SAOLA

The saola – sometimes called the Asian unicorn – is one of the most iconic yet enigmatic species of the Annamites. It was described by science only in 1992 during a joint wildlife survey by Viet Nam’s Ministry of Forestry and WWF in the Vu Quang Nature Reserve of Viet Nam. Although local communities knew of the saola’s existence, its scientific documentation and taxonomic classification made it the first large mammal discovery in more than 50 years. It was considered one of the most significant zoological discoveries of the 20th century.

Researchers have documented it in the wild using camera-trap photos on only a few occasions since it was first described. The first camera-trap photo of a wild saola was taken in 1998 near a mineral spring in Pu Mat National Park, Viet Nam; two photos were taken in Bolikhamxay province, Laos in 1999; and the last photo was captured in the Hue and Quang Nam saola nature reserves of Viet Nam in September 2013. Given the very few saola observations or detections in the wild, its exact range and population size are hard to determine. Its general range is estimated to be along the Annamite mountain range from Nghe An province in the north to Quang Nam province in the south on the Viet Nam side of the Annamites, and in the adjacent provinces of Laos, from Xieng Khouang in the north to Xekong in the south.

Extensive stretches of wet evergreen forests, thought to be a suitable habitat for saola, were found in Viet Nam historically, but much of this habitat has been destroyed. Habitat destruction, combined with extensive snaring in the remaining habitats, and low detections have led researchers to conclude that the occurrence of the species in Viet Nam has declined rapidly since 1992. The difficult terrain of the Annamites makes human access difficult, but recent infrastructure development and forest fragmentation have opened up remote saola habitats. This has allowed people to set snares to catch wildlife for consumption and trade, which is a grave threat to ungulate species like the saola, even though there seems to be no specific demand for saola in the wild meat or traditional medicine trades. Given its diminishing habitat, heavy hunting pressures and limited range, the saola is highly threatened with extinction, and is classified as Critically Endangered in the IUCN Red List. https://southeastasiaglobe.com/barking-deer-fawn-strikes-a-pose-cambodia-conservationalist-biodiversity-survey/ https://southeastasiaglobe.com/barking-deer-fawn-strikes-a-pose-cambodia-conservationalist-biodiversity-survey/ https://southeastasiaglobe.com/barking-deer-fawn-strikes-a-pose-cambodia-conservationalist-biodiversity-survey/ https://southeastasiaglobe.com/barking-deer-fawn-strikes-a-pose-cambodia-conservationalist-biodiversity-survey/ https://southeastasiaglobe.com/barking-deer-fawn-strikes-a-pose-cambodia-conservationalist-biodiversity-survey/ https://southeastasiaglobe.com/barking-deer-fawn-strikes-a-pose-cambodia-conservationalist-biodiversity-survey/ https://southeastasiaglobe.com/barking-deer-fawn-strikes-a-pose-cambodia-conservationalist-biodiversity-survey/ https://southeastasiaglobe.com/barking-deer-fawn-strikes-a-pose-cambodia-conservationalist-biodiversity-survey/ https://southeastasiaglobe.com/barking-deer-fawn-strikes-a-pose-cambodia-conservationalist-biodiversity-survey/ https://southeastasiaglobe.com/barking-deer-fawn-strikes-a-pose-cambodia-conservationalist-biodiversity-survey/ https://southeastasiaglobe.com/barking-deer-fawn-strikes-a-pose-cambodia-conservationalist-biodiversity-survey/ https://www.fauna-flora.org/news/critically-endangered-deer-triggers-camera-trap-in-cambodia/ https://www.fauna-flora.org/news/critically-endangered-deer-triggers-camera-trap-in-cambodia/ https://www.fauna-flora.org/news/critically-endangered-deer-triggers-camera-trap-in-cambodia/ https://doi.org/10.1515/mammalia-2021-0132 https://doi.org/10.1515/mammalia-2021-0132

Saola have never been successfully kept in captivity, with most of the 20 or so individuals captured from the wild in the 1990s and 2000s dying within weeks. The last recorded attempt to hold a saola in captivity was when an adult male was captured in 2010 in Bolikhamxay, but it died within a few days. A famous captive saola, known as Martha, was observed for three weeks in 1994 by Bill Robichaud of IUCN’s Saola Working Group – now the president of the Saola Foundation for the Annamites – in Lak Sao zoo in Laos. Researchers working on saola conservation, including Robichaud, are keen to establish a captive breeding programme to ensure the continued survival of the species and to eventually reintroduce them back to the wild.

First described by science in 1994, the large-antlered muntjac (also known as “giant muntjac”) is one of the rarest species of barking deer, and the only one listed as Critically Endangered in the IUCN Red List.1 It is thought that the large-antlered muntjac lives mainly in the evergreen and semi-evergreen forests of the Annamites in very specific climatic conditions and in low to mid elevations. Discovered first from a pair of antlers hung in a village in Laos near the Phou Xang He protected area and from partial skulls and antlers collected 2 around Vu Quang Reserve in Viet Nam, this species was initially more often found as trophy antlers than as a live specimen in the wild.

The large-antlered muntjac has been photographed by camera traps in many protected areas including Nakai–Nam Theun National Protected Area, Bolikhamxay and Laving Laveun Provincial Protected Area, Savannakhet in Laos; in Pu Mat National Park, the Khe Nuoc Trong proposed nature reserve, Thua Thien Hue and Quang Nam saola nature reserves and Chu Yang Sin National Park in Viet Nam. Recently, several large-antlered muntjacs, including breeding females and fawns, were caught on camera traps in two simultaneous surveys in Cambodia’s Virachey National Park. These were the first confirmed records of the species in Cambodia and probably represent an isolated population in the western end of its range. In two locations –the Nakai Plateau in Laos and the Dalat Plateau in Viet Nam – hunting and trophy evidence as well as camera trap photos suggest an equal or larger number of large-antlered muntjac compared to the more common northern red muntjac. This indicates that these two areas may be particularly well suited for the survival and recovery of the species.

Hunting and snaring driven by the wild meat trade are the primary threats to the survival of the large-antlered muntjac – as indicated by the abundance of trophies but rarity of the species in the wild. Researchers believe that muntjacs may be strongly associated with the edges of closed-canopy forests since they have been less frequent in the forest cores. This would mean that the species is even more threatened, since these areas are more susceptible to habitat destruction and degradation and easier for hunters to access. The large-antlered muntjac seems to be specifically targeted by hunters for trophies, and all wild meat fetch a price in the market. Indiscriminate snaring – often targeted at wild pigs, red muntjacs and civets for the wild meat trade – is a grave threat to this rare ungulate. Other threats include forest conversion and degradation and increased human encroachment driven by infrastructure development, particularly new roads, agriculture development, mining and hydropower development. The Nakai Plateau, which was one of the few areas known to support significant populations of large-antlered muntjac, was flooded in 2008 for the development of the Nam Theun 2 hydropower dam. At that time, 38 individuals were captured, studied and then released into the Nakai-Nam Theun National Protected Area (now a national park). https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.325_1192b https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.325_1192b

Timmins, R.J., Duckworth, J.W., Robichaud, W., Long, B., Gray, T.N.E. and Tilker, A. 2016. Muntiacus vuquangensis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T44703A22153828. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-2.RLTS.T44703A22153828.en. Accessed 8 May 2023.