Information on distribution is useful for determining global conservation status of species and for prescribing sound management practices for taxa of conservation importance. Therefore, an attempt to understand the distribution of terrestrial animals using infra-red camera traps in Tanjung Datu National Park, Borneo, was carried out from July 2013 to October 2015 (28 months). A total of 23 camera locations set in various microhabitats and elevations accumulated 2,490 camera days, which resulted in 1,189 independent animal images comprised of 21 mammals, twobirds, and one reptile species. The cameras revealed a total of 20 medium to large mammals (excluding treeshrews & small rodents), with the most common species photographed being the pig-tailed macaque(independent images n = 278)and bearded pig (271), while the masked palm civet (1) and Sunda pangolin(1) were only represented by singletons. Most of the common species are listed as Protected (33.64%) in the Sarawak Wild Life Protection Ordinance 1998, while 2.02% species have Totally Protected status. Less than 1% of the species are considered Critically Endangered and Endangered, 3.57% are considered Near Threatened, and 74.3% are considered Vulnerable under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In addition, this survey has provided detailed information on activity patterns of some cryptic species. The absence of larger carnivores suggests that species such as the Sunda clouded leopard and Bornean sun bear may have been extirpated from this small, isolated, and fragmented protected area. We emphasise that regular monitoring of wildlife in National Parks should not be neglected, especially when the surrounding area is experiencing accelerated and unprecedented rates of habitat conversion.

Almost all Indochinese ungulates are classified as globally threatened but efforts to assess and monitor population status have been hampered by their rarity, cryptic nature, and uncertainty in accurate identification from sightings. An improved approach is urgently needed to gather information about threatened ungulate species in order to effectively conserve them as a lack of reliable monitoring methods means that basic information such as population sizes, distribution and habitat associations is currently unknown. Here, we used a combination of camera trapping and genetic detection of the endangered Eld’s deer, Rucervus eldii, to investigate the utility of these methods to infer intensity of site use within a protected Cambodian dry forest. We asked: 1) Are Eld’s deer present in our study area?; 2) How is site use influenced by local habitat?; and 3) Do camera traps or genetic detection perform better in terms of detection and monitoring? Camera traps were deployed and faecal samples collected from Chhaeb Wildlife Sanctuary in northern Cambodia during the 2017 dry season. Faecal samples were identified as Eld’s deer using newly developed species-specific mitochondrial DNA primers. Camera traps recorded 20 Eld’s deer observations across 3,905 trap-nights and 44 out of 71 collected faecal samples, identified by fieldworkers as likely to belong to Eld’s deer, were positively identified to be so. Camera trap surveys and genetic detection demonstrated that Eld’s deer were present in Chhaeb Wildlife Sanctuary, although the number of detections relative to sampling effort was low in both methods (detected at 29% and 1% of sample sites, respectively). Occupancy models showed that water level and tree diameter both had positive relationships, whilst human and domestic or feral pig activity had a negative relationship, with the relative intensity of Eld’s deer site use. Overall, our data suggest that both of our methods can prove effective for monitoring Eld’s deer but that repeated sampling is necessary to account for their low detectability in this area. We suggest that faecal samples are collected during future camera trap monitoring visits to maximise efficiency, increase detectability, and provide the most information to support conservation.

Opinions and declarations Rendered by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature

Opinions and declarations Rendered by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature