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The Annamite Mountains

The Annamite Mountains

Running along the border of Lao and Viet Nam and extending into eastern Cambodia, the rugged Annamite Mountains lie at the heart of one of the world’s 200 most important bioregions, and are a center of endemism within the Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot. Despite not receiving the global attention it deserves, there is more at stake in this region than in almost any other part of the world. 

An Ancient and Irreplaceable Wilderness of Southeast Asia

Where are the Annamite Mountains

The Annamite Mountains form much of the border of Lao and Viet Nam, and extend into eastern Cambodia. The Annamite Mountains Bioregion has three main biogeographic components, the Northern Annamites, the Central Annamites and the Southern Annamites, all of which have been inhabited by multiple different indigenous human groups for centuries.

The Saola Foundation is active in Bolikhamxay Province, in the northern part of the Annamite Mountains in Lao.

Map of the Annamite Mountains Bioregion along the Lao and Viet Nam border, showing the Northern, Central and Southern Annamites and the potential Saola range.
The Annamite Mountains Bioregion and its three biogeographic components. The potential Saola range is shown in red.

A Living Museum for Evolutionary History

The Annamites is a living museum for evolutionary history with estimates of thousands of undocumented endemic species. Annamite biodiversity features “old endemicity”, with species little changed since the Miocene Epoch, five million years and more, and beyond.

What is seen in the Annamites today is the fruits of a long-running evolutionary factory resulting in narrowly endemic species. The interaction of geography with continental and oceanic weather systems over the Annamites creates localized “ever-wet tropical rainforest” conditions strikingly different from adjacent drier “monsoonal” areas of Southeast Asia.

This localized climatic regime has evidently been stable over a long geologic timescale and has driven a process in the Annamites of both relative evolutionary stasis, of Miocene and older biodiversity represented by species like the Saola and Annamite Striped Rabbit, and isolated “island-like” evolutionary adaptation. The latter process is very similar to that seen in the Galapagos, with, for example, a different species of gibbon in the different “islands” of Annamite ever-wet tropical rainforest.

A Long-Running Evolutionary Factory

Although most Annamite mammals and birds have now been documented, the numbers of undocumented endemic flora, fauna and funga species combined certainly exceeds those known, and specialists estimate that a new species could be discovered every day within the Annamites.

  • Saola Pseudoryx nghetinhensis, Critically Endangered
  • Large-antlered Muntjac Muntiacus vuquangensis, Critically Endangered
  • Annamite Crested Argus Rheinardia ocellata, Critically Endangered
  • Northern White-cheeked Gibbon Nomascus leucogenys, Critically Endangered
  • Red-shanked Douc Pygathrix nemaeus, Critically Endangered
  • Indochinese Grey Langur Trachypithecus crepusculus, Endangered
  • Impressed Tortoise Manouria impressa, Endangered
  • Keeled Box Turtle Cuora mouhotii, Endangered, a very poorly known species in the wild
  • Western Serow Capricornis sumatraensis, Sambar Rusa unicolor, Great Hornbill Buceros bicornis and Rufous-necked Hornbill Aceros nipalensis, all Vulnerable

Other, highly threatened non-endemic large mammals in the Annamite Mountains have a greater “safety net” because they also occur in other regions. Gaur Bos gaurus, a wild ox, has more secure populations in India, and the two species of pangolin found in the Annamite Mountains, both Critically Endangered, have much larger global distributions. If they were ever to be extirpated in the Annamite Mountains, there would still be a chance to conserve them elsewhere. This is also the case with the two species of rhino that the region has lost. But for Annamite endemics like the Saola, there are no other options. If we lose them, then they will likely be gone for good.

Many Not Even Described by Science

In 2024 our field team documented a leaf monkey new to science, in unprotected isolated limestone karst in Bolikhamxay Province.

Flagship species such as the Saola and the muntjac are associated with irreplaceable ecosystems that sustain many more cryptic and otherwise overlooked endemic species facing imminent global extinction, many not even described by science. Although the ecosystems themselves are unlikely to disappear, these flagships, along with the other cryptic and otherwise overlooked endemic species that they represent, are on the precipice of extinction. Once they are gone, they are gone forever, leaving in their wake much poorer ecosystems.

New Species of Leaf Monkey

An Important Nexus Between Cultural and Biodiversity Conservation

The Annamites also represent an important nexus between cultural and biodiversity conservation. This region has been described as an area of “linguistic and cultural megadiversity” by the linguistic anthropologist Dr. James Chamberlain. This region’s rich biodiversity is paralleled with a rich human diversity of languages and cultures, many of which are found only in the Annamite Mountains and are reliant on a healthy forest of rich biodiversity, representing a globally important nexus between cultural conservation and biodiversity conservation.

Peoples of the Annamites: Multiple Versions of the Same Place

Poaching, Illegal Wildlife Trade, and Habitat Loss

The area’s extraordinary concentration of highly threatened endemic species has been brought about largely by a three-decade long surge in commercially driven poaching and other forms of harvesting and relatively low levels of conservation investment compared with other global priority regions, posing a significant threat to biodiversity and to the cultural heritage of indigenous people in the Annamite Mountains.

