After 20 years of discovery, saola may disappear
To this day, two decades after the shocking discovery of the ungulate called Saola, this animal remains a mystery to humans. Therefore, it is also very easy for it to secretly disappear from this earth, if not protected in time.
The most spectacular animal discovery of the century
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the Saola Working Group (SWG) of the Species Survival Commission, part of the IUCN, and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) have warned that this species is on the verge of extinction due to intensive hunting and poor management in protected areas.
The saola is an ungulate that looks like an antelope. The saola was discovered in 1992 by a team from the former Vietnamese Ministry of Forestry and WWF during a survey in the Vu Quang Forest in Ha Tinh, an area near the Vietnam-Laos border. When they found an unusually long skull with straight horns at a hunter’s house, they knew they had discovered something unusual. It was the first time in more than 50 years that scientists had found the world’s largest mammal, and it was one of the most spectacular animal discoveries of the 20th century.
However, until now, information about the habitat and habits of Saola is still very limited for scientists. In 2010, local people captured a Saola in Bolikhamxay province in central Laos, but this individual died a few days later. Before that, the last evidence of Saola living in the wild was an image of a Saola recorded by a camera trap in 1999, also in Bolikhamxay.
But still mysterious about the quantity
Saola are extremely shy animals and are rarely seen, said Nick Cox, WWF-Greater Mekong Species Programme Manager. Although Saola live in a very narrow area, no scientists have ever seen them in the wild. Saola that have been captured do not survive in captivity.
Due to the nature of hiding from humans, scientists have not been able to accurately estimate the number of Saola populations. According to Mr. William Robichaud, Coordinator of the Saola Research Group, he speculates: “In the best case, there may still be a few hundred Saola individuals in the wild, in the worst case, only a few dozen individuals remain.”
Although infrastructure development is encroaching on the Saola’s habitat, the biggest threat to the species is poaching. Saola are often caught in traps used by hunters to catch other animals such as deer, muntjac, wild boar, etc. These species bring in greater profits in the wildlife trade due to the demand for traditional Chinese medicine in China and the culinary market in Vietnam.
“Saola are among the few animals in the Annamites that are not highly valued in the market,” said Mr. Robichau. “Saola are often caught by accident, like dolphins caught in salmon traps.”
Don't let Saola disappear
After discovering Saola, Viet
Dr Barney Long, an Asian species specialist at WWF-US, warned that the governments of Vietnam and Laos need to establish critical conservation areas. However, without efforts to implement new management measures to protect saola habitat by removing poaching traps, these conservation areas will become nothing more than lines on a map.
“If poaching can be reduced, the future of the species will be much brighter,” said Chris Hallam, WCS-Laos conservation planning advisor. “This will require more forest guards in the saola’s habitat, more subsidies for their conservation efforts, and, most importantly, reducing the demand for wildlife food and medicines.”
The urgency of efforts to save the saola was heightened when the Javan rhinoceros – another iconic species of Vietnam – was declared extinct when the last individual was killed by poachers in 2010.
“This year we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the discovery of the Saola, but it will also be the last anniversary if urgent measures are not taken.”, Mr. Hallam added.
The saola is considered one of the biodiversity icons of the Truong Son mountain range, which runs along the Vietnam-Laos border. This is an area of high biodiversity, including many rare species, including endemic species that cannot be found anywhere else on the planet. In addition to the saola, two species of deer, the large-antlered muntjac and the Truong Son muntjac, were discovered in the dense forests in 1994 and 1997, respectively.
“Fortunately, the Saola is not a threatened species in the wild. But we still need to act if we are to prevent one of the world’s rarest and largest animals from being quietly cornered,” Rochichaud concluded.According to Nhandan-M
