Thailand Photograph by © WWF-Canon/Peter DENTON   Indo-Malay Mangroves   10,400 square miles (26,900 square kilometers) -- about the size of Vermont and Rhode Island combined Critical/Endangered

· Wounded by War
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Wounded by War

Humans were not the only species that suffered during the Vietnam War. Bombing, tank movements, and the spraying of the defoliant Agent Orange all damaged the natural habitat of this ecoregion on a large scale. These mangroves are now endangered--but where they still exist they provide important habitat for several rare water birds.

Special Features

Although these mangroves stretch across several climate zones and parts of Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Malaysia, the largest blocks exist in the deltas of the Mekong and Chao Phraya rivers. Rhizophora, Heritiera, Xylocarpus, Bruguiera, Ceriops, and Lumnitzera tree species dominate these forests, which can reach 32 to 48 feet (10 to15 m), in certain areas. Patches of short palm species are scattered throughout as well.

	The Asian tapir is the largest of the tapirs, weighing up to 800 pounds (360 kg). It can be easily identified by its black and white coat. The hair on the front part of its body and legs is black, but a striking white "saddle-blanket" stretches from its shoulders and back over its rump.

Wild Side

Water birds are plentiful in the mangroves. Storm’s storks, white-winged wood ducks, and spot-billed pelicans make their homes here, along with three near-endemic bird species: the brown-winged kingfisher, Gurney’s pitta, and spectacled bulbul. Only a few pairs of the pitta are thought to remain in the wild. Mammals include the tapir and siamang gibbon. Several reptile species share this ecoregion as well--the monitor lizard, false gavial, and estuarine crocodile.

Cause for Concern

During the war, about half of the mangroves in southern Vietnam were destroyed. Since then, however, the government has launched a large-scale reforestation program. But the ecoregion is still severely threatened by agricultural development and the cutting of trees, primarily for use as charcoal and fuel. Poaching is a particularly severe threat to reptiles.

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