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The park’s wild elephant and tiger populations are under threat from poachers, who sell ivory and tiger body parts for use in Chinese so-called medicine. The maximum punishment is a three-year jail term and a fine of 40,000 Baht, but convictions from the 50-100 arrests each year generally result in fines of only 2,000 Baht, a paltry deterrent.
The Clouded Leopard has the longest canines, relatively speaking, of any living cat species and is thought to be a descendant of the huge and long-extinct Sabre Tooth Tiger. The gibbon is hard to spot, since it spends most of its life high in the canopy, but it is common to hear its songs, which are used to mark out territory and warn family members of approaching predators.
Gibbons have long arms, enabling them to swing between tree branches at speeds as high as 35 mph. Most people think that the Leopard and the Black Panther are two different species, but they are actually both leopards. ‘Melanism’ (the opposite of albinism) occurs due to the expression of a single recessive gene, resulting in individual cats that are all black.
The Malaysian Sun bear, which is the smallest bear in the world and is named for the golden orb on its chest, has no predators other than man, who uses their bile in Chinese ‘medicine’.
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