Dong Khanthung Provincial Protected Area

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Summary

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• Pileated gibbons (Hylobates pileatus) are present in Dong Khanthung Provincial Protected Area.
• The population size is unknown.
• The population trend is unknown.
• The site has a total size of 1,915 km².
• Key threats to gibbons are hunting, illegal pet trade, and habitat loss due to logging.
• Conservation activities have not been documented.

Site characteristics

Dong Khanthung is located in southern Laos. The site contains a wide variety of habitats, such as lowland/semi-evergreen forest, dry dipterocarp/mixed dipterocarp forest, pine forest and wetlands. The site is rich in species diversity due to the variety of habitats. Although the site is considerably degraded, many wildlife species inhabit the areas, especially forest birds, water birds, and large birds (Phiapalath & Saisavanh 2010). An Important Bird Area (IBA; BirdLife International 2022) was declared within Dong Khanthung in 2003.

Table 1. Basic site information for Dong Khanthung Provincial Protected Area

Area	1,915 km²
Coordinates	14.305301, 105.578696
Designation	Provincial Protected Area
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical/tropical dry forest, wetlands, subtropical/tropical seasonally wet/flooded grassland

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

In a 2010 survey, the presence of gibbons was confirmed in seven main sites within Dong Khanthung, including Houy Talo, Houy Pasuan, Houy Khem, Houy Kadan, Houy Nang Ing, Houy Dannoi and Houy Laok. Based on estimations of local villagers, there are about two groups per site (Phiapalath & Saisavanh 2010).

Table 2. Ape population estimates in Dong Khanthung Provincial Protected Area

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
Hylobates pileatus	2010				Dong Khanthung Provincial Protected Area	Interview survey and identification by songs	Phiapalath & Saisavanh 2010

Threats

Hunting and habitat loss due to logging are the main threats to gibbons in the site (Phiapalath & Saisavanh 2010). The forest is degraded and fragmented, making it difficult for gibbons to move from place to place. Furthermore, their food sources have also declined (Phiapalath & Saisavanh 2010).

Table 3. Threats to apes in Dong Khanthung Provincial Protected Area

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Quantified severity	Description	Year of threat
1. Residential & commercial development		Unknown
2. Agriculture & aquaculture		Unknown
3. Energy production & mining		Unknown
4. Transportation & service corridors		Unknown
5. Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	High		Hunting connected to the illegal pet trade; hunters catch infant gibbons so that they can sell them (Phiapalath & Saisavanh 2010).	Ongoing (2010)
	5.3 Logging & wood harvesting	High		Subsistence logging (Phiapalath & Saisavanh 2010).	Ongoing (2010)
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

The site was proposed as a National Biodiversity Conservation Area in 1996, due to its very high biodiversity and significance for conservation. An area of 200 sq.km was also prepared to be a Wildlife Sanctuary in 1998 (Phiapalath & Saisavanh 2010). The implementation of these plans failed, and since many NBCAs had been established already, the site was listed as a Provincial Protected Area (Phiapalath & Saisavanh 2010). Since then, no funding to support the area has been allocated and the area has been highly disturbed (Phiapalath & Saisavanh 2010).

Table 4. Conservation activities in Dong Khanthung Provincial Protected Area

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	Not reported
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 protected area.	Ongoing (2022)
12. Species Management	Not reported
13. Livelihood; Economic & Other Incentives	Not reported

Conservation activities list (Junker et al. 2017)

Challenges

Lack of law enforcement to tackle the illegal pet trade and hunting of gibbons (Phiapalath & Saisavanh 2010).

Table 5. Challenges reported for Dong Khanthung Provincial Protected Area

Challenge	Source
Lack of law enforcement	Phiapalath & Saisavanh 2010

Research activities

Documented behaviours

Table 6. Ape behaviors reported for Dong Khanthung Provincial Protected Area

Behavior	Source
Not reported

References

BirdLife International (2022) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Dong Khanthung. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 27/03/2022.
Phiapalath, P. & Saisavanh, V. (2010). Gibbon surveys: Nam Phui National Protected Area and Dong Khanthung Provincial Protected Area. Online: https://www.iucn.org/sites/dev/files/import/downloads/gibbon_surveys_final_sep_12_2010.pdf

Page completed by: A.P.E.S. Wiki team Date: 25/03/2022