Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary 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, funga, or features of geolog ...

in western Cambodia, bordering

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

. The sanctuary was established in 1993 and covers . It is also designated as an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA). Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary is located in the

Cardamom Mountains The Cardamom Mountains (, ; , ), or the Krâvanh Mountains, is a mountain range in the southwest part of Cambodia and Eastern Thailand. The majority of the range is within Cambodia. The silhouette of the Cardamom Mountains appears in the Sea ...

and the area comprises mostly forested mountains, but with many different habitats and forest-types, and the landscape is dominated by three discrete peaks:

Phnom Samkos Phnom Samkos (; Samkos Mountain) is the second-highest peak in Cambodia, located in the western Cardamom Mountains at above sea level. It is situated within the Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary, which takes its name from the mountain, and the Cen ...

( and Cambodia's second highest peak), Phnom Khmaoch (), and

Phnom Tumpor Phnom Tumpor (; Tumpor Mountain) is a mountain in Pursat Province of western Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Th ...

().

History

Historically, the sanctuary area has been inhabited by ethnic ''Por'' (or ''Pear''), the namesake of the broader term Pearic people. In Cambodia, ethnic groups living in the highlands of the country are all referred to as

Khmer Loeu The Khmer Loeu ( ; "upper Khmers") is the collective name given to the various indigenous ethnic groups residing in the highlands of Cambodia. The Khmer Loeu are found mainly in the northeastern provinces of Ratanakiri, Stung Treng, and Mo ...

Flora and fauna

The sanctuary is notable for its large diversity of

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

s, including several types of forests. The interior of the sanctuary is largely unexplored by scientists, but small-scale surveys suggests that many rare, unique and even

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

species are present. There is a rich diversity of

primates Primates is an order of mammals, which is further divided into the strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and lorisids; and the haplorhines, which include tarsiers and simians ( monkeys and apes). Primates arose 74–63 ...

and

monkeys Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes. Thus monkeys, in that sense, co ...

Threats

The sanctuary has been under threat from

illegal logging Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase, or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission, or from a p ...

, including specific targeting of ''

Cinnamomum parthenoxylon ''Camphora parthenoxylon'' is an evergreen tree in the genus ''Camphora (plant), Camphora'', tall. It is native to South and East Asia (Bhutan, Myanmar, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietna ...

'' trees for use in the illegal drug market. Another threat is illegal hunting of wildlife.

References

External

Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary

Wildlife and Livelihoods in the Cardamom Mountains, Cambodia

* * ttp://www.mekong-protected-areas.org/cambodia/pa-map.htm Map of Protected areas system in Cambodia Wildlife sanctuaries of Cambodia Protected areas of Cambodia Geography of Pursat province Protected areas established in 1994 Cardamom Mountains {{Asia-protected-area-stub

History

Flora and fauna

Threats

See also

References

External