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Indo-Burma
Indo-Burma is a biodiversity hotspot designated by Conservation International. Geography Indo-Burma encompasses of tropical Asia, east of the Ganges-Brahmaputra lowlands. Formerly including the Himalaya chain and the associated foothills in Nepal, Bhutan, and India, Indo-Burma has now been more narrowly redefined as the Indo-Chinese subregion. The area contains the Lower Mekong catchment. It begins in eastern Bangladesh and then extends across north-eastern India, south of the Brahmaputra River, to encompass nearly all of Myanmar, part of southern and western Yunnan Province in China, all of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Cambodia and Vietnam, the vast majority of Thailand and a small part of Peninsular Malaysia. In addition, the hotspot covers the coastal lowlands of southern China (in southern Guangxi and Guangdong), as well as several offshore islands, such as Hainan Island (of China) in the South China Sea and the Andaman Islands (of India) in the Andaman Sea. The ho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biodiversity Hotspot
A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic region with significant levels of biodiversity that is threatened by human habitation. Norman Myers wrote about the concept in two articles in ''The Environmentalist'' in 1988 and 1990, after which the concept was revised following thorough analysis by Myers and others into “Hotspots: Earth’s Biologically Richest and Most Endangered Terrestrial Ecoregions” and a paper published in the journal ''Nature'', both in 2000. To qualify as a biodiversity hotspot on Myers' 2000 edition of the hotspot map, a region must meet two strict criteria: it must contain at least 1,500 species of vascular plants (more than 0.5% of the world's total) as endemics, and it has to have lost at least 70% of its primary vegetation. Globally, 36 zones qualify under this definition. These sites support nearly 60% of the world's plant, bird, mammal, reptile, and amphibian species, with a high share of those species as endemics. Some of these hotspots support up ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
MAP IndoBurma
A map is a symbolic depiction emphasizing relationships between elements of some space, such as objects, regions, or themes. Many maps are static, fixed to paper or some other durable medium, while others are dynamic or interactive. Although most commonly used to depict geography, maps may represent any space, real or fictional, without regard to context or scale, such as in brain mapping, DNA mapping, or computer network topology mapping. The space being mapped may be two dimensional, such as the surface of the earth, three dimensional, such as the interior of the earth, or even more abstract spaces of any dimension, such as arise in modeling phenomena having many independent variables. Although the earliest maps known are of the heavens, geographic maps of territory have a very long tradition and exist from ancient times. The word "map" comes from the , wherein ''mappa'' meant 'napkin' or 'cloth' and ''mundi'' 'the world'. Thus, "map" became a shortened term referring to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
White-rumped Vulture
The white-rumped vulture (''Gyps bengalensis'') is an Old World vulture native to South and Southeast Asia. It has been listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2000, as the population severely declined. White-rumped vultures die of kidney failure caused by diclofenac poisoning. In the 1980s, the global population was estimated at several million individuals, and it was thought to be "the most abundant large bird of prey in the world". As of 2021, the global population was estimated at less than 6,000 mature individuals. It is closely related to the European griffon vulture (''Gyps fulvus''). At one time it was believed to be closer to the white-backed vulture of Africa and was known as the Oriental white-backed vulture. Taxonomy The white-rumped vulture was Species description, formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's ''Systema Naturae''. He placed it with the vultures in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red-headed Vulture
