Laos

Asia

118

Documented species

Parks and reserves

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Laos is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia and also one of the most forested and mountainous in the region. The Annamite range, which marks the border with Vietnam, is one of the biologically most surprising areas on the planet: its isolation and its humid climate have allowed the survival of large mammals unknown to science until a few decades ago. The Mekong runs through the country from north to south and at its southern end opens out into the Four Thousand Islands archipelago and the Khone falls, the widest waterfall in the world, where the river's last Irrawaddy dolphins survive. The Bolaven plateau, with its volcanic soils, and the Khammouane karsts, with their underground rivers, complete the mosaic.

The nature of Laos

National animal: The Asian elephant, historic symbol of a country once known as the land of a million elephants

Did you know?

In 1992, in the forests of the Annamite range, the saola was identified, a bovid with straight, parallel horns nicknamed the Asian unicorn. It was the first large mammal new to science in more than half a century, and it remains an enigma: no biologist has ever observed it in the wild, and everything known about it comes from village trophies, from a few captured animals and from a handful of camera-trap photographs, the last of them from 2013.

Biodiversity profile

Sudeste Asiatico continental (hotspot Indo-Burma, pais sin litoral)Aprox. una quinta parte del territorio (cerca del 20%) bajo areas protegidas, cifra similar a la de Camboya y Tailandia pero superior a Myanmar y Vietnam (menos del 10%)

Climate

•Tropical monzonico (Am), con estacion seca y humeda marcadas; clima mas fresco en las tierras altas montañosas (80% del territorio es montañoso)

Main biomes

•Bosque humedo montano subtropical del norte de Indochina
•Bosque humedo de la Cordillera Annamita (compartido con Vietnam y Camboya)
•Bosque seco de Indochina
•Cuenca y llanuras inundables del rio Mekong, que recorre toda la longitud del pais
•Selva húmeda de la cordillera Annamita
•Karst calizo con ríos subterráneos
•Bosque de ribera del Mekong
•Meseta volcánica
•Bosque caducifolio
•Archipiélago fluvial
•Cascada y rápidos

Marine and coastal ecosystems

•No aplica (pais sin litoral); el rio Mekong y sus afluentes constituyen el eje ecologico principal del pais

Flagship wildlife

•Elefante asiatico
•Tigre indochino (poblacion critica)
•Saola (presente en la frontera con Vietnam)
•Delfin del Irrawaddy (Mekong)
•Pato de alas blancas
•Gibón de mejillas blancas
•Muntíaco gigante
•Oso malayo
•Pangolín chino
•Bagre gigante del Mekong
•Langur de François
•Tigre de Indochina

Notable endemic species

•Laos es uno de los lugares mas biodiversos del mundo, con continuos descubrimientos de nuevas especies
•Entre 8.000 y 11.000 especies de plantas con flor, 166 especies de reptiles y anfibios, 700 especies de aves, 90 especies de murcielagos, 500 especies de peces y 100 especies de mamiferos
•El norte de Laos, junto a Yunnan (China) y el norte de Myanmar, es el origen genetico de todas las variedades de te del mundo
•Saola
•Muntíaco gigante
•Roedor de roca laosiano

Notable threatened species

•Saola (En Peligro Critico, presente en la frontera Laos-Vietnam)
•Tigre indochino (En Peligro Critico, poblacion muy reducida)
•Cocodrilo siamés (En Peligro Critico)
•Pato de alas blancas (En Peligro)

Notable protected areas

•Area Nacional Protegida de Nam Ha (primer Parque Patrimonio ASEAN de Laos, 2003)
•Zonas protegidas de la Cordillera Annamita
•Área Protegida de Nam Et-Phou Louey
•Área Protegida de Nakai-Nam Theun
•Cataratas de Khone
•Cuatro Mil Islas
•Parque Nacional de Hin Nam No
•Meseta de Bolaven

Main conservation threats

•Caza y comercio ilegal de vida silvestre
•Construccion de represas hidroelectricas sobre el Mekong y sus afluentes
•Perdida de bosque por expansion agricola en terreno montañoso

Notable natural phenomena

•El pais alberga uno de los mayores reservorios geneticos de variedades de arroz glutinoso de Asia

Conservation

The Laotian rock rat, discovered in a market in 2005, turned out to belong to a family that was believed to have been extinct for eleven million years. The dams on the Mekong and its tributaries threaten the migratory fish on which much of the region's protein depends.

Where and when to watch wildlife

Nam Et-Phou Louey in the dry season for night safaris by boat. The Four Thousand Islands for the last Irrawaddy dolphins. The Khammouane karsts for bats and cliff-dwelling birds.

Sources: Interactive Country Fiches (UNEP-GRID) - Biodiversity Lao PDR | ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity - ASEAN Biodiversity | FAO - GMS Forest Policy Brief 03

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