Nov 12, 2019 13:00:00

`` Rabbit-sized deer-like animal '' that was thought to be extinct is rediscovered

It is reported that a kind of

antelope that was hunted by humans and possibly extinct was filmed in a forest area in Vietnam. According to the research team, the inhabitants were confirmed for the first time in about 30 years.

Camera-trap evidence that the silver-backed chevrotain Tragulus versicolor remains in the wild in Vietnam | Nature Ecology & Evolution
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-019-1027-7

Elusive deer-like animal 'rediscovered' in Vietnam
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03467-7

Silver-backed Chevrotain (scientific name: Tragulus versicolor) is a kind of sika deer that looks like a deer and has a silver hair on its back. By 1910, four types of specimens existed, and skin specimens were made in the early 1990s.

However, since there is no remaining observations and research that is clearly in addition to the five samples, Silver-backed Chevrotain the International Union for Conservation of Nature of the Red List is to have been classified as 'DATA DEFICIENT (insufficient data)'.

Silver-backed Chevrotain was recognized as 'already extinct' because Silver-backed Chevrotain was not seen alive for nearly 30 years since the last specimen was made. However, a person living in the forest on the outskirts of Nha Trang city in southern Vietnam knew that Silver-backed Chevrotain was inhabited.

Therefore, a research team formed by the Wildlife Conservation Organization Global Wildlife Conservation and Vietnamese researchers conducted interviews with local people, set up a camera in a place where Silver-backed Chevrotain is likely to appear, and lived. I tried to shoot Silver-backed Chevrotain. And the following photos were taken.

Andrew Tilker, a member of Global Wildlife Conservation, said, “This photo showing that Silver-backed Chevrotain lives in Vietnam is not a new discovery for locals, but for the wider scientific community, “Our research has achieved the rediscovery of the species.”

However, the team pointed out that the population of Silver-backed Chevrotain is threatened by human hunting, deforestation, and the invasion of urban areas where cars and motorcycles run at tremendous speed. “If you don't take action immediately, Silver-backed Chevrotain will be extinct again,” Tilker warned.