MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF FORESTRY

STUDENT THESIS
SPECIES DIVERSITY AND ILLEGAL TRADES OF VIETNAMESE
TURTLES IN NAM DONG CONSERVATION AREA
AND SURROUNDING AREAS, THANH HOA PROVINCE

Major: Natural Resources Management
Code: D850101

Faculty: Forest Resources and Environmental Management
Student: Nguyen Thi Tam Anh

Student ID: 1553090775

Class: K60 Natural Resources Management

Course: 2015 - 2019

Advance Education Program
Developed in collaboration with Colorado State University, USA
Supervisor: Dr. Luu Quang Vinh

Ha Noi, 2019

i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
To be honest, I have received a plethora of not only guidance from my supervisors but

also help from organizations and friends during doing this research. I would never have been
able to finish my graduation thesis without these supports.
First of all, I would like to express the deepest appreciation to my research supervisor,
Dr. Luu Quang Vinh, who always trusted in me and continuously supported me in every
problem that occurred throughout the progress of this thesis. Without his guidance and
persistent help, this research would not have been accomplished.
Besides my adivisor, I would send a big thank to Mr. Pham Van Thong, Turtle
Sanctuary and Conservation Center, Vietnam who always supported and inspired me during
the interview and field survey at the field trip with valuable comments. My sincere thank also
goes to Mr. Lo Van Oanh and his family, taking good care of mine and supporting me with
the enthusiastic guidance to collect data when I stayed in his family.
This research would never have been carried out unless local authorities had allowed.
With practical support and legal permissions for the survey team during the interview and
field survey at the study site, therefore, I would like to extend my thanks to the Board
Management of not only Nam Dong Conservation Area but also local authorities from Quan
Son and Quan Hoa districts, Thanh Hoa Province. Moreover, I am grateful to local people for
sharing me with the experiments and welcoming me.
Never forget to thank to the Vietnam National University of Forestry has given me an
opportunity to apply the knowledge I learned from the school. I have got a new and useful
experience that is helpful for my future work.
Last not at least, I am much obliged to my beloved family for supporting me
spiritually throughout my life. They standed by and inspired me to complete the course.

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ABSTRACT

In terms of turtle species richness, Vietnam is the most of biodiversity countries
with ranking 9th in the world with 27 species being the tortoise and freshwater turtle.

However, those unique creature was suffered from many issues such as deforestation,
pollution and illegal trade. These problems are long-term conservation issues, driving
many turtle populations in Vietnam to the edge of extinction. Therefore, aims of this
study are to investigate species diversity and also to evaluate the scale and trend of
turtle trade, based on interviewing local people and field surveys in Nam Dong
Conservation Area and the surrounding areas, Thanh Hoa Province.
The interview results indicated that there were 9 tortoise and freshwater turtle
occurrence in the study. To specify, these are Geoemyda spengleri, Cuora mouhotii,
Cuora galbinifrons, Palea steindachneri, Manouria impressia, Pelodiscus sinensis,
Platysternon megacephalum, Sacalia quadriocellata, Cyclemys oldhamii. Of those,
Manouria impressia and Cuora galbinifrons are the most frequently cited species by
interviewees with 63.11% and 53%, respectively. The prices of species such as Cuora
galbinifrons, Platysternon megacephalum were higher than other species during the
study period, probably due to the rarity of the species and the higher demand from
China. Besides, 110 turtle individuals were observed on the local trade and 5 heads
were recorded from field surveys by researchers. This study also showed that Tam
Thanh commune was an important area for turtle conservation. Therefore, this area
should belong to Nam Dong Conservation Area. In addition, basing on current status
of the turtle trade, I recommended several measures for conservation and management
of turtle species in the study site such as expanding Nam Dong CA, having further
research, raising awareness of local people.
Keywords: turtle diversity, field survey, Vietnam, turtle illegal trade

