Camera traps in Thailand’s Western Forest Complex captured an array of animals, including tigers, a banteng, elephants, sambar and muntjac deer, a wild boar, a long-tailed macaque, a crab-eating mongoose, a crested serpent eagle, a blue magpie, and a jungle fowl. The Western Forest Complex, or WEFCOM, is Thailand’s largest block of intact forest, and home to at least 150 species of mammals, 490 birds, 90 reptiles, 40 amphibians, and 108 fish, many of which are threatened and endangered species. Poaching and habitat encroachment have placed many species living in WEFCOM under duress, but populations are slowly recovering in response to increased conservation efforts. Conservationists set up two camera traps near a watering hole in a Thai forest — and then they waited. The first animal to step in front of the lens was a male tiger ( Panthera tigris ), who took a dip in the natural pool before sauntering off. Not long after that, a type of wild cattle called a banteng ( Bos javanicus ) briefly stepped into view before getting spooked and sprinting away. Then, two Asian elephants ( Elephas maximus ) arrived, helping themselves to the green plants growing near the water. Over the […]
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