Animals in Thailand
Asian Elephant
Elephas maximus
The asian elephant is a national symbol for Thailand and links religion, history and rural work. It appears in temple art, celebrations and tourism campaigns that present calm visits to responsible centers. For many people the elephant connects modern cities with older stories of forest travel, logging and farming on wet ground.
View details→Wildlife in Thailand
Thailand has tropical forests, rice fields, rivers and long coasts that visitors explore with simple day trips. Most routes follow marked paths in national parks, short walks to waterfalls or boat rides between islands. Wildlife such as macaques, water buffalo, sea turtle, reef shark and clownfish is often seen from viewpoints, beaches or calm bays.
Most Dangerous Animals in Thailand
Danger in Thailand appears in dense forest, rice fields and coastal waters where people and wildlife share space. Leopard, water buffalo, dhole, clouded leopard, bengal slow loris, asiatic black bear, wild boar, asian elephant and gaur can be dangerous at close range. Reticulated python, king cobra, monitor lizard, sea snake, orca, reef shark and bull shark add risk in rivers, bays and open sea, though most encounters stay brief or distant.
Top 10 Animals in Thailand
The top ten list for Thailand focuses on animals that many visitors know from parks and coast tours. Leopard and asian elephant represent land wildlife linked to forest reserves and open clearings. Reticulated python, peregrine falcon and clownfish add species that people often notice from viewpoints, boat trips and shallow reef areas.
Golden Jackal
Canis aureus
In Thailand, golden jackals inhabit open grasslands, scrub, and the margins of cultivation in the central plains and parts of the north and west. They are also present in some protected areas, including Kaeng Krachan National Park. Largely nocturnal, they feed on rodents, birds, insects, and fruit. They are generally shy and rarely seen, though their calls can be heard after dark in rural areas. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Leopard
Panthera pardus
In Thailand, leopards survive mainly in the Western Forest Complex, including Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, a World Heritage Site, and in Kaeng Krachan National Park, where many of the leopards are black. They belong to the Critically Endangered Indochinese subspecies. Camera traps show low numbers, and poaching of their prey leaves leopards struggling to find enough food in some forests. IUCN status: Vulnerable.
Asian Elephant
Elephas maximus
The elephant is Thailand's national animal, celebrated every March 13 on National Elephant Day. About 4,000 live in the wild, in Kui Buri, Kaeng Krachan, Khao Yai, the Western Forest Complex and the eastern forests, where numbers are slowly rising, and a similar number live in captivity, many in tourism. Elephants leaving parks to raid crops are now the main conservation challenge. IUCN status: Endangered.
Asiatic Black Bear
Ursus thibetanus
Thailand has Asiatic black bears in forests of the north, west and northeast, including Khao Yai, Thap Lan and Kaeng Krachan national parks. Camera trap studies found them more common than sun bears in Khao Yai and Thap Lan, with both species most active around dawn and dusk. In Khao Yai, bear claw marks on fruit trees showed that fruit is what draws them. Poaching and forest loss are the main threats. IUCN status: Vulnerable.
Fishing Cat
Prionailurus viverrinus
In Thailand the fishing cat lives mainly in coastal wetlands along the Gulf of Thailand. Its best studied population is in Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park, where camera traps identified 127 adults between 2019 and 2023 and density rose from about 18 to 24 cats per 100 square kilometers. Many of these cats live among shrimp ponds and villages, where poaching and poultry conflicts remain a threat. IUCN status: Vulnerable.
Siamang
Symphalangus syndactylus
Thailand has the northernmost siamangs in the world, a single small population in the Bala Forest of Hala Bala Wildlife Sanctuary, in Narathiwat near the Malaysian border. A survey there counted only 19 siamang groups, living mostly on the higher slopes alongside many more agile gibbons. Forest loss and fragmentation in the border hills are the main threats to this tiny population. IUCN status: Endangered.
Macaque
Macaca spp.
