Cardamom Mountains
grrlscientist | December 31, 2009tags: Forest of Ecstasy: Vanguard, illegal drugs, safrole oil, ecstacy, XTC, X, methylenedioxymethamphetamine, MDMA, rainforest, Cardamom Mountains, Cambodia, conservation, endangered species, documentary, streaming video
Do you think that making and using illegal drugs are victimless crimes? Think again! Deep in a remote Cambodian rainforest, criminals are setting up illegal factories to produce safrole oil, the raw ingredient for the illegal Schedule I drug, ecstasy (methylenedioxymethamphetamine or MDMA). Adam Yamaguchi joins armed forest rangers on a search and destroy mission.
grrlscientist | December 22, 2008tags: Samkos bush frog, Chiromantis samkosensis, Cambodia, image of the day
Samkos bush frog, Chiromantis samkosensis.
Image: Fauna and Flora International [larger view].
When conservation group Fauna and Flora International began its surveys in Cambodia's remote Cardamom Mountains in 2000, the national list of known amphibians stood at just nine species. Now, the list has been extended to at least 63, including the green blooded and turquoise boned Samkos bush frog, Chiromantis samkosensis (above).
The Samkos bush frog is thought to be extremely rare. Its strange colored bones and blood…