Eld’s deer ( Rucervus eldi ) was once thought to be extinct in the wild in Lao PDR. In early 2000, however, conservationists discovered that they still exist in Savannakhet Province. In 2004, the government of Lao PDR established the Xonnabouly Eld’s Deer Sanctuary with an area of about 93,000 ha. However, no population size estimates for this significant population are available for guiding conservation efforts of preserving this important species. In this study, we used the line transect method to assess the Eld’s deer density and abundance during the survey. During our surveys, we made 27 visual observations of Eld’s deer. We estimated the average detection probability to be 0.57 (CI: 0.45–0.72) and the average density to be 0.58 (CI: 0.33–1.01). We estimated the total number of Eld’s deer in the surveyed area of the Xonnabouly Eld’s Deer Sanctuary to be 173 (95% CI: 99–305). The population in the Xonnabouly Eld’s Deer Sanctuary seems to be the most important Eld’s deer population for R. e. siamensis subspecies as well as for the R. eldii , at least in the continental part of Asia. With the sharp decline of Eld’s deer populations in other protected areas (especially in Cambodia and Myanmar), we should pay special attention and give more priority on the conservation efforts of preserving the remaining population in Xonnabouly Eld’s Deer Sanctuary.

中文翻译：

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老挝人民民主共和国Xonnabouly麋鹿保护区的麋鹿密度和种群规模估算

曾经认为老挝的野鹿在野外已经灭绝。但是，在2000年初，保护主义者发现它们仍然存在于沙湾拿吉省。2004年，老挝人民民主共和国政府建立了Xonnabouly Eld的鹿保护区，面积约93,000公顷。但是，没有有关这一重要种群的种群规模估算可用于指导保护这一重要物种的保护工作。在这项研究中，我们使用线样方法评估了调查期间Eld的鹿密度和丰度。在我们的调查中，我们对Eld的鹿进行了27次视觉观察。我们估计平均检测概率为0.57（CI：0.45-0.72），平均密度为0.58（CI：0.33-1.01）。我们估计，在Xonnabouly的Eld's Deer Sanctuary的调查区域内，Eld's鹿的总数为173（95％CI：99-305）。Xonnabouly Eld's Deer Sanctuary的人口似乎是R. e。最重要的Eld's鹿种群。siamensis亚种以及R. eldii，至少在亚洲大陆部分。随着其他保护区（特别是在柬埔寨和缅甸）埃尔德鹿种群的急剧减少，我们应特别注意并优先注意在Xonnabouly Eld鹿保护区保存剩余人口的保护工作。