2036 GMT (0436 HKT)
A Saola is caught
on camera for the first time in 15 years on September 7 in a forest in
Vietnam. The species was discovered in 1992, and at most a few hundred
-- and as few as a couple dozen -- of the animals are thought to exist.
Because of its rarity and elusiveness, the saola is dubbed the "Asian
unicorn." They are recognized by two parallel horns with sharp ends,
which can reach 20 inches in length and are found on both males and
females.
A Saola is caught
on camera for the first time in 15 years on September 7 in a forest in
Vietnam. The species was discovered in 1992, and at most a few hundred
-- and as few as a couple dozen -- of the animals are thought to exist.
Because of its rarity and elusiveness, the saola is dubbed the "Asian
unicorn." They are recognized by two parallel horns with sharp ends,
which can reach 20 inches in length and are found on both males and
females.
HIDE CAPTION
Strange and endangered species
Strange and endangered species
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Saola caught on forest camera in Vietnam
- At most, only a few hundred saola thought to exist
- Species was first discovered in 1992
At most a few hundred --
and as few as a couple dozen -- of the animals are thought to exist.
Because of that rarity and its elusiveness, the saola is dubbed the
"Asian unicorn." That moniker comes despite the fact it has two closely
spaced parallel horns.
"These are the most
important wild animal photographs taken in Asia, and perhaps the world,
in at least the past decade," said William Robichaud, coordinator of the
Saola Working Group of the International Union for Conservation of
Nature's Species Survival Commission, in a World Wildlife Fund press
release.
"This is an historic
moment in Vietnam's efforts to protect our extraordinary biodiversity,"
Dang Dinh Nguyen, deputy head of the country's Quang Nam Forest
Protection Department, said in the release.
The picture of the animal
was taken in September in a reserve in the Central Annamite Mountains
and announced by the WWF on Tuesday.
Van Ngoc Thinh, WWF-Vietnam's country director, called the picture "a breath-taking discovery."
"When our team first
looked at the photos we couldn't believe our eyes. Saola are the holy
grail for Southeast Asian conservationists," Van said in a press
release.
The saola, which is a
relative of cattle but looks like an antelope, was first discovered in
1992 in forests along the Vietnam-Laos border. A WWF survey team found a
skull of the animal in a hunter's home. In Vietnam, a saola was last
seen in the wild in 1998. In Laos, a remote camera snapped a picture of
one in the wild in 1999. And in 2010, Laotian villagers captured a saola that died before word got to researchers.
There are no saola in captivity.
Environmentalists said Wednesday the pictures show that efforts to save the saola are working.
"Saola are caught in
wire snares set by hunters to catch other animals, such as deer and
civets, which are largely destined for the lucrative illegal wildlife
trade," Van said in the WWF release. "Since 2011, forest guard patrols
... have removed more than 30,000 snares from this critical saola
habitat and destroyed more than 600 illegal hunters' camps."
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