iii


TABLE OF CONTENT
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT....................................................................................................... i
ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................... iii
TABLE OF CONTENT ......................................................................................................... ii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................... iii
LIST OF TABLE .................................................................................................................. iv
LIST OF FIGURE ................................................................................................................. v
I. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 1
II. LITERATURE VIEW ....................................................................................................... 3
2.1. Turtle research in the world ............................................................................................. 3
2.2. Turtle research in Vietnam .............................................................................................. 4
III. GOAL, SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY ............................................ 6
3.1. Goal ................................................................................................................................ 6
3.2. Specific objectives .......................................................................................................... 6
3.3. Methodology ................................................................................................................... 6
3.3.1. Study site ..................................................................................................................... 6
3.3.2. Data collection ........................................................................................................... 12
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ..................................................................................... 16
4.1. Species composition of turtle in Nam Dong CA and surrounding areas ......................... 16
4.2. Turtle species distribution of in Nam Dong CA and surrounding areas .......................... 20
4.3. Conservation status and illegal Trade ............................................................................ 25
4.3.1. Conservation status .................................................................................................... 25
4.3.2. Illegal turtle trade ....................................................................................................... 27
4.4. Recommendations ......................................................................................................... 30
V. CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................. 32
REFERENCES .................................................................................................................... 34
APPENDIX ......................................................................................................................... 37

ii


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CA


Conservation Area

TFT

Tortoise and freshwater turtles

IUCN

International Union for Conservation of Nature

VU

Vulnerable

LR

Lower risk

LC

Least concern

EN

Endangered

NE

Not evaluated


CR

Critically Endangered

iii


LIST OF TABLE

Table 3.1. Area of forest in Nam Dong CA .......................................................................... 10
Table 4.1. The number of described species and observed specimens in the study site .......... 17
Table 4.2. Species diversity comparison between study site and Vietnam ............................. 19
Table 4.3. The list of described species and observed specimens in communes .................... 20
Table 4.4. Current status of turtle’s species composition in Nam Dong CA and surrounding
areas .................................................................................................................................... 26
Table 4.5. Average price of species by interview surveys ..................................................... 29

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LIST OF FIGURE
Figure 2.1. Critically Endangered and Endangered (CR and EN) and Threatened (CR, EN and
VU) species of turtles and tortoises as a percentage of the total number of IUCN or TFTSG
listed species at the time, as published by IUCN Red Lists 1982-2018 and on this TFTSG Red
List ........................................................................................................................................ 3
Figure 3.1. Thematic map of Nam Dong CA and surrounding areas ....................................... 6
Figure 3.2. Thematic map DEM of studied site ...................................................................... 8
Figure 3.3. Map of current status of landuse in Nam Dong CA ............................................. 13
Figure 3.4. Equipment for collecting data ............................................................................. 13

Figure 3.5. Line transects for surveys in Nam Dong CA and surrounding areas .................... 14
Figure 4.1. Interview points and recorded samples from field surveys in the study site ......... 16
Figure 4.2. Five new recorded TFT species were observed by interview............................... 17
Figure 4.3. The percentage of species diversity in study site compare to Vietnam ................ 19
Figure 4.4. The number of described and observed species in communes ............................. 23
Figure 4.5. Cuora galbinifrons in the wild (Photo by Pham Van Thong) .............................. 24
Figure 4.6. Two Geoemyda spengleri females were found in Tén Tròng transect, Tam Thanh
commune ............................................................................................................................ 24
Figure 4.7. Cuora galbinifrons in the trader’s house in Pa village, Tam Thanh commune ..... 28
Figure 4.8. Cuora galbinifrons and Manouria impressa were hunted by dog ........................ 28
Figure 4.9. Manouria impressa was used for food ................................................................ 30

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I. INTRODUCTION
Vietnam is among countries of Indo-Burma biodiversity conservation hotspots in the
world (IUCN assessment, 2011). During 18th - 19th century, with many publications,
chelonian biodiversity was documented and described. According to Bourret (1934, 1937,
1941) recorded and described 18 species of chelonian in Vietnam and Indochina, including 2
marine turtles and 16 species of tortoise and freshwater turtles (TFT) (Gmelin, 1789; Bourret,
1934, 1937, 1941). In 2017, there were 27 species of TFT recorded in Vietnam according to
Turtle Taxonomy Working Group (2017). In addition, Vietnam also is home to many
critically endangered and endemic turtle species such as Annam pond turtle (Mauremys
annamensis), Box turtle (Cuora bourreti) and Swinhoe’s solfshell turtle (Rafetus swinhoei).
Nevertheless, turtle fauna diversity is poorly known in Vietnam and Vietnamese turtle
is facing with many problems. There are 85.1% of tortoise and freshwater turtle taxa which
are listed as Threatened in the IUCN Red List (IUCN, 2018). All of Vietnam’s turtle
populations are today under intense pressure from humans. Their populations are threatened
by economic development, agriculture and pollution. Some of parts are threaten by hunting

