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Camera Traps Estimated 19.6 Gaur per km² in Northern Thailand

Wild gaur herd in green habitat in Kui Buri National Park, Thailand
Research · Ecology

A year-long camera-trap study in Phu Fa Non-Hunting Area in northern Thailand estimated a gaur (Bos gaurus) density of 19.6 individuals per km². The study, published on 23 April 2026, also mapped where suitable habitat was concentrated across the roughly 119 km² protected area in Nan Province.

Ten camera stations operated from November 2024 to October 2025 for a total of 3,650 trap nights. They produced 27 independent gaur detections. Because individual gaur cannot usually be recognised reliably from camera images, the researchers used a Random Encounter Model to estimate density. Rather than counting known individuals, this approach combines how often animals pass the cameras with information about the cameras’ detection area and animal movement to estimate how many animals occupy a given area. The reported 19.6 gaur per km² is therefore a modelled density estimate, not the 27 camera detections divided by the size of the reserve.

About 29% of the area was classified as suitable habitat

The habitat model used 53 locations documented through field observations and signs of gaur, including tracks and dung. It compared the environmental conditions at those known presence points and then mapped where similar combinations occurred elsewhere in the reserve. About 35 km², or 29.4% of the study area, was classified as suitable habitat. The most suitable areas were concentrated at elevations of about 1,200–1,600 metres in montane and dry evergreen forest, often where forest was interspersed with ridge-top grassland. Distance to water, ranger stations and villages were among the variables most strongly associated with where gaur were recorded.

The authors recommend improving water sources and forage availability while maintaining connections between habitat patches. They also point to Phu Fa’s potential to connect large-mammal habitat between Thailand and Laos.

Sources and image credit

  1. Kankaew, C., Siri, S., Norsaengsri, M., & Ponpithuk, Y. (2026). Population density and habitat suitability of Gaur (Bos gaurus H. Smith) in the Phu Fa Non-Hunting Area, Nan Province. Thai Forest Ecological Research Journal, 10(1), 35–52. https://doi.org/10.34044/tferj.2026.10.1.6614

Image: Tontan Travel (https://www.tontantravel.com/) / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0. Wild gaur herd in Kui Buri National Park, Thailand, 2 December 2015. Representative species photograph. · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Source

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