The wildlife of Laos encompasses the animals and plants found in the

Lao People's Democratic Republic Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

, a landlocked country in southeastern Asia. Part of the country is mountainous and much of it is still clad in tropical broadleaf forest. It has a great variety of animal and plant species.

Geography

Laos is a land-locked country located in southeastern Asia. The northern part is mountainous, with the

Luang Prabang Range The Luang Prabang Range ( th, ทิวเขาหลวงพระบาง, ), named after Luang Prabang, is a mountain range straddling northwestern Laos and Northern Thailand. Most of the range is located in Sainyabuli Province (Laos), as ...

separating the northwestern part of the country from Thailand. The

Xiangkhoang Plateau The Xiang Khouang Plateau or Xiang Khwang Plateau, also known in French as Plateau dTran-Ninh'' is a plateau in the north of Laos. The landscape is characterized by green mountains, rugged karst formations and verdant valleys with plenty of rivers, ...

separates these mountains from the

Annamite Range The Annamite Range or the Annamese Mountains (french: Chaîne annamitique; lo, ພູ ຫລວງ ''Phou Luang''; vi, Dãy (núi) Trường Sơn) is a major mountain range of eastern Indochina, extending approximately through Laos, Viet ...

, a chain of mountains which run parallel with the Vietnamese coast, and mark the easternmost boundary of the country. The west of the country is mostly bounded by the broad

Mekong River The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth longest river and the third longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annuall ...

, and the south is the

Bolaven Plateau The Bolaven Plateau is an elevated region in southern Laos. Most of the plateau is located within Champasak Province of Laos, though the edges of the plateau are also located in Salavan, Sekong and Attapeu Provinces. It is located between ...

at some above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

. Laos lies in the monsoon belt and experiences a rainy seasons between May and November when much rain falls, and a dry season without rain from December to April. This results in a natural

forest cover Forest cover is the amount of forest that covers a particular area of land. It may be measured as relative (in percent) or absolute (in square kilometres/square miles). Around a third of the world's surface is covered with forest, with closed-canop ...

of deciduous, broadleaf trees, that lose their leaves during the dry season. There is a distinct rainy season from May to November, followed by a dry season from December to the middle of April.

Habitat

Much of Laos is still covered by natural forest and six different species of

gibbon Gibbons () are apes in the family Hylobatidae (). The family historically contained one genus, but now is split into four extant genera and 20 species. Gibbons live in subtropical and tropical rainforest from eastern Bangladesh to Northeast India ...

are found here, all of which are threatened by being hunted for food and by reduction in forest cover. The Annamite Range has a high level of

endemism Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

and is home to the critically endangered

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 descr ...

(''Pseudoryx nghetinhensis''), the

Annamite striped rabbit The Annamite striped rabbit (''Nesolagus timminsi'') is a species of rabbit native to the Annamite Chain, Annamite mountain range on the Laos-Vietnam border. The rabbit is striped, with a red rump, and resembles the Sumatran striped rabbit. It on ...

(''Nesolagus timminsi'') and the

Truong Son muntjac The Truong Son muntjac or Annamite muntjac (''Muntiacus truongsonensis'') is a species of muntjac deer. It is one of the smallest muntjac species, at about , half the size of the Indian muntjac (or common muntjac). It was discovered in the Truo ...

(''Muntiacus truongsonensis''), all of which have only been discovered in the last two decades. In the south of the country, mostly within about of the Mekong River, there are wetlands and swamp forests. These include lakes and ponds, some permanent and some temporary, swamps, and seasonally-flooded grasslands, and these and the surrounding woodlands support a

biodiverse Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic ('' genetic variability''), species ('' species diversity''), and ecosystem ('' ecosystem diversity'') ...

community.

Flora

Much of Laos still retains its natural

tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest is a habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature and is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive ...

, and some areas consist of secondary forests growing where timber has been extracted from the

primary forest An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological featur ...

. In general, the upper parts of the

canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an a ...

are dominated by the cauliflower-like

crowns A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...

of tall dipterocarps with trunks devoid of branches. The middle levels consist of other hardwood trees including

teak Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters (panicl ...

mahogany Mahogany is a straight-grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus ''Swietenia'', indigenous to the AmericasBridgewater, Samuel (2012). ''A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest''. Austin: Unive ...

, ''

Heritiera javanica ''Heritiera javanica'' is a species of tree in the family Malvaceae, subfamily Sterculioideae. Like other species in this subfamily, flowers are unisexual; trees may grows up to 40 m high, and their Vietnamese name (under ''H. cochinchinensis'' ...

'', ''

Tetrameles nudiflora ''Tetrameles'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Tetramelaceae with one species, ''Tetrameles nudiflora''. It grows as a large deciduous tree and is found across southern Asia from India through southeast Asia, Malesia, and into nort ...

'', ''

Ficus ''Ficus'' ( or ) is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending in ...

'' and ''

Pterocarpus ''Pterocarpus'' is a pantropical genus of trees in the family Fabaceae. It belongs to the subfamily Faboideae, and was recently assigned to the informal monophyletic ''Pterocarpus'' clade within the Dalbergieae. Most species of ''Pterocarpus'' ...

''. The

understorey In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (Commonwealth English), also known as underbrush or undergrowth, includes plant life growing beneath the forest canopy without penetrating it to any great extent, but abov ...

consists of smaller trees, bamboos, shrubs and grasses. Near the streams are bamboo thickets; Laos is rich with species of bamboo, and where timber has been extracted from primary forest, bamboos tend to dominate in the new-growth secondary forest. In wetter, upland regions of northern Laos, '' Fujian cypress'' is dominant, and supports a dense ground cover of mosses and ferns. There is tropical rainforest in the Annamite Mountains because the rainfall is higher and more evenly distributed throughout the year. The dominant species here are ''

Elaeocarpus ''Elaeocarpus'' is a genus of nearly five hundred species of flowering plants in the family Elaeocarpaceae native to the Western Indian Ocean, Tropical and Subtropical Asia, and the Pacific. Plants in the genus ''Elaeocarpus'' are trees or shrub ...

'', ''

Podocarpus ''Podocarpus'' () is a genus of conifers, the most numerous and widely distributed of the podocarp family, the Podocarpaceae. The name comes from Greek πούς (poús, “foot”) + καρπός (karpós, “fruit”). ''Podocarpus'' species ...

'',

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendro ...

camellias ''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are more than 220 described species, with some controver ...

and

laurels ''Laurus nobilis'' is an aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub with green, glabrous (smooth) leaves. It is in the flowering plant family Lauraceae. It is native to the Mediterranean region and is used as bay leaf for seasoning in cookin ...

, and many of these are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to this mountain range. In the higher parts of the range there are forests of pine, and the mists that often envelope these

cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF), is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud c ...

s encourage the growth of lush mosses and ferns on the deep leaf litter, and

epiphyte An epiphyte is an organism that grows on the surface of a plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phoroph ...

s on the branches. In the south of the country there are tropical

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...

forests, and on the southern plateau are more open deciduous forests with less-dense, middle-level growth and more shrubs, herbs and grasses below. The bamboo orchid grows here, and the

Vietnamese white pine ''Pinus dalatensis'', also known as Vietnamese white pine or Dalat pine, is a species of pine endemic to Indochina. In Vietnam it grows in the mountains of the central and south-central parts of the country at elevations of .Businský, R. (1999). ...

is an uncommon tree that can be seen in the

Nakai–Nam Theun Nakai-Nam Theun National Park in Nakai District, Khammouane Province, Laos, is one of the last remaining wildernesses in Southeast Asia. Nakai-Nam Theun covers approximately 4,270 km2 of the Annamite Range and the adjacent Nakai Plateau in ...

conservation area in central Laos. It is one of about sixteen species of conifer present in the country.

Fauna

There are a number of large mammals in Laos, including the

Asian elephant The Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is the only living species of the genus ''Elephas'' and is distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India in the west, Nepal in the no ...

(''Elephas maximus'') and

Indochinese tiger The Indochinese tiger is a population of the '' Panthera tigris tigris'' subspecies that is native to Southeast Asia. This population occurs in Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos. In 2011, the population was thought to comprise 342 individuals, includin ...

(''Panthera tigris corbetti''). There are two species of bear, the

sun bear The sun bear (''Helarctos malayanus'') is a species in the family Ursidae (the only species in the genus ''Helarctos'') occurring in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. It is the smallest bear, standing nearly at the shoulder and weighing ...

(''Helarctos malayanus'') and

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, sout ...

(''Ursus thibetanus''). Smaller carnivorans include the

leopard cat The leopard cat (''Prionailurus bengalensis'') is a small wild cat native to continental South, Southeast, and East Asia. Since 2002 it has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List as it is widely distributed although threatened by hab ...

(''Prionailurus bengalensis''),

marbled cat The marbled cat (''Pardofelis marmorata'') is a small wild cat native from the eastern Himalayas to Southeast Asia, where it inhabits forests up to an elevation of . As it is present in a large range, it has been listed as Near Threatened on the ...

