World’s Rarest Animal Known as ‘Asian Unicorn’ is Being Hunted by Experts

Saola is such a mysterious creature that hardly any researcher has ever spotted one in the country side.

The saola which weighs 80-100kg, has nice straight spikes, white patches on its head, and big facial smell receptors. It does not appear to be a difficult creature to identify.

The Discovery of The Mysterious Saola

But it wasn't until the year 1992 that this enigmatic species was identified, making it the first huge rodent identified in over five decades.

The saola, sometimes known as the "Asian unicorn," remains a mystery. They still haven't been sighted in the open by a scientist and only been camera-trapped a few occasions.

There were also accounts of locals attempting to preserve these creatures in confinement, but they perished within several fortnight, most likely because to the incorrect food.

"It is evident that if we are to preserve this critically endangered species, investigation activities must be greatly increased in scope and depth," stated Nerissa Chao, Director of the IUCN SSC Asian Biodiversity Protection Alliance.

The Saola Organization, for example, is soliciting funds for a new effort that will teach canines to identify saola indications such as excrement.

Mr. William Robichaud and Simon Hedges, in 2006, a biochemist and expert on native animals' protection and combating wildlife crime in Asia and Africa and co-founded the Saola Steering Committee (SWG) with the goal of locating the very last saolas in the jungle for a held in captivity conventional breeding, with the goal of reintroducing the organisms back into the environment in the years ahead, in a natural surroundings free of dangers.

Originally known as the Vu Quang Ox, the animal was eventually dubbed saola (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis) - which translates to "spindle horns," the arms or posts (sao) of a spinning wheel (la) by Lao-speaking cultural minorities in Laos and neighboring Vietnam.

The Hunting For The Asian Unicorn

As per the IUCN, just around 30% of prospective Saola territory has undergone any type of environmental assessment, and maybe as less as 2% has been extensively investigated for the genus.

Twenty extra sample, such as a whole epidermis, were gathered later, and clinical studies revealed that the animal was not only a new species, but an altogether fresh related species in the bovid relatives, which encompasses cows, lambs, farm animals, and impalas.

"Huge numbers of individuals utilize trap, so there are literally billions of them in the wilderness," asserts Minh Nguyen, a PhD student at Colorado State University who experiments the influence of snare drums on the threatened species large-antlered muntjac.

In 1992, researcher Do Tuoc discovered two skulls and a couple of monster tusks attributed to an alien species while conducting a fauna census in the isolated V Quang wildlife sanctuary, a 212 sq mile wooded area in north central Vietnam.

Cameras, for example, really aren't excellent at identifying the specific animals distributed along a wide expanse, particularly in the moist, deep woodland of the Saola region.

The finding was heralded one of the most amazing scientific findings of the 20th century, but far less than three decades later, the saola stock is thought to have plummeted owing to industrial environmental hunting, which has surged in Vietnam around 1994.

"We are at a watershed point in preservation heritage," adds Robichaud, head of the Saola Society.