250px, Mountain range at Phu Khiao. Phu Khiao Wildlife Sanctuary (or written as Phu Khieo; th, เขตรักษาพันธุ์สัตว์ป่าภูเขียว) is a

wildlife sanctuary A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

. It overlaps with three

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

s of

Chaiyaphum province Chaiyaphum ( th, ชัยภูมิ, ) is one of Thailand's seventy-six provinces (''changwat''), located in central northeastern Thailand , also called Isan. Neighboring provinces are (from north clockwise) Khon Kaen, Nakhon Ratchasima, Lopb ...

, namely Khon San, Kaset Sombun, and Nong Bua Daeng, covering 975,000

rai RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...

(about 1,560 km²). The wildlife sanctuary contains Thung Kamang (ทุ่งกะมัง), an extensive

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur natur ...

covering an area of approximately 5,000 rai (8 km²) at an attitude of above mean

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 ...

. It features natural '' Arundinaria pusilla'' grassland on the undulated hills alternating with the forest line that make it look like continuous waves with many streams running through it and is surrounded with hill

evergreen forest An evergreen forest is a forest made up of evergreen trees. They occur across a wide range of climatic zones, and include trees such as conifers and holly in cold climates, eucalyptus, Live oak, acacias, magnolia, and banksia in more temperate zone ...

. This grassland is well-known as a breeding ground for endangered wildlife like

hog deer ''Axis'' is a genus of deer occurring in South and Southeast Asia. As presently defined by most authorities, four species are placed in the genus. Three of the four species are called hog deer. The genus name is a word mentioned in Pliny the Eld ...

, a medium-sized deer that is almost extinct in Thailand. Nowadays, they are distributed throughout the wildlife sanctuary. The surrounding area of Thung Kamang consists of many reservoirs. Somsak Lampongpan (Story & Photographs), ทุ่งกะมังดินแดนสวรรค์แห่งป่าภูเขียว (Back to nature in Thung Kamang), Osotho, Vol. 60 Issue 4 (November 2019). th, ภาษาไทย

References

External links

* category:Wildlife sanctuaries of Thailand category:1972 establishments in Thailand category:Protected areas established in 1972 Geography of Chaiyaphum province {{Coord, 16, 20, 16.8, N, 101, 32, 49.7, E, region:TH_type:landmark, display=title