The red-headed vulture (''Sarcogyps calvus''), also known as the Asian king vulture, Indian black vulture or Pondicherry vulture, is an Old World vulture mainly found in the Indian subcontinent, with small disjunct populations in some parts of Southeast Asia. Description It is a medium-sized vulture of in length, weighing and having a wingspan of about . It has a prominent naked head: deep-red to orange in the adult, paler red in the juvenile. It has a black body with pale grey band at the base of the flight feathers. The sexes differ in colour of the iris: males have a paler, whitish iris, whilst in females it is dark brown. The red-headed vulture is very similar in appearance to its larger relative the Lappet-faced vulture in Africa and Arabia, even being historically placed in the genus Torgos Taxonomy and systematics This is a species of Old World vulture found in the Indian subcontinent. It has no subspecies. Distribution and habitat This gaudy-faced vulture was histo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spoon-billed Sandpiper
The spoon-billed sandpiper (''Calidris pygmaea'') is a small wader which breeds on the coasts of the Bering Sea and winters in Southeast Asia. This species is highly threatened, and it is said that since the 1970s the breeding population has decreased significantly. By 2000, the estimated breeding population of the species was 350–500. Taxonomy ''Platalea pygmea'' was the scientific name proposed by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. It was moved to ''Eurynorhynchus'' by Sven Nilsson in 1821. It is now classified under the calidrid sandpipers. Description The most distinctive feature of this species is its spatulate bill. The breeding adult bird is 14–16 cm in length, and has a red-brown head, neck and breast with dark brown streaks. It has blackish upperparts with buff and pale rufous fringing. Non-breeding adults lack the reddish colouration, but have pale brownish-grey upperparts with whitish fringing to the wing-coverts. The underparts are white and the legs are black.Bir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mekong Giant Catfish
The Mekong giant catfish (''Pangasianodon gigas''; th, ปลาบึก, , ; km, ត្រីរាជ /''trəy riec''/; vi, cá tra dầu), is a large, threatened species of catfish (order Siluriformes) in the shark catfish family (Pangasiidae), native to the Mekong basin in Southeast Asia and adjacent China. It is considered critically endangered due to accelerating habitat loss. Description Depiction of a mature Mekong giant catfish from the ''Illustrated collection of fishes from Asia, Africa and Australia'' Grey to white in color and lacking stripes, the Mekong giant catfish is distinguished from other large catfish species in the river by the near-total lack of barbels and the absence of teeth. Young Mekong catfish do exhibit barbels and oral teeth, but these features diminish as they age and are absent by the time they grow to be 30-50cm in length. Mekong giant catfish are one of the largest species of freshwater fish. In 2005, the Mekong giant catfish attained ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giant Ibis
The giant ibis (''Thaumatibis gigantea''), the only species in the monotypic genus ''Thaumatibis'', is a wading bird of the ibis family, Threskiornithidae. It is confined to northern Cambodia, with a few birds surviving in extreme southern Laos and a recent sighting in Yok Đôn National Park, Vietnam. Habitat and range The giant ibis is a lowland bird that occurs in marshes, swamps, lakes, wide rivers, flooded plains and semi-open forests as well as pools, ponds and seasonal water-meadows in denser deciduous forest. It generally is found in lowlands. One bird was collected in a Malay paddyfield. Formerly the giant ibis was believed to breed in eastern Thailand, central and northern Cambodia, southern Laos and southern Vietnam. It was still fairly common in the Mekong Delta until the 1920s but is now almost depleted, with a small remnant population breeding in Cambodia, southern Laos and possibly in Vietnam. Description True to its name, it is the largest extant ibis species. A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fishing Cat
The fishing cat (''Prionailurus viverrinus'') is a medium-sized wild cat of South and Southeast Asia. Since 2016, it is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Fishing cat populations are threatened by destruction of wetlands and have declined severely over the last decade. The fishing cat lives foremost in the vicinity of wetlands, along rivers, streams, oxbow lakes, in swamps, and mangroves. The fishing cat is the state animal of West Bengal. Taxonomy ''Felis viverrinus'' was proposed by Edward Turner Bennett in 1833 who described a fishing cat skin from India. '' Prionailurus'' was proposed by Nikolai Severtzov in 1858 as generic name for spotted wild cats native to Asia. ''Felis viverrinus rhizophoreus'' was proposed by Henri Jacob Victor Sody in 1936 who described a specimen from the north coast of West Java that had a slightly shorter skull than fishing cat specimens from Thailand. There is evidence that the nominate taxon and the Javan fishing cat are distinguish ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
