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Xe Pian National Protected Area
Xe Pian National Park is a national park in Champasak and Attapeu provinces in southern Laos. This forested, hilly park is home to significant wetlands and a great diversity of animal, bird and fish species. It is an ecotourism destination. Geography Xe Pian National Park is about south of Pakse in Pathoumphone and Khong districts of Champasak and Sanamxay District of Attapeu. A large part of the park's boundary follows the border with Cambodia. The park's decreed area is but there have been recent higher estimates of size. Elevations range from to the park's highest point at . Three significant rivers have portions in the park: Xe Pian, which joins the Xe Kong, and Xe Khampho. Flora and fauna The park's main forest type is mixed evergreen covering about 80% of its area. Deciduous forest constitutes a further 17% of the park. Threatened animal species include elephant, tiger, yellow-cheeked gibbon, gaur, dhole, Asian black bear, sun bear, banteng and the critically e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asian Black Bear
The Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), also known as the Asiatic black bear, moon bear and white-chested bear, is a medium-sized bear species native to Asia that is largely adapted to an arboreal lifestyle. It lives in the Himalayas, southeastern Iran, the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent, the Korean Peninsula, China, the Russian Far East, the islands of Honshū and Shikoku in Japan, and Taiwan. It is listed as Vulnerable species, vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, and is threatened by deforestation and poaching for its body parts, which are used in traditional medicine. Characteristics The Asian black bear has black fur, a light brown muzzle, and a distinct whitish or creamy patch on the chest, which is sometimes V-shaped. Its ears are bell shaped, proportionately longer than those of other bears, and stick out sideways from the head. Its tail is short, around long.#Brown, Brown, ''Bear Anatomy and Physiology'' Adults measure at the shoulder, and in length. Adu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Woolly-necked Stork
The Asian woollyneck and African woollyneck (''Ciconia episcopus'' and ''Ciconia microscelis'') are two species of large wading bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. It breeds singly, or in small loose colonies. It is distributed in a wide variety of habitats including marshes in forests, agricultural areas, and freshwater wetlands across Asia and Africa. Taxonomy The woolly-necked stork was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1780 in his ''Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux'' from a specimen collected from the Coromandel Coast of India. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the ''Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle'' which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name ''Ardea episcopus'' 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] |
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] |
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] |
Masked Finfoot
The masked finfoot or Asian finfoot (''Heliopais personatus'') is a highly endangered aquatic bird that was formerly distributed throughout the fresh and brackish wetlands of the eastern Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia and Indonesia. Like the rest of the family, the African finfoot and the sungrebe, the relationship to other birds is poorly understood. Description The masked finfoot is an underwater specialist with a long neck, a striking sharp beak, and lobed feet which are green. Both males and females have a black mask and eyebrow that contrasts with a white eyering and lateral cervical stripe. The rest of the neck is grey, the breast is pale and the back, wings, and tail are a rich brown. The males have an all-black chin while the females have a white chin. Habits and range The masked finfoot can be found in a range of habitats across the eastern Indian subcontinent through to Malaysia and Indonesia in a variety of fresh to brackish wetlands, although due to habi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
White-winged Duck
The white-winged duck or white-winged wood duck (''Asarcornis scutulata'') is a large species of duck, formerly placed in the genus ''Cairina'' with the Muscovy duck (''Cairina moschata'') and allied with the dabbling ducks. However, mtDNA cytochrome ''b'' and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 sequence analysis indicate that the anatomical similarity to the Muscovy duck is deceiving and that the species is appropriately placed in a monotypic genus, as ''Asarcornis scutulata'', which is evolutionarily closer to the redhead (''Aythya americana'', one of the diving ducks). Description This is one of the largest living species of duck next only to the steamer ducks which are heavier. The Muscovy duck also attains sizes that nearly rival the white-winged duck, but may average a bit smaller in a wild state. Length is and wingspan is . Males weigh , while females weigh . [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Masked Finfoot
The masked finfoot or Asian finfoot (''Heliopais personatus'') is a highly endangered aquatic bird that was formerly distributed throughout the fresh and brackish wetlands of the eastern Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia and Indonesia. Like the rest of the family, the African finfoot and the sungrebe, the relationship to other birds is poorly understood. Description The masked finfoot is an underwater specialist with a long neck, a striking sharp beak, and lobed feet which are green. Both males and females have a black mask and eyebrow that contrasts with a white eyering and lateral cervical stripe. The rest of the neck is grey, the breast is pale and the back, wings, and tail are a rich brown. The males have an all-black chin while the females have a white chin. Habits and range The masked finfoot can be found in a range of habitats across the eastern Indian subcontinent through to Malaysia and Indonesia in a variety of fresh to brackish wetlands, although due to habi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cantor's Giant Softshell Turtle
The Asian giant softshell turtle (''Pelochelys cantorii''), also known commonly as Cantor's giant softshell turtle and the frog-faced softshell turtle, is a species of freshwater turtle in the family Trionychidae. The species is native to Southeast Asia. The species is critically endangered and in the 20th century has disappeared from much of its former range. Taxonomy ''P. cantorii'' is not found in New Guinea, while the two other members of the genus ''Pelochelys'', '' P. bibroni'' and '' P. signifera'' are both restricted to New Guinea. ''P. cantorii'' is relatively unstudied, and the current species may actually be composed of several taxa. One study from 1995 showed that what was once thought to be ''P. cantorii'' in New Guinea was actually ''P. bibroni'', and the earlier studies of ''P. cantorii'' only described populations farther to the west. Description The Asian giant softshell turtle has a broad head, and small eyes close to the tip of its snout. The carapace is smoo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siamese Crocodile
The Siamese crocodile (''Crocodylus siamensis'') is a medium-sized freshwater crocodile native to Indonesia (Borneo and possibly Java), Brunei, East Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. The species is critically endangered and already extirpated from many regions. Its other common names include Siamese freshwater crocodile, Singapore small-grain, and soft-belly. Phylogeny Below is a cladogram based on a 2018 tip dating study by Lee & Yates simultaneously using morphological, molecular (DNA sequencing), and stratigraphic (fossil age) data, as revised by the 2021 Hekkala ''et al.'' paleogenomics study using DNA extracted from the extinct ''Voay''. Characteristics The Siamese crocodile is a medium-sized, freshwater crocodilian, with a relatively broad, smooth snout and an elevated, bony crest behind each eye. Overall, it is olive-green, with some variation to dark-green. Young individuals measure and weigh , growing to a length of and a weight of as an ad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
