Status
The Giant Ibis is considered to be critically endangered. The primary causes seem to be drainage of wetlands for cultivation and the epidemic clear-cutting of forest for rubber, cassava, wood pulp and teak plantations in southeast Asia. Habitats may also face ravaging due to local human warfare. Increasing human populations in Cambodia have in turn lead to disturbance and further lowland deforestation. The ibis may be hunted for meat by people and eggs may be predated by the Asian palm civet and the yellow-throated marten, with the species certainly unable to withstand sustained predation. A reduction in seasonal pools in forest, previously made by now depleted populations of megafauna (especially Wild Asian water buffalo), may also negatively effect them. Local droughts, possibly related to global climate change, have appeared to have further compromised the breeding habitat and behavior of the species. Some conservation efforts have been untaken, including the instillation on some trees with ibis nests of metal belts that prevent predators from accessing them, but the protection of ideal habitat and the increasing human populations in Cambodia continues to be a vexing challenge. Increasing ecotourism in the region and education to local people is clearly required for the species to successfully recover from the brink of extinction. The current population is estimated at 100 pairs, with a total population (including young and juveniles) of fewer than 500 individuals. However, even these figures may be optimistic.
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