PHNOM PENH, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- A camera trap study has recorded the presence of 30 large mammal species in Chhep Wildlife Sanctuary in the Northern Plains of Cambodia, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) said in a statement on Thursday.
The biodiversity captured in the images demonstrates the extent to which Chhep Wildlife Sanctuary is critical to the conservation of these mammals, the statement said.
"The results confirm the continued occurrence of large mammals such as Eld's deer, banteng, elephants and jungle cats in the Chhep Wildlife Sanctuary (in Preah Vihear province)," said Ai Suzuki, a conservationist from Kyoto University of Japan, who conducted the study with WCS.
"Importantly, the globally endangered large-spotted civet was the fourth most photographed species in Chhep Wildlife Sanctuary," she said.
Species recorded in the study included: endangered Asian elephants (Elephas maximus), Indochinese silvered langurs (Trachypithecus germaini), Eld's deer (Rucervus eldii), banteng (Bos javanicus), endangered large-spotted civets (Viverra megaspila), vulnerable clouded leopards (Neofelis nebulosa), gaur (Bos gaurus), Asiatic black bears (Ursus thibetanus), sun bears (Helarctos malayanus), and Northern pig-tailed macaques (Macaca leonina).
While Chhep Wildlife Sanctuary, located in Preah Vihear province, is home to many rare species and provide a host of ecosystem services, it never the less faces many threats including illegal logging, forest clearing, and habitat conversion, the statement said.
Alistair Mould, WCS's technical advisor to Northern Plains of Cambodia, said the unique area of forest represents both a vital habitat for globally endangered wildlife and a natural wildlife corridor.
