design for the Saola Working Group?
A: Each card is a new opportunity to delve into the world of the Saola, and I’m always excited to create artwork that offers a new view of the animal. There’s a very limited amount of footage and photos available of it, and even far less knowledge of its biology. So for the holiday cards, I rely on the reference available and my own imagination to bring the Saola to life. I’m a children’s book illustrator at heart, so I often take some artistic license with style and subject matter to show the Saola in whimsical scenes, interacting with other animals. In years past, I’ve illustrated the Saola with a menagerie of animals from Douc Langurs, gibbons, turtles, to Owston’s Civets, and recently the Large-antlered Muntjac.

This December, I’ll be taking a trip to Vietnam for the book launch of “Wonders of the Annamites” (in Vietnamese it’s called “Các Loài Quý Hiếm Vững Trường Sơn”) by Nha Nam Publishing. As my wife and I are avid bird watchers, we’ll be doing some birding in the national parks after the event, so I decided that for this year’s card I wanted to depict the Saola along with a flock of birds from its home range. Robichaud was intrigued by the concept, and decided that we should tie the card with a new conservation organization called the Silent Forest Program. This is a new campaign by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (a very faithful and important supporter of the SWG) that is focused on the Southeast Asian songbird crisis. There has been a population crash in songbirds throughout Indochina and the Greater Sunda region, as wild birds are being illegally collected for the pet and singing contest trade. Many forests are becoming eerily silent and devoid of the rich diversity they once held. The Silent Forest Program works to raise awareness of this issue, fundraise for conservation efforts, and provide support for captive breeding programs.

2017 SWG holiday card

My illustration this year depicts eight bird species that are significant to the Annamites and/or are known to be vocal species, perched on the Saola for protection. The birds appear quiet and stoic, save for a Red-tailed Laughingthrush that is whispering into the Saola’s ear. I like to think that perhaps the bird is asking the Saola for help avoiding detection by humans, as the Saola itself is such a notoriously cryptic species.

Q. Why are you so committed to helping the Saola Working Group?
A: I’m fascinated by the Saola’s story. It was mostly unheard of outside Laos and Vietnam for centuries. It is now so rare that its existence has been almost elevated to a mythical or legendary status. Without the SWG’s efforts to slow poaching and habitat loss, the Saola will certainly become extinct within my lifetime (this phrase has unfortunately become a bit cliché when discussing endangered species, but unlike other imperiled species such as elephants or tigers, the Saola has never been seen in the wild by a biologist, has only been documented a handful of times via camera traps, and none exist in captivity).

2014 SWG holiday card

Working with the SWG, I’ve been inspired by this group of people who have dedicated their careers to protecting this species and its habitat. There are people who have spent countless hours devoted to studying and protecting something that they will possibly never even glimpse. I’m committed to show that through my art.

Q. What do you hope SWG members and supporters take away from the holiday card?
A: One important—and certainly intentional—outcome of the conservation work of the SWG is that its conservation efforts has an umbrella effect on many other incredible species of the Annamite Mountains. When poaching or habitat destruction of the Saola is reduced, countless other animals benefit. This card in particular shows that many bird species that were once considered common are now becoming as vulnerable as the Saola. Wildlife in the Annamites is at risk from a myriad of threats, so any interest and financial support generated through this holiday card can make a big difference in supporting the conservation work of the SWG.

2016 SWG holiday card

Q. What is happening at the Vietnamese launch of “Wonders of the Annamites?” What else will you be doing while in Vietnam?
A. The book launch will be hosted by Nha Nam Publishing on December 3rd in Hanoi’s Book Street in the Hoàn Kiếm District. Camille Coudrat from Project Anoulak and I will be presenting the book, doing a Q&A with press, and even doing a drawing and painting lesson with kids from a local art club. It’s going to be a lot of fun, and we invite any SWG supporters and families around Hanoi to come to the event!

2013 SWG holiday card

Afterward, my wife and I are headed southward to enjoy a few of the national parks in Central Vietnam that are within the Annamite Mountain Range and foothills. We’ll be birding and primate watching around Cuc Phuong National Park and visiting the Endangered Primate Rescue Center and Save Vietnam’s Wildlife to learn more about the rehabilitated gibbons, langurs, pangolins and civets. Then we’ll head to Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park (a UNESCO World Heritage site) to do a mountain day-trek with a local eco conservation tour company. Finally, after a drive to Hue, we’ll be taking a day trip to Bach Ma National Park for birding, then visiting the Son Tra Peninsula Reserve outside of Danang to observe the endangered Red-shanked Douc Langurs with a local NGO called GreenViet. It’ll be a dream come true to finally see firsthand some of the habitats (and hopefully species) that I’ve been researching and illustrating for the past many years. While we don’t expect to glimpse a Saola, we still hope to see some of the other mammals and birds that I’ve featured in “Wonders of the Annamites” and in these holiday cards for the Saola Working Group.

(All artwork by Eric Losh)