Thailand has six macaques, including rhesus, Assamese, stump tailed, northern and southern pig tailed and long tailed macaques. Long tailed macaques fill the old temples of Lopburi, where a monkey festival is held each November, and on islands off the Andaman coast some crack shellfish with stones. Pig tailed macaques have long been trained to pick coconuts, a practice now criticized abroad. Feeding monkeys has fueled conflicts in towns. IUCN status: varies by species.
Pangolin
Manidae (8 species)
Thailand has the Sunda pangolin across most of the country and the Chinese pangolin in the far north, and both are Critically Endangered. Once widespread from the northern hills to the southern peninsula, pangolins have been hunted heavily for their scales and meat, and Thai authorities regularly seize live pangolins being smuggled toward Laos, Vietnam and China. Rangers in parks like Kaeng Krachan protect what remains. IUCN status: varies by species.
Sun Bear
Helarctos malayanus
In Thailand the sun bear lives in forests from Khao Yai south to the Malaysian border. At Khao Yai National Park researchers told individual bears apart by their chest marks in camera trap photos and estimated about 4 to 6 per 100 km². The Asiatic black bear is more common there, while sun bears become more likely farther south. Kaeng Krachan is another park where both are seen. IUCN status: Vulnerable.
Water Buffalo
Bubalus arnee
Thailand's only wild water buffalo live in Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, in Uthai Thani province, part of the Thung Yai and Huai Kha Khaeng World Heritage Site. The herd numbers fewer than 70 animals, and trail cameras are used to follow it along the Huai Kha Khaeng stream. Domestic buffalo grazing near the sanctuary are a risk, through both disease and crossbreeding. IUCN status: Endangered.
Wild Boar
Sus scrofa
Wild boars live in forests across Thailand, from the hills of the north to protected areas such as Khao Yai and Kaeng Krachan, where herds are often seen on grassy clearings. They are prey for leopards, clouded leopards and dholes, and pythons take young ones. They frequently raid crops near forest edges, and some rural and hill communities hunt them for traditional food. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Fruit Bat
Pteropodidae
Thailand's best known fruit bats are its flying foxes. Lyle's flying fox, listed as Vulnerable, roosts by the thousands in trees at Buddhist temples in central Thailand, where monks and villagers protect them. The large flying fox, now Endangered, also lives in the country, and the small cave nectar bat is one of the main pollinators of durian, which makes fruit bats valuable to Thai farmers. IUCN status: varies by species.
Tapir
Tapirus spp.
The Malayan tapir is present in southern Thailand, where it lives in lowland rainforests and areas with dense vegetation near rivers. Its range in the country has shrunk considerably due to deforestation and road construction. Key populations survive in protected areas like Hala-Bala Wildlife Sanctuary near the Malaysian border. The species is considered Endangered, and Thailand plays an important role in regional efforts to protect it.
Clouded Leopard
Neofelis nebulosa
In Thailand, clouded leopards live in forests across the west, northeast and south, with strongholds in the Western Forest Complex, including Huai Kha Khaeng, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and in Khao Yai. Radio collar studies in Phu Khieo Wildlife Sanctuary showed that they are active by night and also by day. Poaching and the loss of forest corridors remain the main threats. IUCN status: Vulnerable.
Bengal Slow Loris
Nycticebus bengalensis
The Bengal slow loris lives in forests across most of Thailand except the far south, where another slow loris species replaces it. It sleeps in vine tangles and bamboo by day and feeds on gum, nectar and insects at night. Lorises were long used as photo props for tourists, and rescue centers in Thailand rehabilitate animals taken from the trade and release the healthy ones back into protected forests. IUCN status: Endangered.
Southern Red Muntjac
Muntiacus muntjak
In Thailand, the southern red muntjac is the barking deer of the far south, in the rainforests of the peninsula toward the Malaysian border. Red muntjacs in the north and center of the country belong to the northern red muntjac, and the two meet around the Isthmus of Kra. Its bark warns of leopards and clouded leopards, and it shares the forest with sambar deer. Snaring for meat is its main threat. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Dusky Langur
Trachypithecus obscurus
In Thailand, the dusky leaf monkey lives in the south. Famous spots are Ao Manao bay in Prachuap Khiri Khan, where over 200 live protected inside an air force base, and the limestone hills of Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park. It also lives in Kaeng Krachan, often near macaques. Adults have white rings around the eyes, while babies are born bright orange. IUCN status: Endangered.
