Animals / saola-vietnam-enigma
Facts about Saola Vietnam Enigma
- 05
Facial glands near the saola's eyes produce a pungent secretion, which locals believe the animal uses to mark territory.
- 04
Saola belong to the bovid family and possess two parallel horns that can reach roughly 50 centimeters in length, giving them a striking, almost antelope-like appearance.
- 03
A saola captured in Laos in 1996 died in captivity within days, highlighting the extreme difficulty of keeping the species alive outside its natural habitat.
- 02
Known only from a few camera trap images and specimens, the saola has earned the nickname 'Asian unicorn' due to its extreme elusiveness.
- 01
The saola, discovered in Vietnam in 1992, is one of the rarest large mammals on Earth and has never been observed in the wild by scientists.