and trade to meet the insatiable demand mainly from consumers in China, where turtles are
consumed in special dishes or used to make traditional medicine (Tran et al., 2016). Evidence
suggests that wild populations of most turtle species in Vietnam have declined significantly
by about 50-90%, leaving fragmented and degraded populations surviving in the wild (IUCN
assessment, 2018).
Thanh Hoa Province is located in the North Central Coast region of Vietnam and
known as one of the most potential biodiversity provinces in Vietnam. However, turtle
diversity is completely unknown in here, especially in mountainous areas. Belonging to
Thanh Hoa Province, Quan Son and Quan Hoa districts are remote areas with high forest
covers. In 2015, Nam Dong Conservation Area (Nam Dong CA) is established in these

1


districts. Ecosystem of Nam Dong CA is typical ecosystem in Vietnam with two main
ecosystems: highland mountain ecosystem and limestone karst ecosystem, which is home to
some of reptiles. Local people, however, is almost ethnic minorities such as Muong, Thai
which has many difficult conditions to develop communities especially communities’
economic development. Livelihood of local people depends on not only agriculture but also
hunting or animals trade including turtle trade. Thus, it makes difficult to manage and
implement the conservation of turtle in the region. With beginning and difficulty, I decided to
conduct a thesis title: “Species diversity and illegal trades of Vietnamese turtles in Nam
Dong Conservation Area and surrounding areas, Thanh Hoa Province”. My survey aims to
provide necessary scientific information for management, conservation and development of
turtle species in the locality; to prevent illegal trade from local people in not only Nam Dong
CA but also surrounding areas.

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II. LITERATURE VIEW
2.1. Turtle research in the world
Turtles or Chelonians (order Chelonii, class Reptilia) are very ancient tetrapod vertebrates,
their first members being known from Keuper (Triassic) deposits. The extant families have a relict
distribution pattern that reflects their long evolutionary history. The diversity of turtles and
tortoises in the world that has existed in modern times (since 1500 AD) and currently generally
recognized as distinct and included in International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
threat categories of all 360 recognized species of extant and recently extinct turtles and tortoises
(Order Testudines).
By The IUCN Red List (2018), however, threatened species, including Critically
Endangered, Endangered, and Vulnerable, accounted for 51.9% of the total species listed (184
species) and 35.3% of those listed, be considered Critically Endangered or Endangered. To be
specified, formally lists 251 turtle species, including 7 separate subspecies and 19 regional
subpopulations, using a slightly different taxonomy from the one presented in this checklist.
Of the 251 species listed, 7 are Extinct (EX), 1 Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct)
(CR(PE)), 1 Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct in the Wild) (CR(PEW)), 69 Critically
Endangered (CR), 54 Endangered (EN), 61 Vulnerable (VU), 39 Near Threatened (NT), 93
Least Concern (LC), and 35 Data Deficient (DD) (Rhodin et al., 2018).

Figure 2.1. Critically Endangered and Endangered (CR and EN) and Threatened (CR,
EN and VU) species of turtles and tortoises as a percentage of the total number of IUCN
or TFTSG listed species at the time, as published by IUCN Red Lists 1982-2018 and on
this TFTSG Red List

3


Aside from overt and highly impactful conservation threats such as overexploitation
and habitat destruction, freshwater turtles and tortoises around the world are found in trade for
a variety of purposes, being used as meat, ingredients in traditional medicines and pets

(TRAFFIC, 2011). Asia is at the epicenter of the global turtle extinction crisis that has
recently and rapidly developed as a result of the unsustainable trade that began as the Asian
Turtle Crisis (Cheung and Dudgeon 2006; Zhou and Jiang 2008; Horne et al. 2012). Huge
numbers of turtles, initially of Chinese and Asian species and then spreading regionally, have
been collected and traded in the East Asian meat consumption trade, and their shells and bone
are also used for traditional Chinese medicines (Chen et al. 2009). Live animals of all sizes,
especially of rare and/or attractive species, have been poached and illegally marketed to the
high-end international pet trade, primarily in China, but also to other Asian countries (e.g.,
Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, and Indonesia) as well as to Europe and the United States (Cheung
and Dudgeon 2006; Zhou and Jiang 2008; Gong et al. 2009; Stengel et al. 2011; Turtle
Conservation Coalition (TCC) 2011, 2018; Horne et al. 2012; Luiselli et al. 2016; Sung and
Fong 2018). From this focal origin in East Asia, an unsustainable turtle trade has gradually
spread and expanded, first regionally and then globally, as wild turtle populations have been
sequentially exploited, with many rendered commercially and ecologically extinct
(Krishnakumar et al. 2009; Eisemberg et al. 2011; TCC 2011, 2018; Horne et al. 2012;
Luiselli et al. 2013; Colteaux and Johnson 2017)
2.2. Turtle research in Vietnam
The chelonian fauna of Vietnam remains diversely known with a total of 32 species,
27 being fresh water and terrestrial and 5 being marine (Turtle Taxonomy Working Group et
al., 2017). Actually, there were many types of material in turtle sector have been published
such as books, papers. Specifically, a photographic guide to the turtle of Thailand, Laos,
Cambodia and Vietnam has been released in 2001 to support the conservationists and

