Wildlife update

National Geographic reporter Stefan Lovgren, who accompanied me on the recent WWF Mondulkiri Bike Tour, stayed on in Cambodia to seek out the latest from the Mekong River in his on-going reports on the world's largest freshwater fish. The Mekong Giant Catfish just happens to be the world's biggest freshwater fish ever caught and its future is in doubt if plans go ahead for dams on the Mekong River. Read Stefan's article here.
Continuing on the theme of wildlife, Wildlife Conservation Society report that endangered bird species are recovering their numbers in the Tonle Sap Lake area of Cambodia. The WCS report, released earlier this week, said the Prek Toal bird colonies hold the largest — and in some cases the only — breeding populations in Southeast Asia of the seven globally threatened large water bird species. The species are the spot-billed pelican, milky stork, painted stork, lesser adjutant, greater adjutant, black-headed ibis and the Oriental darter. There were over 20,000 birds in 2007, compared to 5,000 in 2001, the report said. Great news. Read more here.