The U Minh wetlands of southern Vietnam in Ca Mau and Kieng Giang provinces are a degraded, peat-swamp wetland mosaic known to retain several globally threatened species. We deployed 83 targeted camera-traps across U Minh Thuong National Park and U Minh Ha National Park from December 2019 to May 2020, and from November 2020 to June 2021, respectively. Our aim was to detect threatened otters, wild cats, and pangolins in each protected area, to identify relative abundance, activity patterns, and what potential threats they may face to inform conservation priorities for park managers. Our results showed that both protected areas harbour significant regionally important populations of globally threatened Sunda pangolins (Manis javanica), and Hairy-nosed otters (Lutra sumatrana). However, Fishing cats (Prionailurus viverrinus) and Large-spotted civet (Viverra megaspila) previously recorded from U Minh Thuong National Park, were not observed, emphasising the probability of local extirpation. Other than wide-ranging species that are less sensitive to human disturbance (i.e., Common palm civets and Leopard cats), all small carnivores were most active in Melaleuca and swamp/Melaleuca habitats in U Minh Thuong, and both the wetland plantations and disturbed forests of U Minh Ha according to their photographic rates. Human and domestic dogs’ activity periods in both protected areas overlapped strongly with Hairy-nosed otters, which could influence their dispersal abilities and access to resources. Long-term and short-term threats are discussed with relevance to U Minh ecosystem health and future recommendations.

This study provides an update on the movement ecology of the Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica) in three distinct ecoregions of Vietnam. Using radio telemetry, we tracked 12 pangolins rescued from the illegal wildlife trade and translocated to protected areas. We found that the average home range of translocated Sunda pangolins was 1.58 km2 and did not vary significantly between sexes, mass, or habitat. However, there was a marked decrease in range size with decreasing sizes of suitable forest space and terrain, or a localized abundance of resources in some locations. Pangolins were most active from 03:00 to 04:00. The study highlights the need for further research to fully understand the ecology of this unique and enig-matic species.(c) 2023 National Science Museum of Korea (NSMK) and Korea National Arboretum (KNA), Publishing Services by Elsevier. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Wetlands in the Mekong Delta of southern Vietnam support populations of globally threatened species, including Hairy-nosed otter ( Lutra sumatrana ) and, historically, Fishing cat ( Prionailurus viverrinus ). However, protected areas in the southern wetlands have become terrestrial islands, surrounded by aquaculture and agriculture, leading to intensified interactions between humans and wildlife. This research explored different human-wildlife interactions to assess whether they bear potential threats to populations of threatened, wetland-dwelling carnivores such as otters, wild cats, and other small carnivores. 400 semi-structured interviews were conducted in communities living in the buffer zones of two protected areas: U Minh Thuong National Park and U Minh Ha National Park. Our results revealed that fish farmers who live closer to protected area boundaries were more likely to experience conflict with otters, wild cats, and other small carnivores. While the effect of distance to the protected area’s edge on small carnivore impacts were similar in both study sites, prior impacts were found to influence increasingly severe actions of respondents against the impacting wildlife. Overall, most locals had little-to-no knowledge of Fishing cats. This evidence corresponds with other studies which suspect the Fishing cat to be in extremely low densities or potentially extirpated from the wetlands in the last few decades. High prices of wildlife have driven intensive illegal hunting in the region. More people in U Minh Thuong were aware of illegal wildlife trade activities than in U Minh Ha and men tended to have more knowledge and willingness to share about those illicit activities. Our results suggested community engagement activities to tackle human-otter conflict and illegal activities related to wildlife should target mostly men, older villagers, and fish farmers living near the edges of both protected areas. Education and outreach campaigns to improve community awareness of wildlife should target women and young people, who were significantly less aware of wildlife issues in the area overall.

Although the raccoon dog Nyctereutes procyonoides has a wide global distribution, little is known about its population in Vietnam. The species is considered rare in Vietnam, and few records have been published since 2004, although it is worth noting that all of these records were wildlife trade observations or anecdotal reports. Here, we report raccoon dogs recorded in the illegal wildlife trade via Facebook monitoring from January to December 2020, rescued animals documented in the Nghe An province caught by a hunter in August 2020, and camera trap records of the species detected in Pu Mat National Park in May and July 2021. Our camera trap recordings provide evidence of a southern range extension for this species in Vietnam and represent the first documented occurrence of raccoon dogs captured in situ by camera traps within the country.

