The Mysterious and Captivating Saola
In the 20th century, there were only a few discoveries that rocked the zoology field, and one of these occurred at nearly the end. An antelope-resembling cousin of the cow was recently discovered. In 1992, a team of biologists and zoologists set out on an expedition to survey a newly-established national park in Vietnam, Vũ Quang National Park,
…to make an account of the flora and fauna there. Little did they know that when they stopped in at a hunter’s house, that they would soon be the first ones to discover the mythical saola. It had been the first time in 50 years that a large mammal had appeared, new to the scientific community, and it was one of the most amazing discoveries of the 20th century.
Why is the mysterious saola called the “Asian unicorn”? It actually has two horns instead of one, but perhaps the name stuck because it carries so much mystery, like a unicorn.
The saola is a very secretive animal that is rarely seen or found. It wasn’t until 2010 that some villagers actually captured one, but it soon died. Because of the secretive personality of the saola, scientists cannot make an exact estimate of the population. “If things are good, there may be a couple of hundred saola out there,” said William Robichaud, Coordinator of the Saola Working Group. “If things are bad, the population could now be down in the tens.” So, you may be dying to know: what exact type of animal is the mysterious saola?
The saola, with the nicknames of spindlehorn, Asian unicorn, or sometimes, the Vu Quang bovid, is one of the rarest big mammals. This cow-related animal is native to the Annamite Range in Vietnam and Laos. Adult saola usually weigh 80 to 100kg, and one captive adult female was 84cm tall at the shoulder. The species has some distinct physical characteristics such as long, almost straight horns, and beautiful white markings on the face and huge maxillary, or preorbital glands.
The nearly extinct saola is evasive, which adds to its mystique. Part of the reason it is so mysterious is that it seems to die every time it is taken captive, as if this special creature cannot even live without the freedom of natural air and movement, or that being under the prying eyes of humans is injurious to its well-being. This is one of the reasons this extraordinary Asian unicorn is almost extinct with the population of 750 or even possibly less.
On that 21st of May in 1992, the team of zoologists and biologists out studying the newly-established National Park, Vũ Quang National Park, obtained a strange skull with long pointed horns, gotten from a local hunter while stopping at his house. Excited, they found another similar pair of horns in the Annamite Range in the reserve the next day! This marked one of the greatest mammal discoveries of the 20th century. But, even after 33 years, we still know very little about how they act and behave.
There are three ungulates that are extinct in the wild: the scimitar-horned oryx, Père David’s deer, and the northern white rhinoceros are all gone (except Najin and Fatu in Kenya).
There are also many species that are critically endangered and endangered: 24 species of ungulates are endangered and 14 are critically endangered.
Saolas belong to the order artiodactyla. Many animals such as giraffes, orcas, bison, and deer are also in this order. There are around 270 land-based even-toed ungulate species. Many of these animals are herbivores but suids are omnivores, and cetaceans are completely carnivorous, and the saola is not yet permanently classified. Adding to this order then, would be very important because humans eat them, use them, and they are also of great cultural importance, and if there is a new one, we would need to know exactly where it should be classified.
Typically, Artiodactyls are large animals with hooves that bear the weight equally on two of their five toes. The other three toes are usually gone, damaged, or just not able to function. These are also known as ungulates.
Some taxonomists give cetaceans the name of Cetartiodactyla while others include these as part of the existing order of Artiodactyla. Many researchers use the term “even-toed ungulates” to only include land-based artiodactyls and to exclude cetaceans.
The saola has a chocolate brown coat with tiny spots of white on the face, a black dorsal stripe, and two almost parallel horns that both genders have. The skin on the neck and belly is paler compared to the rest of the brownish coat. The saola’s skin is 1-2 millimeters thick mostly around the body, but thickens to 5 millimeters up near the back of the neck and upper shoulders. This adaptation is used to fight predators and other rivals’ horns. Saolas usually weigh between 80-100 kg (176-220 lbs).
Tracking these animals is made easier by studying their… you guessed it: POOP. The dung of a captive adult saola were special in being formed into big boluses, and boluses are the mass of food that becomes waste. In this way, they might be recognizable in the field from the droppings of ungulates living in the same area or about the same size, namely, muntjacs Muntacus (muntjac), Sambar Cervus unicolor (Sambar deer), Southern Serow Naemorhedus sumatrensis (Sumatran serow). All these animals usually drop small, individual pellets.
When I watched footage of the saola, I noticed that it had a long tongue, gorgeous eyes, spots of white on its face, and its ears and eyes moved a lot. Also, I learned lots of information about how people are trying to track down saolas by using leeches’ blood and tracing their DNA, having already tested 20,000 of those leeches! Although they have tested many with no success, scientists refuse to give up. About giving up, researcher Andrew Tinker said, “Oh no, I don’t think so. Some people do but to me the saola is priceless; you can’t put a price tag on it.” Also, William Robichaud, that zoologist mentioned above, and the head of the Saola Research Group had an opportunity to be around a saola for a few weeks and it changed his life. People are also learning to recognize and spread more awareness of them by avoiding using traps and learning about their appearances.
