© David Hulse / WWF
Amazing Endemics of the Annamites: Endangered by Wildlife Trade
Straddling the Laos-Viet Nam border, the transboundary Annamite Mountain range - with its forested valleys, limestone karst hills and vertiginous mountains - is a hot spot for endemism in Southeast Asia.

Many mammals that are found nowhere else on earth have been only recently described by science, including the saola, large-antlered muntjac and Annamite striped rabbit. 
Large antlered muntjac in Quang Nam Province, Central Viet Nam.
© Leibniz-IZW / WWF-Viet Nam / Song Thanh Nature Reserve
Two grey-shanked doucs in a tree.
© Tam Le Viet / WWF-Greater Mekong
Annamite striped rabbit in Xe Sap National Protected Area, Laos.
© IZW / WWF / Xe Sap National Protected Area
Northern buffed-cheeked gibbon.
© Christy Williams
Kha-nyou, Laotian rock rat.
© Stewart Chapman
Crested argus pheasant.
© Leibniz-IZW / FFI / Pu Mat National Park
Truong Son pit viper.
© Parinya Pawangkhanant
Vietnamese Pond Turtle, M. annamensis.
© Adam G. Stern / Wikimedia Commons
But these species are under threat.

Habitat is being lost and degraded, and hunting pressure from snares is decimating populations of ground-dwelling animals. The illegal trade in wildlife as meat, medicine and pets is pushing many species closer to extinction.

Read the report.
© Adam Oswell

Amazing Endemics of the Annamites: Endangered by Wildlife Trade
Amazing Endemics of the Annamites: Endangered by the Wildlife Trade
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