Nakai Nam Theun National Park

Asia > Laos > Nakai Nam Theun National Park

Summary

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• Southern white-cheeked gibbons (Nomascus siki) and northern white-cheeked gibbons (Nomascus leucogenys) are present in Nakai Nam Theun National Park.
• The population sizes are unknown.
• The population trends are decreasing.
• The site has a total size of 4270 km².
• Key threats to gibbons are loss of habitat due to agricultural encroachment and hunting.
• Conservation activities have focused on biomonitoring, anti-poaching patrols, conducting research and enforcing park boundaries.

Site characteristics

© Camille Coudrat

Nakai Nam Theun National Park is located in the Annamite Mountains in Laos, bordering Vietnam. In addition to northern white-cheeked and southern white-cheeked gibbons, other rare mammal species that occur in the area include the large-antlered muntjac, Annamite striped rabbit, and saola (IUCN Green list).

Table 1. Basic site information for Nakai Nam Theun National Park

Area	4270 km²
Coordinates	17.903516, 105.310483
Designation	National Park
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical moist montane forest, subtropical/tropical dry forest, tropical pine forest

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

The gibbon population trend is decreasing based on qualitative observations and reports from local villagers (Coudrat pers. obs. 2023).

Table 2. Ape population estimates in Nakai Nam Theun National Park

Species	Year	Total number indiv. (95% CI)	Total number groups (95% CI)	Density ​​[groups/km²​] (95% CI)	Area	Method	Source	Comments	A.P.E.S. database ID
Nomascus siki					Nakai Nam Theun National Park
Nomascus leucogenys					Nakai Nam Theun National Park

Threats

Illegal hunting is the primary threat to gibbons in the park (Coudrat pers. obs. 2023).

Table 3. Threats to apes in Nakai Nam Theun National Park

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Quantified severity	Description	Year of threat
1. Residential & commercial development		Unknown
2. Agriculture & aquaculture	2.1 Annual & perennial non-timber crops	Medium		Agricultural land expanding within the national park for local human communities living inside the park (over 8000 people) (Coudrat pers. obs. 2023).	Ongoing (2023)
3. Energy production & mining		Unknown
4. Transportation & service corridors		Unknown
5. Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	High		Subsistence illegal hunting with traditional handmade rifles, illegal national and or international trade driven hunting (Coudrat pers. obs. 2023).	Ongoing (2023)
6. Human intrusion & disturbance		Unknown
7. Natural system modifications		Unknown
8. Invasive & other problematic species, genes, diseases		Unknown
9. Pollution		Unknown
10. Geological Events		Absent
11. Climate change & severe weather		Unknown
12. Other options		Absent

IUCN Threats list

Conservation activities

Table 4. Conservation activities in Nakai Nam Theun National Park

Category	Specific activity	Description	Year of activity
1. Residential & commercial development	Not reported
2. Agriculture & aquaculture	Not reported
3. Energy production & mining	Not reported
4. Transportation & service corridors	Not reported
5. Biological resource use	5.6. Conduct regular anti-poaching patrols	By the Park authorities since 2010 (Coudrat pers. comm. 2023).	Ongoing (2023)
5. Biological resource use	5.11. Provide training to anti-poaching ranger patrols	By the Park authorities since 2010 (Coudrat pers. comm. 2023).	Ongoing (2023)
5. Biological resource use	5.15. Implement monitoring surveillance strategies (e.g. SMART) or use monitoring data to improve effectiveness of wildlife law enforcement patrols	By the Park authorities since 2010 (Coudrat pers. comm. 2023).	Ongoing (2023)
5. Biological resource use	5.16. Implement community control of patrolling, banning hunting and removing snares	By the Park authorities since 2010 (Coudrat pers. comm. 2023).	Ongoing (2023)
6. Human intrusion & disturbance	Not reported
7. Natural system modifications	Not reported
8. Invasive & other problematic species, genes, diseases	Not reported
9. Pollution	Not reported
10. Education & Awareness	Not reported
11. Habitat Protection	11.2. Legally protect primate habitat	The site is a National Park.	Ongoing (2023)
11. Habitat Protection	11.6. Demarcate and enforce boundaries of protected areas	by Park authorities since 2010 (Coudrat pers. comm. 2023).	Ongoing (2023)
12. Species Management	Not reported
13. Livelihood; Economic & Other Incentives	13.3. Run research project and ensure permanent human presence at site	by Association Anoulak (Coudrat pers. comm. 2023).	2013-2024

Conservation activities list (Junker et al. 2017)

Challenges

Lack of effective and systemic law enforcement; corruption, mismanagement of national Park by authorities, lack of technical knowledge by government management teams (Coudrat per. obs. 2023).

