Cave fauna in lava tubes in Vietnam

The lava tubes we explored in south Vietnam are quite rich in cave fauna, mainly invertebrates. We were based in Than Phu, in Dong Nai province, about 125 km northeast of Ho Chi Minh City in south Vietnam. We were there in February which is the dry season and the whole area was incredibly dry.

We saw very little fauna above ground, just the occasional lizard. There was far more life underground, in the cooler and damper lava tubes. However the tubes are quite warm compared to limestone caves.

There was no water in any of the tubes we visited, though some had damp mud. Many had roots coming in through the ceiling and walls.

There were surprisingly few bats in these lava tubes, though there was evidence that they had been hunted, as there were many wooden poles and nets lying around in various caves.

We saw a variety of invertebrates.
Spiders were always noticeable by their eye shine in our lights. In many caves they were throughout the cave, but in the longest cave they were only seen near the entrance. They are Sparassidae: Heteropodinae (thanks to Peter Jaeger for the ID) -

Web spiders were far fewer in numbers.

I saw 2 types of cricket -

They are probably Rhaphidophoridae , Subfamily Aemodogryllinae .

I only saw a couple of long legged centipedes. They are a different colour from those in Malaysia.
This one was climbing up tree roots -

Whip spiders were particularly common -

One was identified by Michael Seiter as Phrynichus orientalis.

This was a dead one being eaten by millipedes -

 And another live one -

There were also whip scorpions (Uropygi) -

Millipedes were only seen in 2 caves.

Jean-Jacques Geoffroy (France) identified them as belonging to the family Cambalopsidae. The genus could be Glyphiulus or Plusioglyphiulus (or even Trachyiulus or Hypocambala).

Cockroaches were only seen in one cave. That cave was close to houses so they could have come from there. They are Periplaneta Americana

There were surprisingly few frog species. These tiny little guys - Micryletta inornata - were cute and quick to hop away from the camera  -

 This larger one - Polypedates leucomystax - was close to an entrance (thanks to Lee Grismer for frog ID) -

I was looking for scorpions but saw none. The only ones we came across were these large ones found when digging open a cave -

Some mammals use the caves. In several caves I saw rats, with white chests, Niviventer spp. .
I'm think this is one as well -

This might be a rat -

This skull may be a dog

Porcupine also use the caves and the locals put traps at the entrances to catch them. This is a quill -

These droppings could be from porcupine -

A pile of droppings covered in fungus, note the polished rock above the droppings-

In one cave the locals collected the porcupine droppings to use as fertilizer.

Bats were less numerous than expected. All were insect eating bats. As there were signs of the locals trapping them in nets, maybe that accounts for less bats than a year ago when some of the cavers visited (at the same time of the year). Surprisingly the most bats seemed to be in a cave with very bad air. This cave was also particularly warm. And at the entrance we saw quite a few dead bats, Pomona Roundleaf Bat (Hipposideros pomona) -

There are 6 bats flying in this photo -

 

 

Surprisingly I only saw 1 gecko in the caves , Cyrtodactylus -

See more on the lava tubes :

Part 1 Gia Ray area

Part 2 Than Phu area

Shapes of lava tubes

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

Vietnam lava tubes, Dong Nai 2014 Pt 2

The first few days of our 2014 lava tube expedition was spent in the Gia Ray area of Dong Nai province. See blog Part 1.

For the next 2 weeks we moved to the Than Phu district.

Two of the expedition members had started work here last year so had surveyed all the easy to find and easily accessible caves. This meant it was harder this year to find new caves. Also we were restricted in to what areas we could visit, as although we had permits arranged in advance, and these were 'OK'd' by the district office and police, the military said we could not go to certain areas. This meant we had to look elsewhere.

The whole area was extremely dry, in some places it reminded me of the Australian outback in northern Queensland, with dry soil, fallen leaves and a rocky terrain. However the volcanic soil is very rich and the area is farmed for tobacco, cashews, coffee, and many types of fruit trees.

Just west of Dinh Quan is the boulder perched on a rock. I had seen this in 1992.

2014

1992

West of Than Phu town is a forest of teak trees as well as Dipterocarpus alatus. Many people were busy collecting the large teak leaves. Through our translator we asked everyone about caves, but there were none in the western end of the forest.

We had a look at a cave the team had visited last year. One section of the cave had bad air and they were unable to finish the survey. We found it still has bad air. There are Hipposideros Pomona bats living in the cave and we saw several dead ones at the entrance.

Inside there were cockroaches close to the entrance and further in was a dead rat (?).

Roots come through the ceiling, looking for water

The exoskeleton of a whip spider, being eaten by millipedes -

There were many whip spiders in the cave -

and a long legged centipede

In limestone caves there are stalactite and stalagmites formed from calcite crystals. The lava tubes have baby "lavatites"!

Many of the caves have had their entrances blocked off by the farmers. One of these we decided was worthwhile to dig open, even though the farmer told us there were bombs in the cave.