Dhole
Cuon alpinus
In Thailand, dholes are found mainly in the Western Forest Complex, a vast stretch of connected forests along the Myanmar border that includes Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, and in the Dong Phayayen and Khao Yai forest complex, where Khao Yai National Park is one of the few places in Southeast Asia to see them. Packs hunt sambar, barking deer and wild pigs. Protected areas are vital to their survival. IUCN status: Endangered.
Gaur
Bos gaurus
Thailand's gaur live mostly in large protected forests. Huai Kha Khaeng and the rest of the Western Forest Complex hold the main population, and Kaeng Krachan and Kui Buri, where herds come out to graze in open fields, are among the best places to see them. Dong Phayayen Khao Yai holds a smaller group. In the west, gaur are a key prey of tigers. Most of the north has lost its gaur to hunting. IUCN status: Vulnerable.
Sambar Deer
Rusa unicolor
The sambar is found in forests across Thailand, from the northern highlands to the peninsular lowlands. It is a key prey animal for tigers and leopards in protected areas such as Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and in Khao Yai National Park herds often feed in the open grasslands near the visitor center. Poaching and the loss of forest outside protected areas remain serious threats. IUCN status: Vulnerable.
Monitor Lizard
Varanus salvator
Thailand is one of the best places to see the Asian water monitor. In Bangkok it lives in canals and parks, above all Lumpini Park, where large monitors swim in the lakes and bask on the lawns among joggers. In the countryside it is common near rivers, mangroves and rice paddies. Known in Thai as hia, a word also used as an insult, it is protected by law in Thailand. IUCN status: Least Concern.
King Cobra
Ophiophagus hannah
Thailand has one of the most visible king cobra populations in Southeast Asia. It lives across the country, from the northern hill forests and Khao Yai to the southern peninsula, and often turns up near villages, plantations and rice paddies, where rescue teams relocate them. In the village of Ban Khok Sa-nga, in Khon Kaen, it is part of a long snake show tradition. Forest loss and hunting have reduced its numbers. IUCN status: Vulnerable.
Sea Turtle
Chelonia mydas
Green turtles nest on islands in both of Thailand's seas, including Khram Island in the Gulf of Thailand, where the Royal Thai Navy runs a turtle conservation center, and islands of the Andaman Sea such as the Similan and Surin Islands, and they forage on the reefs and seagrass beds of both coasts. Nesting has declined over recent decades because of coastal development and tourism, and protection programs work to reverse it. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Sea Snake
Laticauda colubrina
The banded sea krait lives on both of Thailand's coasts, but it is best known around the islands of the Andaman Sea, where divers and snorkelers often see it hunting on the reef. It searches crevices for eels and comes ashore on rocky islets to rest and lay eggs. It is calm and rarely bites people. Coral reef damage and accidental capture in fishing gear are the main pressures in Thai waters. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Reticulated Python
Malayopython reticulatus
Across Thailand, the reticulated python ranges from the southern peninsula through the central plains to the forests of the north and northeast, including national parks such as Khao Yai. It is common around canals, rice paddies and even Bangkok, where rescuers remove pythons from drains and homes every year. Although protected under Thai law, it is still captured for the skin and live animal trade. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Steppe Eagle
Aquila nipalensis
Thailand sits at the southeastern edge of the steppe eagle's wintering range, with birds reaching the north and the central plains in the cold months. Most sightings are of single young birds over open country and farmland, and some are also seen moving south along the raptor routes of the west. Records are uncommon and noteworthy for local birdwatchers, as the species is declining across its flyway. IUCN status: Endangered.
Barn Owl
Tyto alba
The barn owl is found across Thailand in open farmland, rice paddies, and areas near villages and towns from the central plains and the Chao Phraya basin to the northern valleys and the southern peninsula. It nests in old buildings, hollow trees, and cliff faces, and hunts rodents at night. In Thailand's extensive rice-growing regions, where rat damage to crops is a major agricultural concern, it is highly valued as a natural pest controller. Some farming communities actively install nest boxes to encourage barn owls as a biological alternative to chemical rodent control.
