Sources & photo credits

About this guide

A growing, species-first field guide to the wildlife of Vietnam: mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians. This edition lists about 1,500 species, about 1,200 of them with photographs.

How the species list was built

Species come from open reference lists whose ranges include Vietnam (the Mammal Diversity Database, the IOC World Bird List and the Reptile Database), plus species with at least 50 GBIF occurrence records in Vietnam (retrieved September 2026). Species with only 5 to 49 records, which can be vagrants, escapes or misidentifications, are held back until they have been checked by hand. Domestic animals and placeholder records are left out, and duplicate entries under old and new scientific names have been merged. Common names follow the same lists, then the other Wildlife of Everywhere guides, then Wikipedia; many of Vietnam's frogs and lizards were described recently and have no English name yet, so their scientific name is shown.

Birds that turn up only occasionally, such as scarce migrants and vagrants, carry a Rare visitor label. The label is based on how often the species appears in GBIF records for the country (in how many years, and in which months), so treat it as a guide: a rare visitor can still be regular at the right place and season.

Why there is no conservation status

This guide shows only national Red List categories, never global IUCN ones. Vietnam's national assessment, the Vietnam Red Data Book, is not openly available, so no status label is shown yet. Many species are protected under Vietnamese law (Decree 84/2021/ND-CP and the Biodiversity Law).

Reference sources

• Mammal Diversity Database: mammal names and ranges (CC BY 4.0)
• IOC World Bird List: bird names and taxonomy
• The Reptile Database: reptile taxonomy and distribution (via Catalogue of Life, CC BY 4.0)
• GBIF · Vietnam: occurrence records used to check the lists

Planning a visit

Some national parks and border areas need permits or a local guide, rescue centres keep their own visiting hours, and the rainy and typhoon seasons (which differ between north, centre and south) close trails and boat trips. Check with the park or your operator before you travel rather than relying on the details here.

Wildlife sightings are never guaranteed. The species listed for each place are what is realistically possible there, not what you should expect on a given day.

Your plans and sightings

Your trip plan and sightings are saved in this browser, on this device only. We never see them. Clearing your browser data will clear them too, so download the PDF if you want a copy to keep. Email buttons open a draft in your mail app; nothing is sent until you send it.

Photo credits

Photographs come from iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA licences, or were taken by the Wildlife of Everywhere team. Each one keeps its photographer's name, licence and a link to the original.

Photographs are chosen to show the species clearly, so many were taken elsewhere in its range rather than in Vietnam. Tap the i on any photograph to see who took it. The full list is below.

View all photo credits