Catingas, Philippines Photograph by © Cynthia Gneiser/Zegrahm Expeditions   Southeastern Asia: Philippines Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests   13,500 square miles (35,000 square kilometers) -- about the size of New Hampshire and Connecticut combined Critical/Endangered

· The Vanishing Visayas
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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The Vanishing Visayas

The Greater Negros-Panay Rain Forests ecoregion is located on a string of tropical islands in the South Pacific called the Western Visayas. This ecoregion is one of the most threatened in the Philippines, and yet several important birds and mammals still thrive on these islands.

Special Features

A wide variety of vegetation is found here. Beach forests and mangroves along the coasts transition into tropical lowland rain forests, montane forests, grasslands, and heath forests. Until they were almost entirely removed by logging, dipterocarp trees dominated the lowland evergreen forests. Ferns, orchids, and other epiphytic plants are found on the larger trees, with lianas and bamboo found in certain areas as well. For most of the year, rainfall is frequent--with the islands receiving approximately 94 inches (2,400 mm) of rainfall annually.

	These forests are also home to the critically endangered Philippine crocodile, which is smaller than other crocodiles but has a rather broad snout. This crocodile prefers small freshwater lakes and ponds.

Wild Side

If there is a signature animal of these forests, it may be the endemic Visayan warty pig. Once thought to live in both lowland and montane habitats, and even disturbed areas, the pig has now been largely extirpated from these islands and is critically endangered. Similarly, the endangered Philippine spotted deer is also endemic, surviving in small patches of dipterocarp forests and grasslands remaining in the ecoregion. Bats, shrews, and rats, as well as other pig and deer species, round out the ecoregion’s 57 mammal species. Birds include hornbills, striped-babblers, and flowerpeckers.

Cause for Concern

At one time, all of the Philippines were almost completely forested, but logging and shifting cultivation have reduced forests by up to 95 percent of their original coverage.This ecoregion has suffered a particularly disproportionate share of deforestation. It is the most degraded area in the Philippines and the most in need of immediate conservation action.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.