Vietnamese Salamander - Viet Nam

The Tam Đảo National Park, located in the mountainous region 85 kilometers north of Hanoi, was created in 1996. The park hosts 20 peaks exceeding 1,000 meters in height; Tam Đảo at 1,592 meters is the tallest. It is a small park consisting of 370 square kilometers, but is home to almost 3,000 plant and animal species, some extremely rare.

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Paramesotriton deloustali - The Vietnamese salamander, known locally as Tam Đảo, is found only in Viet Nam and shares its name with the Tam Đảo National Park. The upper body is dark grey to black and blends with the dark forest floor. The abdomen is a strikingly bright reddish-orange. It prefers slow moving streams or deep ponds located in moist montane forests. Vietnamese salamanders forge during the day for insects, tadpoles, worms, and will also eat moss. Habitat loss and poaching are pushing the Vietnamese salamander to the brink of extinction.

Redspot Jezebel - Viet Nam

Delias descombesi - The redspot Jezebel is a butterfly found throughout Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet Nam. Wingspan for males typically stretch 68 to 88 millimeters; females are larger at 80 to 90 millimeters. The difference between sexes is also evident in coloration; males have pale forewings and yellow hind wings, while females have black forewings and dusky hind wings. Both sexes have a distinctive elongated red band crossing the upper hind wings, a reflection of their name.

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Viet Nam was controlled by China for over a thousand years. In 938, General Ngo Quyen defeated the Chinese to achieve independence for Viet Nam. The Vietnamese state became know as Dai Viet and began to expand by absorbing Champa, parts of Khmer, the central highlands, and the Mekong Delta. Viet Nam fell to French colonialism in the late 1800’s. It was occupied by Japan from 1940 to 1945, and endured a long and bitter civil war; the war ended in 1975 with Viet Nam’s reunification.

Water Buffalo - South Viet Nam

The Mekong River forms one of the world’s largest deltas as it empties into the South China Sea. The fertile soil provides Viet Nam with an adequate food for a rapidly expanding population. The rice yields are large enough to allow Viet Nam to export the surplus. Viet Nam is one of the largest rice exporters in the world.

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Bubalus arnee - The wild water buffalo is classified as Bubalus arnee and the domesticated version as Bubalus bubalis. The domesticated buffalo is used as a dairy animal, for plowing fields, pack animal, and as a direct food source. The wild water buffalo is larger than the domesticated version and can be found in grassy wetlands, swamp areas, and lush river valleys. Wild herds are matriarchal even when males join the group during the breeding cycle. Herds rarely number more than 30 individuals.

Rice - South Viet Nam

Oryza sativa - Rice is the edible seed of a species of grass in the poaceae family. There are two primary subspecies; the short-grained Japonica variety, also known as sticky rice, and the long-grained Indica variety. More nutritional calories are consumed by humans from rice than any other food source. Rice production ranks as the third largest agricultural commodity and is only surpassed by sugar cane and maize. The domestication of rice began in China’s Yangtze Valley about 10,000 years ago

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The Portuguese and Dutch failed in their attempts to set up a trading colony in Viet Nam. French efforts were successful and culminated in France establishing Cochinchina in 1862. By 1884, France had taken control of the entire country and divided the colony into three sections; Amman, Chochinchina, and Tonkin. The French were ousted by the Japanese in 1940. With the Japanese surrender in 1945, Viet Nam was engulfed in civil chaos and was divided into North and South Viet Nam by the 1954 Geneva Conference.