Copyright 2000, Sydney Morning Herald
October 2, 2000
By CHARLES CLOVER in London

Dozens of species new to science have been discovered by a British-led expedition to a formerly closed part of Cambodia.

The expedition, to a forested, mountainous region close to the Thai border occupied by remnants of the Khmer Rouge, discovered the wolf snake and large numbers of Siamese crocodile, long thought to be extinct in the wild.

The wolf snake is a non-poisonous black and white reptile, remarkable for its long, dog-like fangs. It is thought to depend for its survival on its resemblance to the highly poisonous krait.

Dr Jenny Daltry, a biologist who led the expedition mounted by the Cambridge-based Fauna and Flora International, said: "We also found large numbers of frogs, moths and sub-species of birds which are almost certainly new.

"More than a third of the invertebrates we found were new to science. We are going to find many more new species."

Dr Daltry said the Cardamom mountains, in the south-west of the country, were even richer in biodiversity than Malaysia, which is seen as a hot spot.

The expedition found large populations of tiger, elephant, gaur (forest cattle), Asian wild dog and pileated gibbon, all endangered species.

They also heard reports of the Khting Vor, an elusive forest cow with spiral horns, first described in 1994.

"This is a region of global importance for wildlife," said Dr Daltry. She said many locals still saw themselves as Khmer Rouge, the followers of Pol Pot, which signed a pact with the government two years ago.

The area is still riddled with landmines, but the Khmer guides knew where they were as some had laid the mines themselves.

The locals did not kill Siamese crocodile, now extinct across its former range in Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Laos, because they believed that, if they did, they too would die.

Dr Daltry said: "The King of Cambodia is very excited about the discovery and keen for us to protect the crocodiles that are left."

The Cambodian government, which supported the expedition, has declared its intention to protect the Cardamom range, but Dr Daltry said it would depend on financial and technical aid from abroad.

"The Cardamom range is attracting the attention of logging companies and poachers and there is a real risk that this wonderful wilderness could be destroyed in a matter of years," she said.

"The killing fields took so many of the older people there is a real shortage of people with the technical expertise to conserve wildlife," she said. "We would urge people to help Cambodia in doing this. They can't do it by themselves and it is going to be very difficult."

Many of the new species are to be given Latin names based on the Cardamom range.

Others are to be named after a Cambodian member of the expedition who died of malaria on his return. Error: Unable to read footer file.