(''Pardofelis marmorata'') and

hog badger Hog badgers are three species of mustelid in the genus ''Arctonyx''. They represent one of the two genera in the subfamily Melinae, alongside the true badgers (genus '' Meles''). Taxonomy ''Arctonyx'' was formerly considered a monotypic genus ...

(''Arctonyx collaris''). Ungulates include the

pot-bellied pig Vietnamese Pot-bellied is the exonym for the Lon I ( vi, Lợn Ỉ, italic=no) or I pig, an endangered traditional Vietnamese breed of small domestic pig. The I is uniformly black and has short legs and a low-hanging belly, from which the name d ...

(''Sus scrofa domestica''),

Javan rhinoceros The Javan rhinoceros (''Rhinoceros sondaicus''), also known as the Javan rhino, Sunda rhinoceros or lesser one-horned rhinoceros, is a very rare member of the family Rhinocerotidae and one of five extant rhinoceroses. It belongs to the same ge ...

(''Rhinoceros sondaicus''), banteng (''Bos javanicus''),

kouprey The kouprey (''Bos sauveli''), also known as forest ox is a forest-dwelling, wild bovine species native to Southeast Asia. A young male was sent to the Paris Zoological Park in 1937 and was described by the French zoologist Achille Urbain who ...

(''Bos sauveli''),

(''Pseudoryx nghetinhensis''),

Indian muntjac The Indian muntjac or the common muntjac (''Muntiacus muntjak''), also called the southern red muntjac and barking deer, is a deer species native to South and Southeast Asia. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. In popular local l ...

(''Muntiacus muntjak''),

giant muntjac The giant muntjac (''Muntiacus vuquangensis''), sometimes referred to as the large-antlered muntjac, is a species of muntjac deer. It is the largest muntjac species and was discovered in 1994 in Vũ Quang, Hà Tĩnh Province of Vietnam and in ce ...

(''Muntiacus vuquangensis'') and

(''Muntiacus truongsonensis''). There are many

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are na ...

s, including the

ricefield rat The ricefield rat (''Rattus argentiventer'') is a species of rat found throughout Southeast Asia. Description The ricefield rat is a medium-sized rat with a grizzled yellow-brown and black pelage. Its belly is gray in the midline with whiter ...

(''Rattus argentiventer'') and the recently discovered Pauline's limestone rat (''Saxatilomys paulinae''),

Laotian giant flying squirrel The Laotian giant flying squirrel (''Biswamoyopterus laoensis'') is an arboreal, flying squirrel endemic to Laos. It was the second described member in the genus ''Biswamoyopterus'', after being first collected in September 2012 by scientists res ...

(''Biswamoyopterus laoensis'') and

Laotian rock rat The Laotian rock rat or ''kha-nyou'' (''Laonastes aenigmamus'', Lao: ຂະຍຸ), sometimes called the "rat-squirrel", is a species of rodent found in the Khammouan region of Laos. The species was first described in a 2005 article by Paulina ...

(''Laonastes aenigmamus''), the latter being a

Lazarus taxon In paleontology, a Lazarus taxon (plural ''taxa'') is a taxon that disappears for one or more periods from the fossil record, only to appear again later. Likewise in conservation biology and ecology, it can refer to species or populations tha ...

. The

lesser false vampire bat The lesser false vampire bat (''Megaderma spasma'') is a bat found in South Asia and Southeast Asia from Sri Lanka and India in the west to Indonesia and the Philippines in the east. They live in caves and tree hollows. They are insectivorous. ...

(''Megaderma spasma'') is found in Laos, and endemic species of bat include the Phou Khao Khouay leaf-nosed bat (''Hipposideros khaokhouayensis''). The long-eared gymnure (''Hylomys megalotis'') is another mammal endemic to Laos. Hylobates lar - Kaeng Krachan WB

Primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians (monkeys and apes, the latter including huma ...

s present in Laos include the

hatinh langur The Hatinh langur (''Trachypithecus hatinhensis'') is a highly threatened Old World monkey found in limestone forests in Vietnam, primarily in the Quảng Bình Province. A recent survey discovered a small population living in the Quảng Trị ...

(''Trachypithecus hatinhensis''),

silvery lutung The silvery lutung (''Trachypithecus cristatus''), also known as the silvered leaf monkey or the silvery langur, is an Old World monkey. It is arboreal, living in coastal, mangrove, and riverine forests in Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, and Borne ...

