Hukaung Valley Wildlife Sanctuary

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Summary

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• Eastern Hoolock Gibbons (Hoolock leuconedys) and Western Hoolock Gibbons (Hoolock hoolock) are present in Hukaung Valley Wildlife Sanctuary .
• The population size is unknown.
• The gibbon population trend is stable.
• The site has a total size of 21,802 km².
• Gibbons are mainly threatened by commercial hunting.
• Conservation activities include biomonitoring, patrolling, and environmental education.

Site characteristics

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  © WCS MP_AYTun
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  Hukaung Valley Wildlife Sanctuary © WCS MP_AYTun
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  © WCS MP_AYTun

Hukaung Valley Wildlife Sanctuary (HVWS), also known as Hukaung Tiger Reserve, is located in northwestern Myanmar. The site was established in 2001 and is currently in the tentative list for becoming a UNESCO World Heritage site. Due to its large size, connection to other protected areas, and diversity of forest types and elevations, HVWS contains a diverse assemblage of wildlife. HVWS includes many threatened and wide-ranging species such as the Asian Elephant, Tiger, and Rufous-necked Hornbill. The Hoolock Gibbon and Shortridge’s Langur are also present (UNESCO 2014).

Table 1. Basic site information for Hukaung Valley Wildlife Sanctuary

Area	21802.53 km²
Coordinates	26.168635, 95.986726
Designation	Wildlife Sanctuary
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest, grassland

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

Table 2. Ape population estimates in Hukaung Valley Wildlife Sanctuary

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
Hoolock leucodenys	2005-2006			2.81	Hukaung Valley Wildlife Sanctuary	Auditory Survey Method	Htun et al. 2006
Hoolock leuconedys & Hoolock hoolock	2016			present	Hukaung Valley Wildlife Sanctuary	Photo Taking and Direct Counting	NWCD/WCS 2016	Gibbon Face photo taking and collect faecal for DNA Analysis

Threats

Table 3. Threats to apes in Hukaung Valley Wildlife Sanctuary

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Quantified severity	Description	Year of threat
1. Residential & commercial development		Unknown
2. Agriculture & aquaculture		Unknown
3. Energy production & mining	3.2 Mining & quarrying	Present (unknown severity)		(Ko Aung Ye Tun pers. obs. 2023)	Ongoing (2023)
4. Transportation & service corridors		Unknown
5. Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	Present (unknown severity)		(Ko Aung Ye Tun pers. obs. 2023)	Ongoing (2023)
5. Biological resource use	5.2 Gathering terrestrial plants	Present (unknown severity)		(Ko Aung Ye Tun pers. obs. 2023)	Ongoing (2023)
	5.3 Logging & wood harvesting	Present (unknown severity)		(Ko Aung Ye Tun 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	11.1 Habitat shifting & alteration	Present (unknown severity)		(Ko Aung Ye Tun pers. obs. 2023)	Ongoing (2023)
12. Other options		Absent

IUCN Threats list

Conservation activities

WCS established an Eastern Hoolock gibbon conservation project for population monitoring and community outreach at a number of protected areas, including Hukaung Valley Wildlife Sanctuary (Thompson et al. 2023).

Table 4. Conservation activities in Hukaung Valley Wildlife Sanctuary

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	5.15. Implement monitoring surveillance strategies (e.g. SMART) or use monitoring data to improve effectiveness of wildlife law enforcement patrols	(Ko Aung Ye Tun pers. comm. 2023, Thompson et al. 2023)	2019-Ongoing (2023)
	5.16. Implement community control of patrolling, banning hunting and removing snares	(Ko Aung Ye Tun 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	10.1. Educate local communities about primates and sustainable use	(Ko Aung Ye Tun pers. comm. 2023)	Ongoing (2023)
11. Habitat Protection	11.2. Legally protect primate habitat	The site is a protected area.	2001-Ongoing (2023)
12. Species Management	Not reported
13. Livelihood; Economic & Other Incentives	13.5. Permanent presence of staff/manager	(Ko Aung Ye Tun pers. obs. 2023)	Ongoing (2023)

Conservation activities list (Junker et al. 2017)

Challenges

Challenges to the implementation of conservation activities include armed conflict and limited financial resources, as well as the challenge of protecting such a huge area (Ko Aung Ye Tun pers. obs. 2023).

Table 5. Challenges reported for Hukaung Valley Wildlife Sanctuary

Challenge	Source
Civil unrest	Ko Aung Ye Tun pers. obs. 2023
Lack of financial means	Ko Aung Ye Tun pers. obs. 2023

Research activities

Documented behaviours

Table 6. Ape behaviors reported for Hukaung Valley Wildlife Sanctuary

Behavior	Source
Not reported

References

Htun, S., Aung, Z. H., Naing, W., Khaing, Z. W., Htay, T., Tun, N. L., ... & Moe, T. K. (2006). Final Report on conservation of the hoolock gibbon (Hylobates hoolock) in the Hukaung Tiger Reserve, north Myanmar: Population surveys, threat assessment and conservation outreach, September 2006. Forest Department, Nature and Wildlife Conservation Division, and Wildlife Conservation Society–Myanmar Program, Yangon.
Thompson, C., Lwin, N., Aung, P. P., Aung, T. H., Htike, T. S. M., San, A. M., ... & Evans, T. S. (2023). The status of primates and primatology in Myanmar. Global Ecology and Conservation, e02662.
UNESCO (2014). Hukaung Valley Wildlife Sanctuary. Online: https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5875/

Page completed by: Ko Aung Ye Tun Date: 15/11/2023