4


researcher in identify (ID) turtle species in region and Vietnam (Stuart et al., 2001). After that,
a new book is ―A field guide for identify turtle in Vietnam in order to support the law
enforcement‖, be developed by NGOs: Education for Nature of Vietnam (ENV), Asian Turtle
Program (ATP) in 2011. As well as in the field guide identification of freshwater turtle and

tortoise of Vietnam (Hendrie et al., 2011)
Nevertheless, Vietnamese turtle trade is happening popularly, could lead to the risk of
turtle population for the past decades. According to the IUCN Red List 2018, 85.1 % of the
native freshwater and terrestrial taxa are uncertain. By habitat loss and overhunting (for
consumption as human food, traditional medicine, religious merit), these actions have been
the main threats (Stanford et al., 2018) to turtle’s diversity. Because of high demand from
China, turtle’s diversity of three northern provinces in Vietnam, including Bac Kan, Quang
Ninh, and Tuyen Quang is dramatically decrease in recently years (Tran et al., 2016). In
addition, online trade is popularly one types of trade, which is described in ―Longitudinal
monitoring of turtle trade through Facebook in Vietnam‖ (Pham et al., 2018).
Highland mountain ecosystem and limestone karst ecosystem, Nam Dong
Conservation Area, Thanh Hoa are famous home of amphibians and reptiles (Dong et al.,
2017). Recently, a new snake was found in this conservation area (Luu et al., 2019). This
study site, however, has been no research about turtle, particularly in species diversity and
trade of them.

5


III. GOAL, SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY
3.1. Goal
- To provide database of turtle species distribution and to propose measures for
conservation and management of turtles in Nam Dong CA and surrounding areas in Quan
Son, Quan Hoa districts, Thanh Hoa Province.
3.2. Specific objectives
- To investigate turtle species composition;
- To evaluate turtle species distribution in Nam Dong CA and surrounding areas;
- To identify conservation status and illegal turtle trade in Nam Dong CA;
- To recommend measures for conservation and management of turtle species in the
study site;

3.3. Methodology
3.3.1. Study site
3.3.1.1. Natural conditions
a) Geographical locations

Figure 3.1. Thematic map of Nam Dong CA and surrounding areas

6


Nam Dong, a new protected area in Vietnam, is located in Quan Son and Quan Hoa
districts, Thanh Hoa Province. It is 150 kilometers to the West-north of Thanh Hoa city. The
conservation area has geographical coordinates and contiguous boundaries:
- Geographical coordinates:
+ From 20◦18 '07'' N to 20◦19' 38 '' N
+ From 104◦52 '08'' E to 104◦ 53' 26 '' E
- Contiguous boundaries
+ North borders on 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th sub-compartment of 185 compartments and 1 st, 2nd
sub-compartment of 187, Quan Hoa district;
+ South borders on Son Lu commune and Son Dien commune;
+ East borders on 3rd, 4th sub-compartment of 187 compartments, Quan Hoa district
and Trung Thuong commune, Quan Son district;
+ West borders on 4th, 5th sub-compartment of 185 compartments, Quan Hoa district
and Son Dien commune, Quan Son district.
The core of the reserve has an area of 646.95 ha in Nam Dong commune, Quan Hoa
district and 3,315.53 ha area of buffer zone in four communes (Nam Dong commune, Quan
Hoa district and Son Lu commune, Son Dien commune, Trung Thuong commune, Quan Son
district). Besides, being a surrounding area, Tam Thanh commune, Quan Son district borders
buffer zones of CA (Son Dien commune and Son Lu commune) in particular its West is on
verge of Laotian-Vietnamese border area. (Thanh Hoa Forest Protection Department, 2014)

b) Topographic characteristics
The terrain is full of obstacles and difficulties with a relatively dense network of
waterways. The area is severely fragmented at the average elevation of 700 - 900 m and the
average slope of 10 - 45° from Northwestern to Southeast. The natural topography change
erratically which creates to a limestone karst ecosystem.

