Deep within the mountain forests of Laos, a team of scientists is conducting probably the most ambitious wildlife searches on the earth. Their mission is to rediscover the saoli, a mysterious mammal called the “Asian Unicorn”, of which there are probably only a number of dozen left within the wild.
According to Mongabaythe motion is led by the Saola Foundation for the Conservation of the Annamite Mountains in cooperation with the Government of Laos, the Saola Working Group of IUCN and native communities. They race against time to avoid wasting certainly one of the rarest animals on Earth before it disappears eternally.
Race against time within the Annamite forests
Beginning in April 2025, a conservation team consisting of wildlife trackers, scientists and native residents began a large-scale search in Bolikhamxay Province in central Laos. They are combing a 300-square-kilometer area of dense forest that is still largely unprotected but is believed to be the saoli’s last refuge.
Lorraine Scotson, chief executive of the Saola Foundation, described the trouble as a race against time. “Even if there are individual saoles, with each passing day these saoles are getting older and eventually beyond reproductive age,” she said Mongabay. This reality makes the possibilities of saving the species increasingly slim.
The Saola Working Group estimates that there aren’t any greater than 50 individuals left, scattered in small, isolated groups within the Annamite Mountains, a spread stretching from the borders of Laos, Vietnam and northeastern Cambodia. At such critically low numbers, natural reproduction is sort of unimaginable.
Read also: Saola, a unicorn from Southeast Asia
Technology and traces: from DNA to tracking dogs
The team uses a mixture of recent techniques to search out this almost invisible creature. Two trained sniffer dogs, Norman and Bertie, were sent to smell out the droppings of cloven-hoofed ungulates reminiscent of saola.
Because no fresh samples of saola feces exist, the dogs were trained using the scents of related species to assist them recognize potential signs of the animal’s presence.
In addition, the team uses a conveyable qPCR-based DNA testing device developed by the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Wildlife Diagnostics Lab on the Bronx Zoo within the US. This technology can confirm inside two hours whether a sample – reminiscent of feces, hair or chewed leaves – comes from a saola.
According to Mongabaydeveloping this tool was a serious challenge in itself, as no living saola could function a reference. Scientists even needed to create an “artificial fertilizer” by mixing archived saola DNA with antelope feces to create a reliable testing method.
The roots of the crisis: snares, hunting and disappearing habitats
According to WWF, the primary threat to saoli is steel wire snares set within the forest to catch animals reminiscent of wild boars and deer. Although saola should not the intended targets of hunters, they often develop into accidental victims.
There are estimated to be hundreds of thousands of snares scattered across the region, making them the deadliest threat to this elusive large mammal. In addition to snares, deforestation and habitat fragmentation have caused severe population declines.
Clearing land for agriculture, road constructing and logging has divided saola populations into small, isolated groups, making it difficult for them to search out one another and breed. WWF warns that the lack of their natural habitat means the lack of the species’ last probability for survival.
Various conservation measures have been taken. Since 2011, the Vietnamese government has established a protected area in Quang Nam Province specifically for saoli and other rare mammals. WWF also trained foresters and worked with local communities to remove snares and lift awareness of the importance of protecting this endemic species.
Moreover, since 2017, Laos and Vietnam have been implementing a conservation breeding program, the aim of which is to avoid wasting the remaining saolas by capturing several individuals, raising them safely and breeding them in captivity. The offspring from this program will eventually be released into the wild once their habitats are fully protected against snares and poaching.
Read also: The most endangered animals on the earth
A story still unfolding
Saola was unknown to the world until 1992, when researchers from the Hanoi Natural History Museum discovered a pair of surprising horns in a Laotian village. Analysis showed that the horns belonged to a previously unknown species of untamed cattle (Bovidae).
The discovery is taken into account probably the most extraordinary zoological discoveries of the twentieth century, because nowadays it is amazingly rare to discover a big mammal.
Since then, live saola have only been documented a number of times: from a camera trap photo in Laos in 1999, in Vietnam in 2013, and in sporadic reports from local residents. According to WWF, the one physical specimens currently known are skins, horns and skulls stored on the Copenhagen Zoological Museum.
In the wild, saola is thought for its calm and delicate nature, which is perfectly reflected in its Laotian nickname, When Supphap, which suggests “polite animal”.
