The saola is a large animal with long straight horns, white spots on its face, and large facial scent glands, so it is not hard to spot. The first large mammal new to science in more than 50 years was discovered in 1992.
The saola continues to be elusive. They have never been seen by a Biologist in the wild and have only been camera-trapped a few times. The villagers are said to have tried to keep them in captivity, but they died after a few weeks.
In 1992, Do Tuoc came across two skulls and a pair of trophy horns in the V Quang nature reserve, a 212 square mile forested area of north central Vietnam.
In 1993, laboratory tests revealed the animal to be an entirely new species in the Bovid family, which includes cattle, sheep, goats and antelopes.
According to Lao-speaking ethnic groups, the animal was called saola because of its arms or posts, which are used for spinning wheels.
A saola was photographed in 1999. William Robichaud is pictured.
The saola population is believed to have declined dramatically due to commercial wildlife hunting in Vietnam, which was hailed as one of the most spectacular zoological discoveries of the 20th century. The saola is not directly targeted by the Poachers, but intensive commercial snaring that supplies animals for use in traditional Asian medicine is the primary threat.
Despite efforts to improve patrolling of nature reserves in the Annamite mountains, a major mountain range extending about 670 miles through Laos, Vietnam and into north-eastern Cambodia has been intensifying. Many people use snares in the forest, which means large mammals and birds have no way to escape and are collapsing throughout the Annamites, according to a PhD student at Colorado State University.
In 2001, the saola population was estimated to be between 70 and 700 in Lao and Vietnam. The species was put on the red list in 2006 because of a decline in the number of people who knew about it. In the Saola Nature Reserve in central Vietnam, the animal was last camera-trapped. Villagers continue to report its presence in areas around Pu Mat national park in Vietnam and Bolikhamxay province in Laotian.
We are at a moment of history. We know how to find and save animals. We need the world to come together.
The Saola Foundation is headed by William Robichaud.
The Saola Working Group was founded in 2006 by William Robichaud and Simon Hedges with the aim of finding the last saolas in the wild for a captive breeding programme.
The SWG helps raise awareness, collect information from local people, and search for saola. The animals are still on the run. The SWG used 300 camera traps in an 11 square mile area of the Khoun Xe Nongma national protected area in Laos. Not a single photograph of saola was captured.
Only about 30% of potential Saola habitat has had any form of wildlife survey, and as little as 2% has been searched for the species. Camera traps are not good at detecting individual animals that are spread across a large area, especially in the damp, dense forest of the saola range. In August this year, the commission called for more investment in the search for the saola. The Director of the IUCN SSC Asian Species Action Partnership said that search efforts must be increased in scale and intensity if we are to save this species from extinction.
A saola is eating leaves. Veronika Perkov is pictured.
The Saola Foundation is raising money for a new initiative that would train dogs to detect saola signs. Any samples would be studied using rapid saola-specific DNA field test kits being developed in conjunction with the Wildlife Conservation Society. If the kits return a positive result within an hour, expert wildlife trackers will start searching for saola.
If captured, saolas will be taken to a captive breeding centre being developed by the SWG and the Vietnamese government.
The president of the Saola Foundation says that they are at a moment of history. We know how to find and save this animal, which has been on Earth for 8m years. We need the world to support us. The reward, for saola, for the Annamite mountains, will be huge, and it won't cost much.
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