7


Figure 3.2. Thematic map DEM of studied site
c) Soil characteristics
In general, the soil in this study sites are poor in nutrients, only a few of the common
types are found in mountainous areas such as fluvisols (FL), plinthic acrisols, ferralic acrisol.
The soil is formed by the deposition of rivers, streams and the process of weathering in-situ
parent rocks.

Most of the soil is not very thick, just under 1m and sloping. Due to

complicated topography, agricultural cultivation has many difficulties. Local people cut trees
for cultivation, in particular, the low areas below 170 m and the slopes below 30°, which
leads to erosions, thin soil horizon (Thanh Hoa Forest Protection Department, 2014).
d) Climate
The conservation area lies on monsoon climate of Northwestern of Vietnam with
distinct two seasons: dry season and rainy season. The average temperature is 24°C with

8


fluctuating from 23°C to 25°C. The annual humidity is 86% with low humidity that is range
from 19% - 40% in January and December. The annual average rainfall is range from 16001900 mm, depending on each season. Wind speech is low generally. Rimy air is the main

effects on nature in CA. (Thanh Hoa Forest Protection Department, 2014).
3.3.1.2. Social and economic conditions
In recent years, socio-economic development in the buffer zone of Nam Dong CA and
surrounding areas are undergoing new development. The economic structure is shifting and
orienting economic sectors. Involvement in agricultural production could have big
developments, which access to sustainable development. Besides, crop productivit y
contributed to creating stable local security. However, total area of agriculture accounts for
0.5% (According to Thanh Hoa Forest Protection Department, 2014), which leads to some
disadvantages for human life. Facing to these drawbacks, local people have been deforested
for firewood and agricultural development; hunted wild animal for buying to make a living.
Material life and spiritual life is raised. Infrastructure has been invested and brought
into use. Structure of the economy have shifted gradually, agriculture and forestry have
decreased. In contrast, the proportion of handicraft industry, construction, and commercial
services have increased with slow speed.
Regarding education, the rate of trained laborers is still low. In addition, health care
has improved by an expanded program on immunization or malaria prevention at commune
health stations.
The core of Nam Dong CA is in Nam Dong commune, Quan Hoa district but this area
bordered with three communes in Quan Son district (Son Lu commune (He village, Bin
village); Son Dien commune (Ne He village and Xua village); Trung Thuong commune (Bang
village)) and one commune in surrounding area (Tam Thanh commune), which have many

9


local residents. This current status of the population could put enormous strain on natural
resources of CA such as animal breeding, logging activities.
The social security situation in the buffer zones and surrounding area is ensured and
the politics maintained, creating a good premise for the management, protection, and
development of forest resources of Nam Dong CA.

3.3.1.3. Basic characteristics of forest resources.
a) Current status of land types, forest types
According to Forest Protection Department of Thanh Hoa Province in 2015, forest
cover land in Nam Dong divided into following area:
Table 3.1. Area of forest in Nam Dong CA
No

Land types

Area (ha)

Percentage (%)

I

Forest cover land

624.71

96.56

1

IIIa2

44.54

6.88

2


IIIa1

33.62

5.20

3

IIa

23.08

3.57

4

IIb

20.63

3.19

5

Other forest

502.84

77.72


II

No forest cover land

22.24

3.44

1

Ia

17.17

2.65

2

Ib

5.07

0.78

3

Ic

0


0

Total of area

646.95

100

Indeed, the forest cover in conservation area is 96,56 %, is very rich to protect
biodiversity.

10


Figure 3.3. Map of current status of landuse in Nam Dong CA
(Forest Protection Department, Quan Hoa in 2014)
b) Typical types of forest vegetation


Flora

Nam Dong CA was established to preserve and develop genes of six species, have
been threatened with extinction: Pinus kwangtungensis, Cephalotaxus mannii, Amentotaxus
argotaenia, Amentotaxus yunnanensis, Taxus chinensis and Podocarpus neriifolius. Through
surveys on plant species of Nam Dong CA, Thanh Hoa province, 314 species, 235 genera and
107 families of 5 vascular plant species have been identified. In addition, Nam Dong Flora
has a total of 13 species recorded in the Vietnam Red Book (2007). There are 2 endangered
species and 11 vulnerable species.



