VN019
Ke Go


Country/territory: Vietnam

IBA criteria met: A1, A2, A3 (2002)
For more information about IBA criteria, please click here

Area: 24,801 hectares (248.01 km2)

BirdLife International in Vietnam

Site description (2002 baseline)
The IBA comprises Ke Go Nature Reserve, most of which consists of gently undulating hills below 300 m. The nature reserve is within one of the largest remaining blocks of natural broadleaf evergreen forest in the Annamese lowlands. Almost the entire nature reserve area is forested but has been logged in the past and undisturbed primary forest is virtually absent.

Key biodiversity
Ke Go is situated in the Annamese Lowlands Endemic Bird Area (EBA) and supports populations of five restricted-range bird species: Vietnamese Pheasant Lophura hatinhensis, Imperial Pheasant L. imperialis, Crested Argus Rheinardia ocellata, Short-tailed Scimitar Babbler Jabouilleia danjoui and Grey-faced Tit Babbler Macronous kelleyi. Of greatest significance, Ke Go Nature Reserve, together with the adjacent forest area in northern Quang Binh province, is the only site in the world known to support a population of Vietnamese Pheasant.

Non-bird biodiversity: Ten globally threatened mammal species have been have been recorded at the nature reserve. However, several of these species, in particular Asian Elephant Elaphus maximus, Gaur Bos gaurus and Tiger Panthera tigris, may already be extinct or reduced to relict populations as a result of hunting. White -cheeked Crested Gibbon Nomascus leucogenys, another species of conservation concern, is reported to be extremely rare in the area as a result of unrestricted hunting and exploitation of the forest (Le Trong Trai et al. 1999).


Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Ke Go (Vietnam). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/ke-go-iba-vietnam on 22/12/2024.