(''Trachypithecus cristatus'') and

red-shanked douc The red-shanked douc (''Pygathrix nemaeus'') is an arboreal and diurnal Old World monkey belonging to the Colobinae subfamily. They are endemic to Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. They are known for their bright colors and express exhibit sexual dimo ...

(''Pygathrix nemaeus''), as well as seven species of

; the

lar gibbon The lar gibbon (''Hylobates lar''), also known as the white-handed gibbon, is an endangered primate in the gibbon family, Hylobatidae. It is one of the better-known gibbons and is often kept in captivity. Taxonomy There are five subspecies of ...

(''Hylobates lar''),

pileated gibbon The pileated gibbon (''Hylobates pileatus'') is a primate in the gibbon family, Hylobatidae. The pileated gibbon has sexual dimorphism in fur coloration: males have a purely black fur, while the females have a white-grey colored fur with only th ...

(''Hylobates pileatus''), northern buffed-cheeked gibbon (''Nomascus annamensis''),

black crested gibbon The black crested gibbon (''Nomascus concolor'') is a Critically Endangered species of gibbon found in China, Laos, and northern Vietnam, with four subspecies. Taxonomy The taxonomy of the species is confused. Previously grouped in the gen ...

(''Nomascus concolor''),

yellow-cheeked gibbon The yellow-cheeked gibbon (''Nomascus gabriellae''), also called the golden-cheeked gibbon, the yellow-cheeked crested gibbon, the golden-cheeked crested gibbon, the red-cheeked gibbon, or the buffed-cheeked gibbon, is a species of gibbon native ...

(''Nomascus gabriellae''),

northern white-cheeked gibbon The northern white-cheeked gibbon (''Nomascus leucogenys'') is a Critically Endangered species of gibbon native to South East Asia. It is closely related to the southern white-cheeked gibbon (''Nomascus siki''), with which it was previously con ...

(''Nomascus leucogenys'') and

southern white-cheeked gibbon The southern white-cheeked gibbon (''Nomascus siki'') is a species of gibbon native to Vietnam and Laos. It is closely related to the northern white-cheeked gibbon (''Nomascus leucogenys'') and the yellow-cheeked gibbon (''Nomascus gabriellae'') ...

(''Nomascus siki''). Snakes present in Laos include the

reticulated python The reticulated python (''Malayopython reticulatus'') is a python species native to South and Southeast Asia. It is the world's longest snake, and is among the three heaviest. It is listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List because of its w ...

(''Python reticulatus'') and the pit vipers '' Deinagkistrodon'' (''D. acutus''), Chinese mountain pit viper (''Ovophis monticola''),

Jerdon's pit viper ''Protobothrops jerdonii'', also known commonly as Jerdon's pitviper, Brown JH (1973). ''Toxicology and Pharmacology of Venoms from Poisonous Snakes''. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas. 184 pp. LCCCN 73–229. . the yellow-speckled pit v ...

(''Protobothrops jerdonii''), three-horned scaled pit viper (''Protobothrops sieversorum''), Chinese green tree viper (''Trimeresurus stejnegeri'') and brown-spotted pit viper (''Protobothrops mucrosquamatus''). Varanus bengalensis - 02

Other reptiles include two monitor lizards, the

Bengal monitor The Bengal monitor (''Varanus bengalensis''), also called the common Indian monitor, is a monitor lizard distributed widely in the Indian Subcontinent, as well as parts of Southeast Asia and West Asia. This large lizard is mainly a terrestrial a ...

(''Varanus bengalensis'') and

Asian water monitor The Asian water monitor (''Varanus salvator'') is a large varanid lizard native to South and Southeast Asia. It is one of the most common monitor lizards in Asia, ranging from coastal northeast India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, mainland Southeast A ...

(''Varanus salvator''). The

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 an ...

(''Crocodylus siamensis'') is found in the rivers and swamps and is critically endangered. The

elongated tortoise The elongated tortoise (''Indotestudo elongata'') is a species of tortoise found in Southeast Asia and parts of South Asia. Description Shell considerably depressed, more than twice as long as deep, with flat vertebral region; anterior and post ...

(''Indotestudo elongata'') is found in Laos, as well as two species of turtle, the

Amboina box turtle The Amboina box turtle or Southeast Asian box turtle (''Cuora amboinensis'') is a species of Asian box turtle. It is found in the Nicobar Islands, eastern India (Assam), Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, central and southern Vietn ...

(''Cuora amboinensis'') and

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 South ...