Fauna

According to the initial investigation, there were 11 orders, 5 families and 24 species
of animal identified.18 species were listed in the Vietnam Red Book 2007 and the World Red
List 2012. To be specified, 49 species of reptiles and amphibians were recorded in the reserve,
including 26 species of reptiles belongs to 12 families, 2 orders and 23 species of amphibians

11


belonging to 7 families, 2 orders. There were 14 species of reptiles and amphibians belong to
endangered species (Dong et al., 2017)


Forest type of Nam Dong CA

- Tropical moist closed evergreen forest with elevation 700 – 1,600 m: Broad-leaved
forest and closed forest in limestone; broad-leaved closed evergreen forest in limestone;
tropical moist broad-leaved closed evergreen forest in limestone.
- Tropical moist closed evergreen forest with elevation below 700 m: tropical moist
closed evergreen forest in limestone; tropical moist closed evergreen forest in low mountain;
tropical grassland, shrubs, trees scattered in the low mountain. (Thanh Hoa Forest Protection
Department, 2014)


Forest type of Tam Thanh commune

There are 3 types of forest in Tam Thanh commune: mixed plantation; pure bamboo
and broad-leaved woods forest. The volume of bamboo forest almost is production forest in

commune, in the recent years, therefore, the total area of bamboo forest has expanded. This
action contributes to higher incomes and rising living standards of local people. (Thanh Hoa
Forest Protection Department, 2014)
3.3.2. Data collection
3.3.2.1. Interview surveys
In this research, interviewing is main method to determine both turtle species diversity
and status of illegal turtle trade, carried in 4 communes in buffer zones of CA (Nam Dong
communes belongs to Quan Hoa district and Son Lu commune, Son Dien commune, Trung
Thuong commune in Quan Son district) and 1 surrounded commune (Tam Thanh commune in
Quan Son district) (Details in the Fig 3.5). Pinor to going to the survey, questionnaires are
prepared to get information about: General information of interviewees (age, gender, main
income, etc.); species composition, location and time of catching; status of protection;

12


purposes of using some products from turtle; threats to species diversity and habitat
(Appendix 1). The survey focus on interviewing local hunters, traders, farmers, therefore, it
was denied that knowledge and awareness of local people about turtle species were showed
considerably by interviews. There were 103 interviewees (Appendix 2) and 12 interview days
with 2 periods from 21th to 27th December, 2018 and from 15th to 19th May, 2019. Most
interviewees belonged to the Thai ethnic group.
During the interview surveys, with using specific equipment such as caliper, notebook,
GPS, camera, electronic scale, the information relating to captive turtles could be collected.
Caliper is used to measure height, length, width. Weight of turtle is determined by electronic
scale. When going to households, researchers could not only save location of samples but also
locate line in the field trip by using GPS, being easier for defining species contribution. Then,
all of basic information from TFT record will be written in the field record (Appendix 3).
Besides, camera and notebook are indispensable things to capture and note extra information.
Combining the book of Photographic guide to the turtles of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and

Vietnam (Stuart et al., 2001) and Measurement variable of turtle (Appendix 4) to identify the
turtle species.

Figure 3.4. Equipment for collecting data

13


Figure 3.5. Line transects for surveys in Nam Dong CA and surrounding areas
3.3.2.2. Field surveys
Based on the interviewing results, three survey transects were established from 1 to 3
km in specific area, with three sections: Pa village (Hang Trình and Tén Tròng forest area),
Tam Thanh commune; Bin village (Pa Phanh forest area), Son Lu commune, Quan Son
district (See in Figure 3.5). There were areas, happening illegal activities for turtle species
considerably. Based on this survey, researchers could find the risk of biodiversity and species
status in research area. From that, we could give recommendations for turtle’s conservation.
The first section was conducted in Pa village (from 17 th to 20 thMay, 2019) by one
team of 8 people. The second section was in Bin village (from 24th to 27th, June) by 6 team
members. When a turtle individual was found, we recorded habitat type, slope angle (using
Angle Meter PRO+ software in Android operating system of smartphone), forest cover
(Applying Canopy Cover 1.03 version software in Android operating system of smartphone)

