Saola

Saola
CITES Appendix I (CITES)
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Bovidae
Subfamily: Bovinae
Tribe: Bovini
Genus: Pseudoryx
Dung, Giao, Chinh, Tuoc, Arctander & MacKinnon, 1993
Species:
P. nghetinhensis
Binomial name
Pseudoryx nghetinhensis
Dung, Giao, Chinh, Tuoc, Arctander & MacKinnon, 1993
Range in Vietnam and Laos

The saola (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis), also called spindlehorn, Asian unicorn, or infrequently, Vu Quang bovid, is a forest-dwelling bovid native to the Annamite Range in Vietnam and Laos. It was described in 1993 following a discovery of remains in Vũ Quang National Park 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 first photograph of a living saola was taken in captivity in 1993. The most recent one was taken in 2013 by a movement-triggered camera in the forest of central Vietnam, which represents the most recent record of the saola. There is concern that the species may already be extinct. It is the only species in the genus Pseudoryx and the earliest diverging member of the tribe Bovini, placing buffalo and cattle as its closest relatives.