Saola (known as Pseudoryx nghetinhensis), one of the rarest and mostthreatened mammals on the planet, has been photographed for the firsttime in Vietnam since 1998, according to the World Wide Fund forNature (WWF).
In a statement released on November12, the organisation said the animal was caught on film in ahard-to-reach area on Truong Son range in Quang Nam central provinceon September 7 by a camera trap set by the WWF and central Quang Namprovince’s Forest Protection Department.
“When ourteam first looked at the photos we couldn’t believe our eyes. Saola arethe holy grail for South-east Asian conservationists so there was a lotof excitement,” said Dr. Van Ngoc Thinh, WWF-Vietnam’s CountryDirector. “This is a breath-taking discovery and renews hope for therecovery of the species.”
William Robichaud,Coordinator of the Saola Working Group of the International Union forConservation of Nature’s Species Survival Commission, stated that theseare the most important wild animal photographs taken in Asia, andperhaps the world, in at least the past decade. “They are also inspiringevidence of the effectiveness of the forest guards model to keep saolafrom sliding into the abyss of extinction”, he noted.
Saola, dubbed the Asian Unicorn because it is so rarely seen, lookslike an antelope in appearance, and is recognised by two parallel hornswith sharp ends which can reach 50 centimetres in length.
The species was discovered in 1992 by a joint team from Vietnam’sMinistry of Forestry (now the Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment) and WWF during a trip surveying the forests of Vu Quang inHa Tinh province, near Vietnam’s border with Laos. The teamfound a skull with unusual horns in a hunter’s home. The find proved tobe the first large mammal new to science in more than 50 years and oneof the most spectacular species discoveries of the 20th century.
The last confirmed record of a saola in the wild was in 1999 fromcamera-trap photos taken in the Laos province of Bolikhamxay.In 2010, villagers in the province captured a saola, but the animalsubsequently died.
In Vietnam, the enigmatic species was seen for the last time in 1998.
Scientists estimate about 200 saola, maybe only a few tens, nowsurvive in the remote, dense forests along the Vietnam-Laos border.
The latest sighting of the animal will help WWF and partners in thesearch for other individuals and in targeting the essential protectionneeded.-VNA
In a statement released on November12, the organisation said the animal was caught on film in ahard-to-reach area on Truong Son range in Quang Nam central provinceon September 7 by a camera trap set by the WWF and central Quang Namprovince’s Forest Protection Department.
“When ourteam first looked at the photos we couldn’t believe our eyes. Saola arethe holy grail for South-east Asian conservationists so there was a lotof excitement,” said Dr. Van Ngoc Thinh, WWF-Vietnam’s CountryDirector. “This is a breath-taking discovery and renews hope for therecovery of the species.”
William Robichaud,Coordinator of the Saola Working Group of the International Union forConservation of Nature’s Species Survival Commission, stated that theseare the most important wild animal photographs taken in Asia, andperhaps the world, in at least the past decade. “They are also inspiringevidence of the effectiveness of the forest guards model to keep saolafrom sliding into the abyss of extinction”, he noted.
Saola, dubbed the Asian Unicorn because it is so rarely seen, lookslike an antelope in appearance, and is recognised by two parallel hornswith sharp ends which can reach 50 centimetres in length.
The species was discovered in 1992 by a joint team from Vietnam’sMinistry of Forestry (now the Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment) and WWF during a trip surveying the forests of Vu Quang inHa Tinh province, near Vietnam’s border with Laos. The teamfound a skull with unusual horns in a hunter’s home. The find proved tobe the first large mammal new to science in more than 50 years and oneof the most spectacular species discoveries of the 20th century.
The last confirmed record of a saola in the wild was in 1999 fromcamera-trap photos taken in the Laos province of Bolikhamxay.In 2010, villagers in the province captured a saola, but the animalsubsequently died.
In Vietnam, the enigmatic species was seen for the last time in 1998.
Scientists estimate about 200 saola, maybe only a few tens, nowsurvive in the remote, dense forests along the Vietnam-Laos border.
The latest sighting of the animal will help WWF and partners in thesearch for other individuals and in targeting the essential protectionneeded.-VNA
