science · 25 June 1994 · 30 years ago
In 1994, the capture of the first live specimen of the Vu Quang ox in Vietnam, a previously unknown species of mammal, was reported in the London newspaper The Times. Its existence was first discovered during May 1992 from remains in hunters' villages, including several skulls with horns. This was the first discovery of new large mammal species since the Okapi (Okapia johnstoni) in 1910. The captured calf was held in an enclosure at the Vietnam's Forest Inventory and Planning Institute. The species was named Pseudoryx nghetinhensis. It is presently thought to be restricted to an area of approximately 4,000 sq. km along the Vietnam-Laos border within the Vu Quang Nature Reserve.
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