Rakhine Yoma Elephant Range is a

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

Rakhine Yoma The Arakan Mountains ( my, ရခိုင်ရိုးမ), also known as the Rakhine Yoma, are a mountain range in western Myanmar, between the coast of Rakhine State and the Central Myanmar Basin, in which flows the Irrawaddy River. It is th ...

mountains, covering about of

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...

and

mixed deciduous forest Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a subtropical and tropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Description TSMF is generally found in large, disc ...

at an elevation of . Rakhine Yoma Elephant Range was established for the protection of 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 ...

(''Elephas maximus''). It harbours extensive tracts of bamboo (''

Melocanna baccifera ''Melocanna baccifera'' is one of two bamboo species belonging to the '' Melocanna'' genus. It grows up to 10–25 m tall. It is native to Bangladesh, Myanmar, India, and Thailand. Habit It is tall, small-culmed bamboo with greenish young culms a ...

''), which provide shelter for the endangered

Arakan forest turtle The Arakan forest turtle (''Heosemys depressa'') is a critically endangered turtle species native to the Arakan Hills in western Myanmar and the bordering Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh. The Arakan forest turtle is a semiterrestrial turtl ...

(''Heosemys depressa''). Wildlife recorded during a

camera trap A camera trap is a camera that is automatically triggered by a change in some activity in its vicinity, like presence of an animal or a human being. It is typically equipped with a motion sensor – usually a passive infrared (PIR) senso ...

survey in 2000 included

large Indian civet The large Indian civet (''Viverra zibetha'') is a viverrid native to South and Southeast Asia. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. The global population is considered decreasing mainly because of trapping-driven declines in heavi ...

(''Viverra zibetha''),

clouded leopard The clouded leopard (''Neofelis nebulosa''), also called the mainland clouded leopard, is a wild cat inhabiting dense forests from the foothills of the Himalayas through mainland Southeast Asia into South China. In the early 19th century, a ...

(''Neofelis nebulosa''),

Asiatic golden cat The Asian golden cat (''Catopuma temminckii'') is a medium-sized wild cat native to the northeastern Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and China. It has been listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List since 2008, and is threatened by poa ...

(''Catopuma temminckii'') and

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 ha ...

(''Prionailurus bengalensis''). In 2001, '' Bufo crocus'' was discovered by a stream in the sanctuary at an elevation of . In 2001, the bent-toed geckos ''

Cyrtodactylus ayeyarwadyensis ''Cyrtodactylus ayeyarwadyensis'' is a bent-toed gecko species that was discovered in 2001 in Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British Engl ...

'' and '' Cyrtodactylus wakeorum'' were discovered in the sanctuary and described as a new species in 2003. The presence of

western hoolock gibbon The western hoolock gibbon (''Hoolock hoolock'') is a primate from the gibbon family, Hylobatidae. The species is found in Assam, Mizoram, and Meghalaya in India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar west of the Chindwin River. Classification Mootnick and ...

(''Hoolock hoolock'') was confirmed during surveys in 2008. Wildlife present also includes

gaur The gaur (''Bos gaurus''; ), also known as the Indian bison, is a bovine native to South Asia and Southeast Asia, and has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986. The global population was estimated at a maximum of 21,000 ...

(''Bos gaurus''),

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 weighin ...

(''Helarctos malayanus''),

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''),

pale-capped pigeon The pale-capped pigeon (''Columba punicea''), also known as the purple wood pigeon, is a species of large pigeon that is found patchily distributed in parts of the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It has a slow flight and spends a lot of t ...

(''Columba punicea''),

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 cyto ...

(''Asarcornis scutulata'') and

beautiful nuthatch The beautiful nuthatch (''Sitta formosa'') is a bird species in the family Sittidae, collectively known as nuthatches. It is a large nuthatch, measuring in length, that is not sexually dimorphic. Its coloration and markings are dramatic, the up ...

(''Sitta formosa'').

References

Protected areas of Myanmar Protected areas established in 2002 {{Burma-geo-stub