Cát Tiên National Park

Coordinates: 11 ° 25 '  N , 107 ° 26'  E

Cát Tiên National Park​

Vietnam

The National Park Cát Tiên ( Vietnamese Vườn quốc gia Cát Tiên ) is an important national park in the south of Vietnam , about 150 kilometers north of Ho Chi Minh City . It protects one of the largest remaining areas of tropical lowland rainforest in Vietnam.

history

The area of ​​the Cat Tien National Park was placed under protection in 1978 and at that time consisted of the two parts Nam Cat Tien and Tay Cat Tien. Cat Loc, the third part of today's park, was placed under protection in 1992 after a population of the extremely rare Java rhinoceros was discovered there. As it was believed that this subspecies of the Java rhinoceros was extinct, this discovery brought international attention to the park. In 1998 these three parts became a single park.

During the Vietnam War , parts of the area were sprayed with herbicides such as Agent Orange . To date, no trees have grown in the affected areas, only bamboo and grass.

biodiversity

Water buffalo in Cat Tien National Park

Approximately 50 percent of the park is covered by evergreen forest, mainly wing fruits . Another 40 percent consist of bamboo forests, the remaining 10 percent are arable land, wetlands or overgrown with grass.

The wildlife in the park is impressive, but some are seriously threatened. There are Asian elephants and sun bears in the park . For the Gaur , the protected area is still an important refuge. In contrast, the Banteng , the wild water buffalo and the Kouprey are extinct in the park. The same applies to the endangered Java rhinoceros , which was found here with one of two populations worldwide. Some sources call it tiger , leopard , clouded leopard , Dhole and Asian black bears , a recent series of studies could not confirm this however.

Many smaller mammals live in the park, including robed monkeys , yellow-cheeked crested gibbons , crab monkeys , crawling cats , deer piglets and pointed squirrels . The birds in the park include the sun duck and the double hornbill .

Danger

Cat Tien is an important protected area in Vietnam. It is home to 41 animal species that are on the Red List of Endangered Species and protects around 30 percent of the species found in Vietnam.

Even so, the park is threatened by the expansion of the surrounding communities, illegal logging, and poaching . In addition, the park is not big enough for the larger animal species, which creates conflicts with the local population if these animals move outside the park. This problem mainly affects the elephants in the park. These like to migrate, and the population is probably too small to be able to exist permanently.

Since the early 1990s, in part as a result of the rhinoceros discovery, global donors and the Vietnamese government have begun to invest more money in the park.

The flora and fauna of the national park are currently under acute threat from the construction of the Dong Nai 6 and Dong Nai 6A hydropower plants. A petition is being prepared to protect the park.

swell

• Gert Polet and Stephen Ling: Protecting mammal diversity: opportunities and constraints for pragmatic conservation management in Cat Tien National Park, Vietnam. Oryx Vol 38 No 2 April 2004

1. ^ Nguyen, M., H., (2009). The status of Vulnerable gaur Bos gaurus and endangered banteng Bos javanicus in Ea So Nature Reserve and Yok Don and Cat Tien National Parks, Vietnam. Oryx 43 (1), 129-135
2. ↑ Mark Szotek: Down to 50, conservationists fight to save Javan Rhino from extinction. The Rhino Print 9 (Winter), 2011, pp. 12-14
3. ↑ Kees Rookmaaker et al: New literature in the Rhino Resource Center. Electronic Newsletter of the Rhino Resource Center 24 (August), 2011, pp. 1-15
4. ↑ Vietnam Government and Congress: Saving Cat Tien National Park by Stopping 2 Hydropowers Dong Nai 6 & 6A

Web links

Commons : Cat Tien National Park  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Cat Tien National Park site
• Sian-Bird's homepage
• List of Fishes in Cát Tiên National Park (PDF; 46 kB)