14


and temperature (Using weather forecast of smartphone or thermometer to check). Besides,
using GPS save not only points at the beginning and ending of the transect but also time of
each survey. Each person followed the transect by keeping a nearly constant 5 m distance
between each surveyor.
3.3.2.3. Data analysis

To analyse data, first of all, this research applied Microsoft Excel software. All of data
was conducted by interview and field surveys, then, inputting in Excel to collect data and
draw charts. Due to described statistics, results were showed clearly by percentage. I
employed ArcGIS 10.4.1 in order to making the map. The map contains of study area,
interview survey points and line transects. After that, determining current status of species
depends on IUCN Red list 2019; Vietnam Red book 2007; Decree 06, 2019/NĐ-CP. During
the interview survey and field survey, by asking local people about the trend of trade, altitude
to turtle, law enforcement, hunting, not only threats but also the impact from local people to
turtle population and other sympatric TFT species (e.g. hunting, road constructions, and
logging) within the study site was also recorded.

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IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.1. Species composition of turtle in Nam Dong CA and surrounding areas

Based on the results from 103 independent interviewees and 3 filed transect
surveys (Fig. 4.1), a total of 9 turtle species were identified for the study site (Details
in Table 4.1). All hunters accurately described the main morphological characteristics
of the various turtle species, using local names for each. According to the majority of
interviewees, the two most abundant species were Cuora galbinifrons and Manouria
impressa.

Figure 4.1. Interview points and recorded samples from field surveys in the study site
Besides, six of nine TFT species were recorded for the first time from Nam Dong CA
and surrounding areas in comparison with the number of turtles reported by Dong et al.
(2017) comprising Cyclemys oldhamii, Geoemyda spengleri, Manouria impressia, Palea

16



steindachneri, Pelodiscus sinensis, Sacalia quadriocellata, were conducted during the
interview survey. It includes that 5 species were recored by interview’s observation and 1
species was recorded by interviewee’s description.

Figure 4.2. Five new recorded TFT species were observed by interview (A: Cyclemys
oldham in Ngam village, Tam Thanh; B: Sacalia quadriocellata in Phe village, Tam
Thanh; C: Palea steindachneri in Phe village, Tam Thanh; D: Geoemyda spengleri in Mo
village, Tam Thanh; E: Manouria impressa in Bin village, Son Lu)
Table 4.1. The number of described species and observed specimens in the study site

Interview surveys
No.

Scientific name

1

Cuora
galbinifrons

2
3

Cuora mouhotii
Cyclemys
oldhamii
Geoemyda


4

Vietnamese
name

Rùa hộp
trán vàng
miền bắc
Rùa sa nhân
Rùa đất Sê
pôn
Rùa Speng

Observed
Described
Field
New
specimens
species by
surveys records
by the
interviewees
interviewers
33
55
3

17

12

1

34
5

-

×

6

15

2

×


5
6
7
8
9

spengleri
Manouria
impressa
Palea
steindachneri
Pelodiscus

sinensis
Platysternon
megacephalum
Sacalia
quadriocellata

lơ
Rùa núi
viền
Ba ba gai

48

65

-

×

2

21

-

×

Ba ba trơn

1


20

-

×

Rùa đầu to

5

38

-

Rùa bốn
mắt

2

14

-

×

In term of interview survey, with the special ecology of this study site, evergreen
forest could create the chance for Manouria impressa. Without doubt, the most popular
species was Manouria impressa with 48 specimens were observed inside the local houses.
Besides, the second popular is Cuora galbinifrons with 33 recorded specimens during the

interview. The number of recorded Geoemyda spengleri is 6 specimens, which is twice the
number of observed Palea steindachneri and Sacalia quadriocellata. During interview
surveys, interviewers observed 5 specimens of Platysternon megacephalum. There are 1 of
110 observed specimens, being Cyclemys oldhamii and Pelodiscus sinensis is the same. As for
described species, Manouria impressais is the species, interviewees mentioned most during
survey with 65 in 103 interviewees, accounting for 63.11%. Moreover, there are 53.4 %
interviewees could regcognize Cuora galbinifrons. The next is and Cuora mouhotii with
described proportion 36.89% and 33.01%, respectively. The number 4 th, 5th species,
interviewees could describe distinctive morphologies, are Palea steindachneri and Pelodiscus
sinensis. Sacalia quadriocellata and Geoemyda spengleri are less frequently with 14.58 %
and 13.59 % description by local people, respectively. The bottom of the list is Cyclemys
oldhamii with only 4.85% known by interviewees.

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