 

The entrance was a vertical shaft and a large boulder had been put in. This took some effort to get out. The farmer worked hard. There was some display when an unknown object appeared in the mud and thinking it could be a bomb the farmer poured water on it and found it was just a harmless bottle!

There were a couple of large scorpions which were collected for dinner!

After a couple of hours the guys had broken through and could enter the cave. We decided to return the next day to survey it.

Just inside the entrance chamber is a grenade. Of course we didn't disturb it.

 A slab of rock hanging from the ceiling and one that has already fallen -

"lavatites    

                                                                        mammal droppings

Another cave was covered by a mass of bushes which the local guys moved away. Unfortunately there was no real cave there

See cave fauna in the lava tubes.

Shapes of lava tubes.


© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

Vietnam lava tubes, Dong Nai 2014 Pt 1

February 2014 I went to Vietnam with a small group of international cavers to look for lava tubes. We went to Dong Nai province, which is northeast of Ho Chi Minh City in south Vietnam.

The first few days there were 3 of us, and whilst waiting for the 4th expedition member to arrive a few days later, we went to check out an area that might or might not have lava caves. We stayed in Gia Ray and had a permit to visit Sua Chah area.

There are a few small old volcanoes in the area. It is not known when they last erupted. The first couple of days there was no sign of any lava fields and therefore no lava tubes. Lava tubes are formed after volcanoes erupt. But not all eruptions produce the right sort of lava to form these tubes. Lava is the molten rock thrown out by volcanoes.

We asked the locals but there they said there are no caves. We climbed one hill, it was very steep and very slippery scrambling up the dry loose soil. I stopped and let the others go on, but they only found a 8 m long cave!

Very close to Gia Ray town is a very high hill, Nui Chau Chan mountain, 837 m high. It could be an old volcano. This hill was used a repeater station for USAID radios by the US Army and Air Force in the war. At the top of the peak was a small landing zone, along with radio relay equipment and sensors. The US Army had blasted away part of the mountain top, as best they could, & sprayed some agent orange.
Located nearby was the Gia Ray rock quarry worked by the 94th Engineer Detachment to obtain crushed rock for road and base building. Crushed rock was a vital construction material.

We drove around part of the hill and were told there are many caves, mostly high up. However they might just be boulder caves.

In another area we were told by other locals that there were many caves in their land about 30 years ago, but they were all filled in by the farmers.

We did find a lava field on the 4th day. But there was no sign of any caves and the locals seemed sure there were no caves.

Then we were taken here, which seems to be the end of the lava flow. Everywhere we went we were accompanied by police as security.

 It was then time to go back to Ho Chi Minh City as the 4th member of the expedition was arriving. We would then continue to Than Phu, where lava caves definitely exist.

See Part 2.

Cave fauna in lava tubes.

Shapes of lava tubes.

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

Gunung Kanthan 2014 media & www reports

In 2013 I made several posts about Gunung Kanthan and Gua Kanthan in Perak, Malaysia. This important hill and cave system are in danger of being quarried by Lafarge. The hill is important as it is home to several rare species of flora and fauna, and Gua Kanthan is a large cave with endemic cave fauna. There are other caves on the hill as well as several temples. See the posts by looking for keywords (Kanthan gua, Kanthan gunung, Lafarge, quarry, liphistius) in the 'labels' in the column on the right of the page.

One blog from Sept 2013 listed various web sites and media reports relating to Kanthan, see the blog here. For 2014, I will now continue this list here...............


The Star, 8 Feb 2014
Cement plant staff spruces up octogenarian's home

The Star, 8 Feb 2014
New flora and fauna species found

AsiaOne 8 Feb 2014 (reprinted from The Star)
New flora and fauna species found in Malaysia

WildSingapore blog , 8 Feb 2014 (taken from The Star)
Malaysia: new flora and fauna species found

The Star, 8 Feb 2014
Perak hills open to destruction, say experts

The Star, 9 Feb 2014
Conserve rest of Gunung Kanthan

The GreenReporter blog , 11 Feb 2014
(reprint of The Star 8 Feb)

The Star, 2 March 2014
FRIM comes under threat  

(Among the media recognised by FRIM were The Star journalists Tan Cheng Li and Isabelle Lai for their respective reports last year on Merapoh, Pahang, and Gunung Kanthan, Perak)

The Star, 5 May 2014
Illegal use of limestone caves must be stopped, says Dr Zambry

(This rather one sided article was the result of a meeting with Lafarge and the Perak MB on 30 Apr)

Oriental Daily, 27 May 2014
Half year of research, endangered species found in Gunung Kanthan

Oriental Daily , 7 July 2014
(400 million years old Gunung Kanthan rare species found)

Sinar Harian , 28 May 2014
Jumpa spesies flora, fauna Gunung Kanthan  

New Straits Times , 29 May 2014
Rare finds at Gunung Kanthan  

The Star , 29 May 2014
‘Preserve all of Gunung Kanthan’

MNS blog 6 Jan 2014
Save Gunung Kanthan

Mongabay , 24 Aug 2014
Scientists name new endangered species after the company that will decide its fate

The Guardian , UK , 25 Aug 2014
A tiny, rare snail in Malaysia has big consequences for global cement giant

The Epoch Times, 26 Aug,
"Tiny Endangered Snail Named for Company".

