"Although we expected to find a reasonable number of animals, based on the frequency of ad hoc sightings in previous years, we did not anticipate that both primate species would be present in such considerable numbers," Clements said.
Comparisons with other areas suggest that both species are at or near carrying capacity, the maximum number of animals that the habitat can support.
"This suggests that other adjacent areas, which have much lower densities, could support equivalent numbers of animals if successful conservation programs [such as those in Seima] were established," Clements said.
Conservation Success
Hunting and deforestation are among the greatest threats to the newfound primates, experts say.
The survey also highlights the success of establishing conservation programs like the Seima preserve.
"These animals have probably been maintained in Cambodia due to a combination of factors—principally the area's inaccessibility, successful protection of the habitat by the logging concessionaire in the 1990s, and more recently the government-backed conservation program," Clements said.
Patricia Wright is the director of the Institute for the Conservation of Tropical Environments at Stony Brook University in New York State.
She believes the find is an indication of the potential of biodiversity in the region, where resources should be safeguarded.
"This region where [the two species] were found is an unexplored area, filled with forests on steep karst [limestone] mountains," a habitat which these leaf-eating primates specialize in, said Wright, who is on the advisory board of the National Geographic Conservation Trust. (National Geographic News is owned by the National Geographic Society.)
"There is much work ahead to make sure this habitat and these new populations of these rare primates are protected for the future."
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