For some species, such as the Lao newt, smuggling can have a devastating effect, but most amphibians face the much greater threat of habitat destruction.

BBC: Should the location of newly discovered species be hidden?

There are only so many small boats that can go up the Mekong to see the Pak Ou caves, with their hundreds of Buddha figures, and so many vehicles that can drive the winding roads to the remote ethnic villages, where people who have never fully integrated into Lao society live unwired, in simple wooden houses on stilts as they have for centuries.

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