CemNet.com 27 Aug,
"New species of snail discovered in Lafarge Malaysia limestone quarry".

Global Cement on 28 Aug,
"Future of Charopa lafargei snail in hands of Lafarge Malaysia".

Espandar Cement News ,
"Future of Charopa lafargei snail in hands of Lafarge Malaysia".

Novataxa BlogSpot on 24 Aug,
"[Mollusca • 2014] ‘Charopa’ lafargei • A New, presumed narrowly Endemic Species (Gastropoda, Pulmonata, Charopidae) from Peninsular Malaysia".

The Star , 30 Aug 2014
New snail species found

Ipoh Echo, No 197, 16-30 Sept
New Snail Species Discovered In Kinta Valley Phytotaxa 177 (3) 29 Aug 2014
Three new species from Gunung Kanthan, a limestone tower karst in Perak, Malaysia.

Global Trees (Sept 2014)
Vatica kanthanensis

Malay Mail, 2 Sept
In Ipoh, rare snail named after cement giant is safe, says French quarry company

The Star , 12 Sept 2014
Bloom is of a new species of plant discovered on Gunung Kanthan 

Descent , Oct/Nov 2014 , No 240
Snail slows quarrying

The Guardian , 17 Nov 2014
IUCNred list of endangered species. Red List: the world's most threatened species –interactive. 

More than 22,000 species feature in conservationists’ ‘under threat’ list. 

My blog page

The Guardian , 17 Nov 2014
Cement company blows up limestone hill and renders snail extinct

The Star , 22 Nov 2014
A Malaysian snail goes extinct with 22,000+ other species on the brink 

The Star , 22 Dec 2014
Going, going, gone: Malaysia's wildlife loses battle against extinction

The Star , 30 Dec 2014
TheYearThatWas: Distressing environmental issues in Malaysia in 2014

Mongabay , 20 Dec 2014
Pictures: the top new animal discoveries of 2014 [Kanthan snail] 

Cave & Karst Science , (BCRA) Dec 2014

An uncertain future for the plants of Gunung Kanthan, Perak, Malaysia

Lararge Sustainability Report 2014

Lafarge's destruction of Gunung Kanthan Jan 2014

First blog of the year and it is not good news. Lafarge seem to be continuing their relentless onslaught of destruction on Gunung Kanthan. They are heading for the area of hill where Gua Kanthan is located.

Despite Lafarge saying (in Sept 2013) they would not start work on area C until 15-20 months time, as they have first to build access roads up the hill to make it safe, they already seem to be heading towards C.

Area C is where the monastery cave is, Gua Dhamma Sakyamuni, as well as Gua Tokong Gufodong & Gua Sungai Gufodong. Area D is where Gua Kanthan and the other smaller caves are, also the Zhi Nan Gong temple. Lafarge can only access D from C. 

According to reports, Lafarge are busy building a ramp up the isolated piece of hill between B and C (at the northern end of C). Some people think this ramp is now leading into the swampy forest near C. Lafarge are working day and night, 7 days a week.

This area is particularly important as it is currently untouched limestone forest, and is home to many species of flora and fauna, several of which are on national and international lists as endangered species. The area is also hydrologically important.

Photos taken by helicopter camera show the current state of destruction. This photo was taken in Nov 2013 by Ong Poh Teck -

There is no sign yet of the report of the biodiversity study done by UM over the last 6+ months. Lafarge did tell us (MNS etc) that the report would be made available.

Perak State government does nothing. They gave Lafarge the permit to quarry the hill.

Gua Kanthan is a magnificent cave with a variety of cave fauna. The most important inhabitants are the trapdoor spiders, Liphistius kanthan. They are listed on IUCN Red List as critically endangered. All the cave creatures play a part in the cave ecosystem. Apart from this cave there are various other smaller caves.

Large mammals such as serow (mountain goats) and monkeys live on the hill. If the hill is destroyed these animals will have nowhere to go as the hill is already an island surrounded by a main road and smaller roads, industry, housing, farmed areas and plantations.

Lafarge claim they "are committed to the protection of the environment". But their claims seem to relate to areas AFTER they have been quarried. See this link that says -
"Develop a rehabilitation plan for all quarry sites that responds to the needs and expectations of our stakeholders and, where feasible, fosters wildlife habitat creation and contributes to the conservation of endangered species"

The species existing now can't be protected if the hill is destroyed.

Lafarge seem to have no conscience. They don't seem to care about making species extinct. This makes a mockery of what they claim on their website. Maybe they want to be known as the international company that has wiped out several Red Listed and Critically Endangered species.

[Note - I have not listed here the Gunung Kanthan flora and fauna that is endangered. This is intentional]

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission