Wildlife of S. E. Asia and S. America. A Photo Journal by Francis Burlingham.: Cat Tien Dry Season, Mammals and Reptiles.

Introduction

Over the last few years I have been lucky enough to live in Thailand, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Colombia and now Brunei. In my spare time I have had the opportunity to travel fairly widely, camera in hand, in search of wildlife. In these posts I aim to share some of these experiences and show you some of the extraordinary wildlife that can be found in these regions. All of the photographs you see within the posts and pages here are my own unless otherwise stated. Copyright © Francis Burlingham 2015

Wednesday, 1 January 2020

Cat Tien Dry Season, Mammals and Reptiles.

I just spent the last few days of 2019 in Cat Tien NP. The dry season was in full swing and the forest floor was carpeted with dry leaves. Invertebrate numbers were much reduced since my last visit back in June however the reduction in foliage at this time of year made it perfect for spotting mammals and reptiles.

My Room Mate Gecko gecko (Tokay) Cat Tien NP Vietnam

I saw five snakes. My favourite was this beautiful yellow coloured oriental whip snake which was hunting a lizard in a tree near the grassland at the edge of the park. Previously I have only encountered the brown/grey form of this snake,

Ahaetulla prasina (Oriental Whip Snake) Cat Tien Vietnam

The snake was watching a Calotes lizard on the base of tree trunk.

Ahaetulla prasina (Oriental Whip Snake) Cat Tien Vietnam

After we disturbed the lizard the snake eventually gave up and headed back up the tree.

Ahaetulla prasina (Oriental Whip Snake) Cat Tien Vietnam

I also saw two kukuri snakes. One was probably Oligodon purpurescens and had a lovely purple sheen to its scales.

Oligodon sps (poss. purpurescens) Cat tien NP Vietnam

The other kukri snake moved across the path in front of me at high speed so I only got the one slightly blurry shot.

Oligodon Sps. (poss kampucheaensis) Cat Tien NP Vietnam

Having looked this snake up it looks very like a newly discovered snake Oligodon kampucheaensis, described from the cardamom mountains of Cambodia rather than the rare colour phase of the local Oligodon purpurescens, but I can’t be certain about either snake.

Lycodon Laoensis (Indo-Chinese
Wolf Snake) Cat Tien NP Vietnam

Lycodon laoensis (Indo-Chinese
Wolf Snake) Cat Tien Vietnam

My fourth snake sighting was of a colourful wolf snake hunting amongst the leaf litter at night. Try as I might I couldn’t get a shot of its head as it kept diving under the leaves.

I have no idea what the fifth snake was. It was on the river bank near Heaven's rapids and escaped into cover at high speed as soon as we approached. Again I did not get a shot of its head as it was too quick for me, see below.

Unidentified Brown Snake Cat Tien NP Vietnam

I never get bored of seeing and photographing lizards, even the common ones like these.

Eutropis multifasciata (Sun Skink) Cat Tien NP Vietnam

Calotes versicolor Cat Tien NP Vietnam

Calotes bachae Cat Tien NP Vietnam

I also photographed this lovely crowned spiny lizard for the first time.

Acanthosaura coronata (Crowned Spiny Lizard) Cat Tien Vietnam

With fewer leaves on the trees spotting mammals was easier. I was delighted to see 5 primates across two days including 3 species of macaque. I have seen the long tailed (Macaca mulatta) and northern pig tailed (Macaca leonina) macaques before here, but was surprised to see rhesus macaques (Macaca fascicularis) living among the long tailed troop. It’s range is normally much farther north and would not naturally overlap with the long tailed macaques. It appears that the rhesus monkeys were released into the park by people and have since become naturalised.

Macaca mulatta (left) and Macaca fascicularis (right)

Macaca leonina (Northern pig Tailed Macaque)

I also saw a lovely male golden cheeked gibbon on the botanical garden trail as well as a few black shanked doucs.

Nomascus gabriellae (Golden Cheeked Gibbon)

Pygathrix nigripes (Black Shanked Douc)

Pygathrix nigripes (Black Shanked Douc) Cat Tien NP Vietnam

The highlight however was towards the end of the botanic garden trail, by a dry stream near Heaven's rapids. My son and I disturbed a large cat which shot off at high speed across the forest floor remarkably quietly despite the dry leaves. As it moved away, its large fluffy tail put me in mind of a snow leopard and the cat seemed to be the size of a large dog. Unfortunately it went too fast for me to get a photo. It might well have been the extremely rare fishing cat, I discovered later that one had been sighted in the same area 3 years ago.

On the final evening in the park I saw a family of palm civets feeding on figs high up in a tree. They did not seem to be particularly bothered by my presence and managed to drop lots of figs as I watched them. I also saw a number of squirrels and tree shrews but did not get any photographs.

Paradoxurus hermaphroditus (Common Palm Civet) Cat Tien NP Vietnam

Despite the dry season there were still a few interesting insects and arachnids about. This lovely club-tail butterfly was a species first for me.

Losaria coon doubledayi (Common Clubtail) Cat Tien NP Vietnam

This scorpion was on the main concrete path through the forest.

Possibly Isometrus Sps. Cat Tien NP Vietnam

This blueish coloured tarantula was in a hole in the botanic garden.

Chilobrachys sp Tarantula Cat Tien NP Vietnam

This very cool huntsman spider was a guest in my room.

Heteropoda venatoria (Brown Huntsman Spider) Cat Tien NP Vietnam

I stayed at Forest Floor Lodge within the National Park and everything I photographed on this trip was within easy walking distance. The view of the rapids make this a beautiful and peaceful place to stay.