(''Pelochelys cantorii''). Amphibians are plentiful in Laos, with some only recently being discovered, including many frogs and the Upper Laos caecilian (''Ichthyophis laosensis''), Laos warty newt (''Paramesotriton laoensis'') and Laos knobby newt (''Tylototriton notialis''). The

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 (Pang ...

(''Pangasianodon gigas'') is a critically endangered species of fish found in the Mekong River. A number of loaches and guppies are endemic to the country, as are '' Poropuntius bolovenensis'', '' Tor ater'', '' Acrossocheilus xamensis'', '' Speolabeo musaei'' and '' Troglocyclocheilus khammouanensis''. About 740 species of bird have been recorded in Laos. The only known endemic species is the bare-faced bulbul (''Pycnonotus hualon''). Globally endangered species that occur in the country include the

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 cyt ...

(''Cairina scutulata''), green peafowl (''Pavo muticus''), greater adjutant (''Leptoptilos dubius''),

white-shouldered ibis The white-shouldered ibis (''Pseudibis davisoni'') is a large species of bird in the family Threskiornithidae. It is native to small regions of Southeast Asia, and is considered to be one of the most threatened bird species on this part of the co ...

(''Pseudibis davisoni''),

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 ...

(''Pseudibis gigantea''),

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. Li ...

(''Heliopais personatus''),

Nordmann's greenshank Nordmann's greenshank (''Tringa guttifer'') or the spotted greenshank, is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae, the typical waders. Description The Nordmann's greenshank is a medium-sized sandpiper, at long, with a slightly upturned, bicol ...

(''Tringa guttifer''),

black-bellied tern The black-bellied tern (''Sterna acuticauda'') is a tern found near large rivers in the Indian subcontinent, its range extending from Pakistan, Nepal and India to Myanmar. It has become very scarce in the eastern part of its range and the Intern ...

(''Sterna acuticauda''), collared laughingthrush (''Trochalopteron yersini'') and yellow-breasted bunting (''Emberiza aureola''), as well as four species of vulture; the

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 So ...

(''Sarcogyps calvus''),

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 d ...

(''Gyps bengalensis''),

Indian vulture The Indian vulture (''Gyps indicus'') is an Old World vulture native to India, Pakistan and Nepal. It has been listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2002, as the population severely declined. Indian vultures died of kidney fa ...

(''Gyps indicus'') and

slender-billed vulture The slender-billed vulture (''Gyps tenuirostris'') is an Old World vulture species native to sub-Himalayan regions and Southeast Asia. It is Critically Endangered since 2002 as the population on the Indian subcontinent has declined rapidly. As ...

(''Gyps tenuirostris'').

Conservation

Laos ratified The

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora CITES (shorter name for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of intern ...

in 2004 and this means that theoretically, the wildlife is protected. However, in practice, the treaty is poorly enforced. At markets, particularly near the borders, endangered species can be observed on sale with gibbons being sold as pets to Thailand, and

bushmeat Bushmeat is meat from wildlife species that are hunted for human consumption, most often referring to the meat of game in Africa. Bushmeat represents a primary source of animal protein and a cash-earning commodity for inhabitants of humid tropi ...

, trophies (horns) and medicines being sold to Vietnam. Besides this, many birds and animals are hunted for food, so much so that wild birds are scarce in populated areas. A 2020 study of wildlife consumption in northern Laos by

San Diego Zoo Global San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance is a not-for-profit organization headquartered in San Diego that operates the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Founded in 1916 as the Zoological Society of San Diego under the leadership of Harry M. ...

researchers found widespread use of body parts from

s, Asiatic bears, and

serow The serows ( or ) are four species of medium-sized goat-like or antelope-like mammals of the genus ''Capricornis''. All four species of serow were until recently also classified under ''Naemorhedus'', which now only contains the gorals. Extant ...

s, goat-like mammals, among other vulnerable species. The most sought-after items, consumed by about a quarter of those interviewed, were derived from the bile or gallbladder of sun bears and Asiatic bears. Researchers interviewed 100 adults in 18 villages in Luang Prabang Province. Use of bear products in the region had been documented previously, but this study indicates that consumption is greater than previously thought. The second most-consumed items, used by seven percent of respondents, were derived from serows. Products derived from serows and bears are similar in form and use, often being made into topicals or consumables to treat bruises or fight fatigue. All three species are listed at Threatened.

References

External links

{{Asia in topic, Wildlife of Biota of Laos

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

Flora of Laos

Geography

Habitat

Flora

Fauna

Conservation

See also

References

External links