Conservationists in Cambodia are said to be positive about the future of a bird which was at one stage on the brink of extinction.

The rare Bengal Florican, known in Cambodia as 'the whispering bird', has lost huge chunks of its habitat due to agriculture - putting the survival of the species under threat.

But environmental experts who devised a land protection plan to help save the grasslands that the birds inhabit, say that their efforts are being rewarded.

As part of the program to protect the Bengal Florican, development is forbidden in five areas which make up 135 square miles of land.

Tom Evans, a Wildlife Conservation Society technical adviser in Cambodia told the Associated Press: "Some prospective developers have been deterred at an earlier stage when they learned that the areas had a special designation."

The Bengal Florican are normally silent creatures – hence their nickname – but utter a fascinating chik-chik-chik call when disturbed.

Earlier this month, Vietnamese and Cambodian environmentalists exchanged methods on how to better protect the wildlife in both countries.

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