An amazing journey through the limestone cliffs and deep into the cave that it contains, has revealed many new species of reptiles, including a brilliant snake that you have to see to believe.
While exploring more than 60 caves in 10 hills in Battambang province, western Cambodia, the research has uncovered a wealth of exotic creatures, many found nowhere else in the world.
The survey was led by Fauna & Flora International in collaboration with Cambodia’s Ministry of Environment and field experts. The team identified 6 new geckos, 2 small snails, and 2 millipedes in addition to crabs.
They also confirmed the presence of many threatened species in the area around the caves—such as the Sunda pangolin, the Indochinese silver langur, the long-tailed macaque, and the green peafowl, further highlighting the critical need to protect this habitat.
Karst covers 20% of the Earth’s surface. This melting limestone has created some of the most amazing places in the world – including the raised egg box formations along the great South China Karst, Ha Long Bay in Vietnam, Tsingy de Bemaraha in Madagascar, The Burren in western Ireland, the world’s largest fountain in Vrelo Bune, Bosnia, Cenomoth, Mexico and Yunica. of the US.
The possibility of the karst being damaged by the rain has made it into millions of beautiful and impressive formations that often correspond to microclimates where endangered animals can thrive.
Dr. Lee Grismer, a professor of biology at La Sierra University in the US, was part of the travel team, and spoke to F&F about the country’s importance and uniqueness.
“Each of these isolated karst areas acts as its own little laboratory where nature conducts the same experiments over and over again and independently.” The results are that species exist anywhere—not just anywhere in the world, or in that country—but in no other cave.”
Indeed, caves are easily found in karst areas, and many of the longest and largest in the world—and least explored—cave systems are found in East and Southeast Asia.
This is certainly the case in Battambang, where the research team had to first climb the forested slopes of the karst slopes before crawling and squeezing through cracks and crevices to reach the cave centers.
Inside, they reported many creatures, cave dwellers and more—like a large python that recently visited. As the conversation of the Endangered silvered langur troupe, disappears behind them, the group begins to encounter animal after animal that has never been described by science.
A wonderful new breed of pit viper (from Three months genus) was collected during the research and is currently being described. Known for their triangular heads, these highly venomous snakes hunt down their warm-blooded prey using heat-insulating pits behind their noses.
4 populations of Kamping Poi’s bent-toed striped cheek were found and identified as a new species: Cyrtodactylus kampingpoiensis. Despite being described as only one species, it is thought that, due to the geographical isolation of the karst species, these 4 individuals are at different stages of evolution, and further genetic analyzes may reveal that they are actually 4 different species instead of 1.
Another new type of chechik was named after the Hindu goddess of destruction: Shiva.
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In a statement, Fauna & Flora International said it is working with local partners to help conserve Cambodia’s karst areas, which were prompted by the latest release of guidelines for sustainable development and cave environmental management.
The guidelines combine international best practices with Cambodian conditions, providing effective measures to protect bat colonies, preserve rare cave species, promote sustainable guano harvesting and ensure responsible tourism development.
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“Cambodia’s karst landscapes are a treasure trove of scientific secrets waiting to be discovered,” said Sothearen Thi, Coordinator of Karst Biodiversity in Fauna & Flora in the statement.
“But, without sustainable management, we may never find out what these places really hold. Karst land is facing a lot of human-induced problems, and species can disappear even before they are discovered.
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