The New York Times
By JAMES GORMAN
Published: June 29, 2004

When researchers set a camera trap in Nam Et Phou Louey National Protected Area in the northern highlands of Laos, they feared they were surveying a near-empty forest.

The highlands have been under intense hunting pressure because of demand in Asian cities for wildlife, both as food and as sources of medicine. Hunters in Laos have even resorted to using explosive traps that kill indiscriminately.

The camera trap was also indiscriminate, but the results were a delightful surprise. Scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society, cooperating with the forestry department in Laos, captured the images they were seeking, of tigers suspected of killing livestock.

But the camera, rigged with a tripwire, also photographed a great variety of other animals - 30 species in all. The forest fauna was diverse and abundant, with creatures like hog badgers, Owston's civets, muntjacs, sambar deer and, not least, the marble cats above, traveling with high-tailed, feline nonchalance. JAMES GORMAN