Abstract The U Minh wetlands of southern Vietnam in Ca Mau and Kieng Giang provinces are a degraded, peat-swamp wetland mosaic known to retain several globally threatened species. We deployed intensive, targeted camera-traps across U Minh Thuong National Park and U Minh Ha National Park from December 2019 to May 2020, and from November 2020 to June 2021, respectively. Our aim was to detect threatened otters, wild cats, and pangolins in each protected area, to identify what potential threats they may face, and to inform conservation priorities for park managers. Our results showed that both protected areas harbour significant regionally important populations of globally threatened Sunda pangolins (Manis javanica), and Hairy-nosed otters (Lutra sumatrana). However, Fishing cats (Prionailurus viverrinus) and Large-spotted civet (Viverra megaspila) previously recorded from U Minh Thuong National Park, were not observed. Other than wide-ranging species insensitive to human disturbance (i.e., Common palm civets and Leopard cats), all small carnivores were most active in Melaleuca and swamp/Melaleuca habitats in U Minh Thuong, and both the wetland plantations and disturbed forests of U Minh Ha according to their photographic rates. Human and domestic dogs’ activity periods in both protected areas overlapped strongly with Hairy-nosed otters, which could influence their dispersal abilities and access to resources. Furthermore, dogs in this part of southern Vietnam are often used for hunting, so there is a strong possibility the overlap could lead to deadly interactions as well. Long-term and short-term threats are discussed with relevance to U Minh ecosystem health and future recommendations.

Recognizing the imperative to evaluate species recovery and conservation impact, in 2012 the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) called for development of a "Green List of Species" (now the IUCN Green Status of Species). A draft Green Status framework for assessing species' progress toward recovery, published in 2018, proposed 2 separate but interlinked components: a standardized method (i.e., measurement against benchmarks of species' viability, functionality, and preimpact distribution) to determine current species recovery status (herein species recovery score) and application of that method to estimate past and potential future impacts of conservation based on 4 metrics (conservation legacy, conservation dependence, conservation gain, and recovery potential). We tested the framework with 181 species representing diverse taxa, life histories, biomes, and IUCN Red List categories (extinction risk). Based on the observed distribution of species' recovery scores, we propose the following species recovery categories: fully recovered, slightly depleted, moderately depleted, largely depleted, critically depleted, extinct in the wild, and indeterminate. Fifty-nine percent of tested species were considered largely or critically depleted. Although there was a negative relationship between extinction risk and species recovery score, variation was considerable. Some species in lower risk categories were assessed as farther from recovery than those at higher risk. This emphasizes that species recovery is conceptually different from extinction risk and reinforces the utility of the IUCN Green Status of Species to more fully understand species conservation status. Although extinction risk did not predict conservation legacy, conservation dependence, or conservation gain, it was positively correlated with recovery potential. Only 1.7% of tested species were categorized as zero across all 4 of these conservation impact metrics, indicating that conservation has, or will, play a role in improving or maintaining species status for the vast majority of these species. Based on our results, we devised an updated assessment framework that introduces the option of using a dynamic baseline to assess future impacts of conservation over the short term to avoid misleading results which were generated in a small number of cases, and redefines short term as 10 years to better align with conservation planning. These changes are reflected in the IUCN Green Status of Species Standard.

There is a need for pangolin-specific monitoring methods to increase understanding of pangolin ecology, allow for formal assessment of conservation interventions, and inform future management decisions. This chapter presents a general systems ecology model to outline current understanding of what drives pangolin densities and distributions, and elucidate gaps in knowledge. It presents key challenges to monitoring pangolin populations across species and geographic ranges and identifies methods with proven success, and those with promise. Recognizing the critical status of some pangolin populations, it highlights the need for targeted monitoring objectives over surveillance monitoring and identifies how monitoring methods and study designs structured around well-developed questions can contribute to adaptive monitoring and management frameworks.

The Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica) is widely distributed in Southeast Asia from Myanmar, Thailand, Laos PDR, Cambodia and Vietnam, throughout Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, to Borneo, Sumatra and Java and surrounding islands. There is uncertainty over its distribution in China. A medium-sized mammal, the species reaches a total length of 140 cm and a typical weight of 4–7 kg, though larger individuals have been recorded. The species inhabits primary and secondary tropical forest, scrub and swamp forest, and modified landscapes including monoculture (e.g., oil palm) plantations, and gardens. Semi-arboreal, solitary and nocturnal, the species searches for ant and termite prey on the ground and in trees using its acute olfactory senses. The Sunda pangolin has a long history of utilization by indigenous peoples and international trade, both legal and illegal, which has resulted in severe population declines in many parts of the range. Unsustainable exploitation is the primary threat to the species.

Standardised methods to monitor populations of many species are lacking but are important for detecting presence, changes in populations and species status, and for conservation management. Pangolins (Family: Manidae), are one such group of mammals that are native to Africa and Asia. Here, we conduct a systematic review of methods used to detect and monitor populations of species ecologically similar to pangolins to inform the development of pangolin monitoring methods. The primary question of this review is: how effective have methods been at detecting and monitoring populations of species ecologically similar to pangolins? We also investigated their applicability to each species of pangolin, considering the lessons learnt from the identified studies. Of the 379 articles identified by Web of Science, 159 were included, and supplemented with 87 studies from Google Scholar searches. In total, across all studies and 24 taxonomic groups, 28 different survey methods were used to detect and/or monitor the selected taxa. Based on this review, several methods have potential application to the different pangolin species. Camera-trapping may be useful for monitoring all species of pangolin, including the arboreal species. Burrow counts could be used to monitor fossorial pangolins, but there are several challenges to using this method including correct identification of burrows and identifying the ways in which pangolins use burrows/dens.