Stork
Ciconia ciconia
The white stork is a rare visitor to Thailand, occasionally recorded during migration across Southeast Asia. Sightings tend to occur in open lowland areas and wetlands. Standing over a meter tall with white plumage and a red bill, it is hard to miss. Its presence here sits well outside its core range, making any confirmed record in Thailand of real interest to local birdwatchers. IUCN status: Least Concern.
White Wagtail
Motacilla alba
In Thailand the white wagtail is a common winter visitor from October to April, especially in the north and center. Several subspecies arrive from Siberia, Mongolia and China, including the Amur and East Siberian forms, and they gather along the Mekong and Chao Phraya rivers, around rice paddies, reservoirs and town edges. Large flocks sometimes roost together in trees in city centers. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Peregrine Falcon
Falco peregrinus
Thailand receives peregrine falcons as migrants and winter visitors each year, with birds moving south from breeding grounds in Siberia and Central Asia. They appear across a range of open habitats, including wetlands, coastal areas, and agricultural plains. The species is regularly recorded at key birdwatching sites such as Laem Phak Bia and Pak Thale. Thailand forms part of the East Asian and Australasian Flyway used by many migratory raptors.
Dugong
Dugong dugon
Thailand's largest dugong population lives around Libong Island, in Trang province, on the Andaman Sea, where they can be seen from viewpoints and boats. In 2019 an orphaned calf called Marium, cared for by rangers, won the affection of the whole country before she died from swallowing plastic. Since 2022 large areas of seagrass in Trang have died off, and many dugongs have been found dead. IUCN status: Vulnerable.
Whale Shark
Rhincodon typus
In Thailand whale sharks are seen mostly in the Andaman Sea, around Richelieu Rock in the Surin Islands and the Similan Islands, from about February to May, when they come to feed on plankton around the pinnacles. In the Gulf of Thailand they visit dive sites near Koh Tao, such as Chumphon Pinnacle and Sail Rock. Sightings are not guaranteed, and divers count meeting one among the highlights of the season. IUCN status: Endangered.
Barracuda
Sphyraena barracuda
In Thailand the great barracuda lives on both coasts: in the Andaman Sea, around the Similan and Surin Islands and Koh Phi Phi, and in the Gulf of Thailand, around Koh Tao and Chumphon. Divers meet it alone at the reef edge, while the big spiraling schools seen at sites like Richelieu Rock and Chumphon Pinnacle are usually smaller barracuda species. Juveniles grow up in the coastal mangroves. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Clownfish
Amphiprion ocellaris
In Thailand the ocellaris clownfish lives on the reefs of the Andaman Sea, around the Similan and Surin Islands and Koh Phi Phi, and in the Gulf of Thailand, around Koh Tao and Koh Samui. Snorkelers find it in shallow water, sheltering in magnificent sea anemones. Marine heatwaves have bleached many of these anemones in recent years, and Thailand's marine national parks protect the reefs where it lives. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Reef Shark
Several species (Carcharhinus melanopterus, C. perezi, C. amblyrhynchos, Triaenodon obesus)
In Thailand the blacktip reef shark became a symbol of recovery at Maya Bay, on Koh Phi Phi Leh, where dozens of them returned to the shallow bay after it was closed to tourists in 2018. Blacktips are also common at Shark Bay on Koh Tao and around the Similan and Surin Islands, where whitetip reef sharks rest under rocks. Leopard sharks and gray reef sharks are seen on deeper dives. IUCN status: Vulnerable to Endangered, depending on species.
Bull Shark
Carcharhinus leucas
In Thailand the bull shark lives on both coasts, in the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand, especially near river mouths, mangroves and the shallow, murky waters of the upper gulf, where the Chao Phraya reaches the sea. Young sharks grow up in brackish estuaries. Thailand has one of the largest shark fishing and fin trading industries in Southeast Asia, which puts pressure on the species. IUCN status: Vulnerable.
Researched and written by Juan Pablo. Sources: IUCN Red List, scientific literature and regional field guides. Last updated: .