Siola, Vu Quang ox, Spindlehorn, Asian unicorn, the Vu Quang bovid, Vu quang bovid
The saola (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis) is one of the world's rarest large mammals, a forest-dwelling bovine native to the Annamite Range in Vietnam and Laos. It was described in 1993 following the discovery of remains in Vũ Quang Nature Reserve by a joint survey of the Vietnamese Ministry of Forestry and the World Wide Fund for Nature. Saolas have since been kept in captivity multiple times, although only for short periods as they died within a matter of weeks to months. The species was first reported in 1992 by Do Tuoc, a forest ecologist, and his associates, and a living wild saola was first photographed in 1993 in captivity, and last photographed in 2013 by a movement-triggered camera in the forest.
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DiurnalDiurnal animals are active during the daytime, with a period of sleeping or other inactivity at night. The timing of activity by an animal depends ...
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NocturnalNocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal",...
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CrepuscularCrepuscular animals are those that are active primarily during twilight (that is, the periods of dawn and dusk). This is distinguished from diurnal...
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HerbivoreA herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example, foliage, for the main component of its die...
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FolivoreIn zoology, a folivore is a herbivore that specializes in eating leaves. Mature leaves contain a high proportion of hard-to-digest cellulose, less ...
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
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BrowsingBrowsing is a type of herbivory in which an herbivore (or, more narrowly defined, a folivore) feeds on leaves, soft shoots, or fruits of high-growi...
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TerritorialA territory is a sociographical area that which an animal consistently defends against the conspecific competition (or, occasionally, against anima...
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ViviparousAmong animals, viviparity is the development of the embryo inside the body of the parent. The term 'viviparity' and its adjective form 'viviparous'...
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CursorialA cursorial organism is one that is adapted specifically to run. An animal can be considered cursorial if it has the ability to run fast (e.g. chee...
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Generally solitaryGenerally solitary animals are those animals that spend their time separately but will gather at foraging areas or sleep in the same location or sh...
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Altitudinal MigrantAltitudinal migration is a short-distance animal migration from lower altitudes to higher altitudes and back. Altitudinal migrants change their ele...
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starts withSaola has a chocolate brown coat with patches of white on the face, throat, and sides of the neck. There is a paler shade of brown on the neck and the belly, and a black dorsal stripe. Saola skin is 1-2 millimeters (0.039-0.079 in) thick over most of the body but thickens to 5 millimeters (0.20 in) near the nape of the neck and at the upper shoulders. This adaptation is thought to protect against both predators and rivals' horns during fights. The saola has round pupils with dark-brown irises that appear orange when light is shone into them; a cluster of white whiskers about 2 centimeters (0.79 in) long with a presumably tactile function protruding from the end of the chin. Both sexes possess slightly divergent horns that are similar in appearance and form almost the same angle with the skull but differ in their lengths. Horns resemble the parallel wooden posts locally used to support a spinning wheel (thus the familiar name "spindlehorn"). These are generally dark brown or black and about 35-50 cm long; twice the length of their head.
Saola inhabit wet evergreen or deciduous forests in eastern Indochina, preferring rivers and valleys. During the winters, these animals tend to migrate down to the lowlands.
Saola are active during the day as well as at night but prefer resting during the hot midday hours. They are generally solitary creatures but may gather in groups of 2 or 3 as well as up to 6 or 7 individuals. Saola are territorial and mark their territories by opening up the flap of the maxillary gland and leaving a pungent secretion on rocks and vegetation. When not foraging saola spend considerable time grooming themselves, resting, and occasionally give out short bleats.
Saola are herbivores (folivores) and feed on leaves of trees and bushes, that grow along rivers.
Very little information is available about the reproductive cycle of saola. They have a fixed mating season that lasts from late August to mid-November. Females give birth to only a single calf, mainly during summer between mid-April and late June. The gestation period is thought to last about 33 weeks.
The biggest threats to saola are habitat loss and habitat fragmentation. They also suffer from local hunting and the illegal trade in furs, traditional medicines, and for use of meat in restaurants and food markets. Saola also sometimes get caught in snares that have been set to catch animals raiding crops, such as wild boar, sambar, and muntjac. More than 26,651 snares have so far been removed from saola habitats by conservation groups. Due to the scarcity, the locals place much more value on the saola than on more common species. Because the people in this area are traditional hunters, their attitude about killing saola is hard to change and this makes conservation difficult.
According to the IUCN Red List, the total population size of the saola is less than 750 individuals. Currently, this species is classified as Critically Endangered (CR) on the IUCN Red List, and its numbers today are decreasing.