Four species of wild canids are documented as occurring in Vietnam: Dhole Cuon alpinus, Eurasian Golden Jackal Canis aureus, Red Fox Vulpes vulpes and Raccoon Dog Nyctereutes procyonoides. Except for Dhole, all species are widely distributed globally and are listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Concerned by the paucity of recent records of these species from Vietnam, especially in the context of rapidly declining mammal populations in the country in general, we undertook a review of the status of these species in Vietnam. All traceable and potentially verifiable canid records from 01 January 2002 until 31 December 2018 were collated and reviewed. The Dhole, formerly the most widely distributed of all canid species in Vietnam, and Raccoon Dog, apparently formerly widely distributed in the northern part of the country, appear to have both declined; Dhole is now either extirpated, or close to extirpation, while Raccoon Dog is of uncertain status. The Eurasian Golden Jackal does not seem to have been reliably observed in the wild since 2004, although it is possible the species may persist in some areas. Red Fox has only ever been known from a handful of records, and the current status of this species is unknown. In summary, Vietnam cannot be considered to sustain healthy populations of any of its four native wild canid species. These declines seem largely attributable to hunting of both the canids themselves and, for Dhole, their prey base, exacerbated by habitat loss.

The behaviours, ecologies and morphologies of pangolins make them challenging to survey and monitor, and non-targeted wildlife surveys have not produced robust status assessments, especially where population densities are low because of overexploitation. To inform the development of feasible survey and monitoring techniques for pangolins, we conducted a systematic review of all traceable efforts used to survey and monitor pangolins to date: 87 articles were included in the review. Pitfalls of current approaches are discussed and recommendations made on suitable methods. Recommendations include the use of mark-recapture for burrow-dwelling species, community interviews, sign-based surveys in arid and open habitats, detection dog teams, and targeted camera-trapping. Occupancy sampling using camera-traps could be used to monitor some pangolin populations, particularly ground-dwelling species, but the rarity of all species makes it uncertain whether this would provide enough data for monitoring; combinations of methods used within an occupancy sampling framework are likely to be the most effective. There will be many circumstances where direct monitoring of a population at a site, to a level that will generate precise data, is not financially viable nor the best use of conservation resources. In many sites, particularly in Asia, pangolins are too rare as a result of overexploitation, and/or occur in inaccessible areas where significant resources will be needed to implement a targeted monitoring programme. Under such circumstances, the use of proxy variables, including status of other hunting-sensitive species that are easier to record, in combination with enforcement or patrol data and/or community interviews, is likely to be the most cost-effective method for assessing the impact of conservation interventions on pangolin status. The publication of incidental observations and survey ‘by-catch’ would significantly improve understanding of pangolin status and ecology, and therefore how best to identify, conserve and monitor priority populations.

The Vulnerable fishing cat Prionailurus viverrinus faces a perilous future in South-east Asia. It was last sighted in Cambodia in 2003. We deployed 16 camera traps at four sites in southern Cambodia during January-May 2015 to determine if the fishing cat was still present in the country. Eight photograph/video captures of fishing cats were recorded from the mangroves in Peam Krasop Wildlife Sanctuary and one from Ream National Park, but there were no records from Botum Sakor National Park or Prey Nup. A number of other globally threatened species were also photographed in Peam Krasop Wildlife Sanctuary: the Sunda pangolin Manis javanica, the hog deer Axis porcinus and the large-spotted civet Viverra megaspila. We learnt of the killing of an alleged fishing cat at the Sanctuary in July 2015 in retaliation for raiding fishing nets. Illegal hunting and capture of fishing cats for the wildlife trade were reported by local informants at all sites. We provide photographic and video evidence of the fishing cats and highlight the importance of Cambodia's mangroves for threatened species conservation.

Small-toothed Palm Civet Arctogalidia trivirgata is rather rarely included on mammal survey lists for Vietnamese protected areas. This has often led to its being declared rare, and therefore a priority for national small carnivore conservation. Evidence from outside Vietnam suggests that this paucity of records in Vietnam is due at least largely to the reliance on inappropriate survey methods, i.e. ground-based camera-trapping and diurnal surveys, that will fail to record this nocturnal, very arboreal civet. Presented here are several recent confirmed records from both protected and non-protected areas in Vietnam, all of which have undergone major anthropogenic disturbances, including hunting and illegal logging. The ability of this species to survive in these areas where most similar-sized or larger animal species have become reduced or extirpated indicates that it is not a conservation priority among Vietnam’s mammals. Consideration of other information from throughout its range suggests that the conservation focus for this genus should be on the Javan taxon A. (t.) trilineata. These records from Vietnam have also extended the documented altitude range for this species in Vietnam to above 1,000 m a.s.l, consistent with other parts of the species’s range, and have added a habitat type not previously recorded for the species: Melaleuca-dominated wetland forest.