Phouphieng (Bolovens) Plateau, Laos Photograph by Eric Wikramanayake   Indochina÷Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia, in Southeast Asia. Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests   18,000 square miles (46,500 square kilometers) -- about the size of New Hampshire Vulnerable

· Mythical Diversity
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern

Mythical Diversity

These dense montane forests hold many secrets, including a species that has never been seen, but was described from a few horns, and a mythical forest man that the Vietnamese call Nguoi Rung. It takes two weeks of walking through a mine- and bomb-filled landscape to reach the ecoregionās most remote areas. Although the details of this tropical ecoregionās plants and animals are poorly known, scientists do know that the regionās biodiversity is globally outstanding.

Special Features

Soft volcanic substrates and ample rainfall combine to produce the rich, productive soils of these mountains and plateaus. As a result, most of the plateaus in Vietnam and some in Laos and Cambodia have been cultivated by farmers. However, where the forests remain intact, the productive soils have fueled the growth of abundant trees and other plants. The Da Lat plateau, for example, has 15 to 16 species of conifers, representing the highest conifer diversity in Indochina. Epiphytes÷plants such as lichens, mosses, and orchids that grow on others plants÷are abundant.

	Hornbills make a whooshing sound similar to that of a steam engine when they fly. The sound of wind rushing through the openings in a hornbill's wings is so loud it can be heard 65 feet (20 m) away.

Wild Side

Although this ecoregion is full of birds and mammals, several are endangered or threatened. Of the more than 410 different bird species, those that require particular conservation attention are the white-winged duck, the Edwardsā pheasant, the Siamese fireback, the green peafowl, and the Germainās peacock-pheasant. The ecoregion is home to still other birds, such as three hornbill species that are indicators of intact forests. Mammals are plentiful÷122 species in all÷but several large animals, including the tiger and Asian elephant, are struggling to survive here.

Cause for Concern

Because of this ecoregionās high elevations and steep slopes, human population density is moderate, but people are increasingly burning woodlands for agriculture and settlements. More than 75 percent of this ecoregionās natural habitat has been degraded, with the remaining forest distributed in small, isolated fragments.

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