Saola
| Saola | ||||||||||||
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Saola ( Pseudoryx nghetinhensis ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Pseudoryx | ||||||||||||
| Dung , Giao , Chinh , Tuoc , Arctander & MacKinnon , 1993 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Pseudoryx nghetinhensis | ||||||||||||
| Dung , Giao , Chinh , Tuoc , Arctander & MacKinnon , 1993 |
The Saola ( Pseudoryx nghetinhensis ), also known as the Vu Quang antelope or Vietnamese forest cattle , is an ungulate that was scientifically described only in 1993 and occurs in Laos and Vietnam .
Discovery story
The species was scientifically described and named in 1993. Until then, at the end of the 20th century, the discovery of a new large mammal species was thought to be impossible. Saolas are among the rarest ungulates in the world.
In May 1992, three pairs of horns were found in Vu Quang National Park in northwest Vietnam . Then they went in search of more specimens and found twenty more horns in the course of 1992. However, it was not until 1996 that a live animal was caught and photographed in Laos . In late August 2010, a male specimen was caught by residents of the Laotian province of Bolikhamsai and was photographed by researchers before it died. This was the first photo of this species in a decade. The dead animal was brought to the provincial capital Pakxan to be scientifically examined by biologists, which hoped to gain new knowledge about how this animal species can be kept in captivity in the future. It was not until September 2013 that another wild Saola was photographed in a forest in Vietnam.
features
The Saola has a head body length of 180 cm, a shoulder height of 90 cm and a weight of 100 kg. The fur is dark brown; There is a white spot above each hoof. The face has variable white markings. While the physique resembles that of a ducker , the head resembles that of a kudu . The horns are long, slender, and almost straight back; their length can be 50 cm.
distribution
Saolas live in rain-rich, almost impenetrable rainforests at altitudes between 300 and 1,800 m. The animals probably mainly near streams, where they plant the Homalomena aromatica from the family of the arum family eat (Araceae). The distribution area has an estimated size of only 8,000 km².
Way of life
Almost nothing is known about the behavior because of the rare observations. Apparently the animals move alone or in pairs. The discovery of a pregnant dead animal in 1996 made it possible to determine that young animals were apparently born in May or early June; the dead animal was estimated to be eight to nine years old; To draw conclusions from this about the natural life expectancy of the Vu-Quang cattle, however, seems a bit daring. The Vu Quang beef is diurnal and extremely shy.
Threat and protection
Thirteen Saola have been held in captivity so far. However, they only survived a few weeks. The Vietnamese government has therefore issued a ban on catching and keeping these animals. The IUCN has given the Vu Quang cattle the status of "critically endangered" and now counts them among the hundred most critically endangered species. Any estimate of the population is speculative, but it should be a few hundred animals at most. In April 2011 it was decided to establish a Saola sanctuary in the Vietnamese province of Quảng Nam , which should significantly increase the chances of survival of the species.
Systematics
The close relationship of the Vu Quang antelope has long been a matter of dispute. On the basis of studies of the skull characteristics, a relationship with the goat-like was initially assumed. A relationship with the Serau was assumed here, since the Vu Quang antelope like this one has a gland in front of the eye.
As a result of DNA analyzes from 1999, the Vu-Quang cattle were counted among those cattle with which they seem at first glance to have little in common. Further investigations confirmed the close relationship to the cattle, but it is disputed whether the Saola should be classified directly with the cattle (Bovini) or in a separate genus group (Pseudorygini). In any case, according to these investigations, the cattle in the narrower sense represent the sister taxon of the Vu Quang cattle.
Designations
An abundance of German names is used for Pseudoryx nghetinhensis , none of which has become generally accepted. The terms Vu-Quang-Antelope and Vu-Quang-Oryx refer to the center of the distribution area, the Vietnamese Vụ-Quang National Park. The Vietnamese name is often used, Saola (or Sao La ), which literally means "spindle horn". The name Vietnamese forest cattle is also relatively widespread. Accordingly, the term “Spindelbock” is sometimes used in German.
The scientific name Pseudoryx means something like "false oryx" and alludes to the similarity of the horns to those of the oryx antelopes .
literature
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World . Johns Hopkins University Press , 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 .
- A. Hassanin, EJP Douzery: Evolutionary affinities of the enigmatic saola (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis) in the context of the molecular phylogeny of Bovidae. In: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. 1999, B 266 (1422), pp. 893-900.
- M. Hernandez-Fernandez, ES Vrba: A complete estimate of the phylogenetic relationships in Ruminantia: a dated species-level supertree of the extant ruminants. In: Biological Reviews. 80 (2005), pp. 269-302.
Web links
- Pseudoryx nghetinhensis inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015.4. Listed by: Timmins et al , 2008. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
- Information on the Saola reserve on the WWF Austria website
- September 2013: The Saola shows up in the bush ( Memento from November 14, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Villagers in Laos spot a Saola. In: FAZ . No. 217, September 18, 2010.
- ↑ Forest cattle first sighted in ten years. In: NZZ . September 16, 2010.
- ↑ Tagesschau: Rare mammal sighted in Vietnam ( Memento from November 13, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ IUCN information sheet, engl.