Thailand's vanishing flora and fauna

Despite far-reaching changes in the past 30 years brought about by increased population and rapid industrial development. Thailand is still the trustee of an extraordinarily rich natural landscape. This treasureof flora and fauna includes some of natures most impressive and majestic large mammals-the elephant, the tiger, gaur, leopard, gibbons, and sambar deer -and yet also offers some of the smaller and more unique mammals such as the flying lemur, the slow loris: the dwarf shrew, likely the world's smallest land mammal: and the smallest mammal of all the thumbnail-sized Kitti's hog-nosed bat.

Well over 900 different species of birds can be found in Thailand, including the oddly handsome giant hornbill and the elegant green peafowl. More overlooked but equally rich in numbers and variety are the reptiles, the fishes, extravagantly coloured butterflies and moths, and other insects too numerous and strange to imagine.

And still the wealth of Thailand's native animal life is yet surpassed by the opulenceof its vegetation. Owing to the Kingdom's diverse geographical landscape, its forests range from tropical rainforest to Himalayan-like montane woodland. Within them are a bounty of hundreds of tree species, including commercially valuable teak and rosewood, oak and pine. More than 10,000 other species of plants include over 1,000 types of exotic wild and medicinal products are extracted, and numerous rattans and fruits, many of which are utilised by man while others man has yet to recognise the value of.

Although much remarkable work has been done to document this rich cornucopia, at best information is elusive for both the scientist and the layman. In the short space of a few hundred pages, it is clearly impossible to introduce more than a small proportion of this astonishing natural diversity. In compiling this book, we have attempted to survey the major species of flora and fauna, including many less common ones. some of which are rare or endangered. In giving the reader a glimpse of this natural wealth, we also have attempted to draw attention to its inestimable valueGiven a picture of how the forests and seas relate to their many inhabitants, and descriptions of some of the more interesting natural phenomena, we hope the reader will gain a further understanding of the importance of Thailands wildlife and the threats posed to this heritage by modern society. Increased appreciation of the value of what remains will, we hope, motivate at least some readers to become actively involved in the desperate race to help protect Thailand's remaining natural landscape for this and future generations.