PA BON: Deep in a Thai forest a young man sprints through the undergrowth, blowpipe in hand, before pumping a poisoned dart at a monkey.

The group closes in, shouting out to each other, and the animal falls to the ground.

The kill was in keeping with centuries of tradition for the Maniq, one of Thailand’s smallest ethnic minorities, who were the country’s last hunter-gatherers.

But the lures of a settled home, among them education and health care, mean their way of life is changing.

The Maniq are now demanding ownership rights to land they say has effectively been theirs for generations, but is today protected by Thai law.