Southeast Asia is at the heart of the global extinction crisis, containing more threatened species and experiencing higher rates of forest loss than any comparable continental area. As a result of the region’s rapid population and economic growth, many of its unique species are being pushed into more remote areas. This poses a quandary for conservationists—how to find, and protect, some of the planet’s most elusive and poorly known species? Gray will discuss some of the approaches being used to find, monitor, and conserve threatened wildlife in Asia. These include analyzing DNA contained within blood-feeding leeches to help track down saola (the Asian Unicorn); interviewing rural Cambodians about the majestic Giant Ibis; and extracting water from the Mekong River to find shed skin samples from the planet’s largest freshwater fish: the Mekong Giant Catfish.
Tom Gray is the Director of Science for the conservation NGO Wildlife Alliance, the leader in Direct Protection of Forests and Wildlife in tropical Asia. Tom undertook his Ph.D. research on the conservation of the Bengal Florican, a threatened species of bustard, in Cambodia. He subsequently worked for WWF and WCS in Cambodia and Laos, leading teams that monitored threatened species and helping governments with protected area management. He has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed papers on the conservation and status of threatened species in Asia and is a member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission.