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| Location: |
Asia - South East Asia - Thailand |
| Subject: |
Distribution - Records |
| Species: |
Asian Rhino Species |
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The Forest Reserve, lying roughly between 16?10' - 16?30' N. and 101?25' - 101?75' E., is shaped something like Australia, about 55 kilometres from east to west and 36 north to south; the eastern 60 % of the Reserve forms a dish-like plateau, with the edges rising from the 300-metre plain to 1100 metres and the plateau centre falling to about 950 metres; the western 40 % is in the Petchabun Mountain Range, which continues north through Loei Province to Laos and is very sparsely populated except by Meo hill tribe insurgents.
The only village in the area is Thunghkamung, 17 km into the Reserve, at the northern edge of the plateau. It is a small village of 30 families, only one of which has been there as long as 10 years; most of the rest are labourers who came to work on the nearby Nam Phrom hydroelectric dam project, quit working, and squatted on government-owned reserved forest. Although the village economy is based on water buffalo, rice is also grown where the forest has been cleared, and all male villagers hunt in the forest.
Evidence of poaching in the forest was widespread; numerous camp fires were found, without exception surrounded by piles of jungle fowl and pheasant feathers. Remains of langur monkey Presbytis pharyrei, macaque monkey Macaca nemestrina and gibbon Hylobates lar were also found. A hunting blind (hide) was discovered in a tree overlooking a flat valley 50-100 m. wide, covered with lush secondary growth.
With one guide we walked up river, reasoning that a rhino, to cross the valley, would have to cross the stream, and it was an ideal situation for tracks. We found tracks of rodents, civets, tigers, bears, elephants, otters, deer, and gaur, and eventually came across one track which appeared to be that of Sumatran rhino. It was 20 cm wide, well within the normal 18-24 cm range given by Medway (1969), and well under the 25-35 range for the Javan. The track was at least three weeks old, but the animal appeared to have dug his toes into the bank for a better grip, leaving a relatively clear print for the middle toe, less clear for the side toes. We followed tracks upstream and found other less obvious tracks (though the size was appropriate for Sumatran), a very old wallow and a few feeding sites, where some thin saplings had been twisted in a manner distinctly rhinoceros (Strickland, 1967).
For several days we searched the area, but found no other signs. The local hunters thought that the rhinos had retreated deeper into the forest, and they wore afraid to go there because of Meo insurgents. They expected the rhinos to return in May when the rains begin.
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Rhinos in Thailand
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