White-headed Langur
The white-headed langur (''Trachypithecus leucocephalus'') is a critically endangered species of langur endemic to Guangxi, China. Taxonomy It was formerly considered a subspecies of the Cat Ba langur (''T. poliocephalus''), which is now thought to be endemic to Vietnam. Its taxonomy was previously uncertain; it has been considered a partially albinistic population of the François' langur (''T. francoisi''), a subspecies of Francois' langur,Bradon-Jones, D. 1995. A revision of the Asian pied leaf monkeys (Mammalia: Cercopithecidae: Superspecies ''Semnopithecus auratus''), with the description of a new subspecies. ''Raffles Bull. Zool.'' 43: 3-43 a valid species (''T. leucocephalus''), or a subspecies, ''T. poliocephalus leucocephalus''. However, the IUCN Red List and American Society of Mammalogists now recognize it as a distinct species based on a 2007 study which split both species. Populations of this species in Chongzuo and Fusui display notable genetic divergence from th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eld's Deer
Eld's deer (''Rucervus eldii'' or ''Panolia eldii''Pitraa, Fickela, Meijaard, Groves (2004). ''Evolution and phylogeny of old world deer.'' Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 33: 880–895.), also known as the thamin or brow-antlered deer, is an endangered species of deer endemic to South Asia. Taxonomy The species was first described by John McClelland in 1840 based on specimens obtained in Manipur, India. It was described more detailed by Percy Eld in 1841; it was suggested to call the deer ''Cervus Eldii''. McClelland coined the scientific name ''Cervus (Rusa) frontals'' in 1843. In 1850, John Edward Gray proposed the name ''Panolia eldii'' for the deer. It has recently been proposed that it should be moved back to the genus ''Panolia'' on the basis of recent genetic findings that place it closer to Pere David's deer than to other members of the genus ''Rucervus''. The three subspecies of the Eld's deer are: *''Rucervus eldii eldii'': The Manipuri brow-antlered deer is f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saola
The saola (''Pseudoryx nghetinhensis''), also called spindlehorn, Asian unicorn, or infrequently, Vu Quang bovid, is one of the world's rarest large mammals, a forest-dwelling bovine native to the Annamite Range in Vietnam and Laos. It was described in 1993 following a discovery of remains in Vũ Quang National Park by a joint survey of the Vietnamese Ministry of Forestry and the World Wide Fund for Nature. Saolas have since been kept in captivity multiple times, although only for short periods as they died within a matter of weeks to months. The species was first reported in 1992 by Do Tuoc, a forest ecologist, and his associates. The first photograph of a living saola was taken in captivity in 1993. The most recent one was taken in 2013 by a movement-triggered camera in the forest of central Vietnam. It is the only species in genus ''Pseudoryx''. Taxonomy In May 1992, the Ministry of Forestry, Vietnam sent a survey team to examine the biodiversity of the newly established V ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leaf Deer
The leaf muntjac, leaf deer or Putao muntjac (''Muntiacus putaoensis'') is a small species of muntjac. It was documented in 1997 by biologist Alan Rabinowitz during his field study in the isolated Nogmung Township in Myanmar. Rabinowitz discovered the species by examining the small carcass of a deer that he initially believed was the juvenile of another species; however, it proved to be the carcass of an adult female. He managed to obtain specimens, from which DNA analysis revealed a new cervid species. Local hunters knew of the species and called it the leaf deer because its body could be completely wrapped by a single large leaf. It is found in Myanmar and India. Distribution and habitat The leaf muntjac is uniquely found in dense forests of Myanmar, in the Hukawng Valley region to the Northeast of Putao, hence its scientific epithet, and to the south of the Nam Tamai branch of the Mai Hka River. It is found at an altitude of 450 to 600 m — the transition zone between tropic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