Table 5. Challenges reported for Nakai Nam Theun National Park

Challenge	Source
Lack of law enforcement	(Coudrat per. obs. 2023).
Corruption	(Coudrat per. obs. 2023).
Mismanagement of the park by authorities	(Coudrat per. obs. 2023).
Lack of technical capacity	(Coudrat per. obs. 2023).

Research activities

Current (2023) projects led by Association Anoulak (www.conservationlaos.com) are: INVESTIGATING THE UNKNOWN: DISTRIBUTION OF THE SOUTHERN WHITE-CHEEKED GIBBON NOMASCUS SIKI AND THE NORTHERN WHITE-CHEEKED GIBBON N. LEUCOGENYS IN CENTRAL LAOS - Camille Noemie, Zoe Coudrat, Association Anoulak (Primary Presenter) - Michal Hradec, Czech University of Life Science Prague - Hana Vostrá-Vydrová, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague. Nomascus gibbons are the most threatened of the four Hylobatidae genera. The Northern N. leucogenys and the Southern White-cheeked Gibbon N. siki are both classified as Critically Endangered. They have a restricted global range and are endemic to Laos and Vietnam. It is currently speculated that the Nam Kading-Nam Theun (river) represents the major geographical barrier between N. leucogenys and N. siki (ranging north and south of the river, respectively). However, in central Laos the distribution range limit between the two species remains uncertain, preventing appropriate conservation planning. Gibbon songs are taxonomically distinct between species. To investigate the distribution of N. siki and N. leucogenys, we collected and obtained from partner institutions a total of 896 gibbon songs from sites in central Laos and Vietnam. We compared these recordings with 213 vocal recordings of genetically screened gibbon individuals of both species from zoological facilities in Europe. Our dataset contains 674 records from males and 222 records from females. We performed the Kruskal-Wallis test to select acoustic parameters. We used cluster analysis to identify differences in vocalization among the gibbon populations. Cluster analysis is a multivariate method useful for identifying the same individuals based on the acoustic parameters they assign into clusters. The preliminary results showed that in the area north of the Nam Kading-Nam Theun are groups similar to N. siki while groups south of the river show a mixture of the two species. The results of our research will lead to re-evaluating the global distribution of both species and adapt national conservation prioritization. GIBBON SURVEYING IN THE DIGITAL AGE - Cornelia Oedekoven, University of St Andrews (Primary Presenter) - David Borchers, University of St Andrews - Mark Peter Johnson, Aarhus University - Camille Noemie, Zoe Coudrat, Association Anoulak Abstract: Gibbons are difficult to see and easy to hear, so the best way to detect them is to listen for them. It is easy to establish gibbon presence this way, but not so easy to estimate gibbon density and abundance, which requires information on their locations when calling. Humans doing the listening can estimate directions to calls, and gibbon locations can be estimated by triangulation (although this can be labour-intensive and error-prone). Digital recorders are better listeners than humans in that they are cheaper and don’t get tired. Currently available recorders don’t estimate directions to calls but it turns out that accurate directions to calls is important for accurate density estimation. We introduce new digital recorders with synchronised clocks and multiple microphones which are able to provide estimated directions to sound sources accurately, and show how this improves density and abundance estimation, using acoustic spatial capture-recapture methods. We briefly discuss survey design, how calls can be efficiently extracted from acoustic files, and summarise results from initial field testing. These confirm that use of the new digital recorders with angle estimation substantially improves density estimation as well as provides much better information on sound source locations. They will undergo full field testing in Laos late this year. We hope their use will improve gibbon population monitoring and conservation planning in the near future.

Documented behaviours

Table 6. Ape behaviors reported for Nakai Nam Theun National Park

Behavior	Source
Not reported

References

Coudrat CNZ, Nanthavong C, Ngoprasert D, Suwanwaree P, Savini T. 2015. Singing Patterns of WhiteCheeked Gibbons (Nomascus sp.) in the Annamite Mountains of Laos. International Journal of Primatology 36:691–706.

Page completed by: Camille Coudrat Date: 25/09/2023