Widespread poaching, largely by wire snares, and other forms of harvesting is pushing many species of large-bodied, ground living animals, such as the Annamite Crested Argus and the Large-antlered Muntjac, into extinction.

The conversion of forests for agriculture, infrastructure development such as roads and dams, and logging operations has led to significant habitat loss and fragmentation. Even within remaining forests, habitat quality is declining due to overgrazing by livestock, collection of non-timber forest products, and disturbances from human activities.

Lao is one of the world’s 45 Least Developed Countries and the villages in which we operate are amongst the poorest within the country. Lao, including our project area, is both a source country and transit hub for Asia’s regional catastrophic wildlife trade.

How many snares are too many

The Saola

The Saola Pseudoryx nghetinhensis, a tropical forest bovid and ancestral member of the cattle clade within its own genus, is endemic to the Annamite Mountains. It was first discovered in 1992 when skull frontlets complete with the species’ distinctive horns were found in village houses in Viet Nam. The Annamite Mountains came to global attention in 1992 with the scientific discovery of the Saola.

Saolas are among the world’s most endangered large mammals with almost certainly fewer than 100 left in the wild and none in captivity. From its discovery in 1992 until today, there have been no observations of Saolas in the wild by researchers, and at the time of writing only five records of Saolas in the wild captured by remote camera traps, the last in 2013.

The rapid and precipitous decline of Saola, leading to its categorization of Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, has been brought about primarily as a result of uncontrolled hunting. However, that threat has now almost certainly been superseded by the threat created by extremely low unnatural population densities. Such low densities make natural social interaction between Saolas close to impossible, and thus natural breeding behavior and birth, recruitment, is now likely to have largely ceased. So even if hunting and other potential threats were removed, Saola would still go extinct without intervention.

The Asian Unicorn  ·  How Many Are Left?  ·  Save Saola

The Enigmatic Saola and the Annamite Mountains

By Rob Timmins, March 2020

The Saola is nothing if not enigmatic. Much like an antelope in appearance, its present-day relatives are wild cattle such as bison and oxen. The sole representative of the genus Pseudoryx, this quiet, shy creature has hidden in the Annamite Mountain rainforests for millions of years, little changed since before humans even evolved. In fact, Saola have probably existed in much the same form, on just a tiny fraction of the earth’s surface, for millions of years, predating the origins of our own genus, Homo.

The Annamite Mountains are as spectacularly distinctive as this enigmatic inhabitant. A combination of geography and climate and the stability of these systems over geologic timescales, in contrast to radical changes in surrounding ecosystems, have driven a process of both relative evolutionary stasis and isolated evolutionary advancement in the Annamites. The latter process is akin to that described by Charles Darwin in the Galapagos and Alfred Russel Wallace in the Malay Archipelago. Isolated forests subjected to unique environmental conditions over long periods of time become an evolutionary factory for endemic species. This is what we see in the Annamites today. Consequently, the Annamite Mountains, forming much of the border between Lao PDR and Vietnam, experiencing both continental and coastal weather systems and surrounded by areas of human impact, are one of the most biologically diverse and unique regions in the world.

Whilst much of the rest of life on Earth busily evolved, and eventually humans came into existence, deep in the Annamite Mountains, the Saola and other evolutionary ‘enigmas’ from the past, like the Annamite Striped Rabbit, have thrived without the need to radically change.

It is only in the last half-century that the Saola’s existence became seriously threatened, by the encroachment of humans and their technology.

A Saola in the Annamite Mountains.
Annamite Striped Rabbit, endemic to the Annamite Mountains.
Annamite Striped Rabbit, endemic to the Annamite Mountains

The current rarity and high degree of endangerment of Saola is attributable to a wildlife exploitation epidemic in Southeast Asia. Most devastating has been the advent of industrial-scale wildlife snaring in the late 1980s and early 1990s. We call it ‘industrial-scale’, because literally tens of millions of snares, interspersed in tens of thousands of miles of brush fence lines, have been set within the range of Saola over the last 30 years. This rampant hunting is fueled by demand for species valued in the commercial trade for bushmeat and traditional medicines. The Saola has relatively low economic value, with edible meat and horns that can be sold as ‘curios’. Despite this, Saola, through traits of their ecology and behavior, are especially sensitive to snares set for other mammals, and to hunting with dogs. They have been affected disproportionately and fared far worse than some other species, such as wild pigs and civets.

So few Saola remain in the wild, that to save the Saola from extinction we must find and capture the last remaining animals and, using the best of modern knowledge and technology, breed those animals in a state-of-the-art breeding facility, and ultimately restore wild populations into secure areas of native range.

Please, consider donating and join our cause.

Wire snares collected from the forest floor in the Annamite Mountains.
Industrial-scale snaring is wiping out terrestrial forest wildlife in Southeast Asia

To Save the Saola, We First Need to Locate the Saola

The Saola Foundation is active in Bolikhamxay Province in the northern Annamites region within Lao. To save the Saola, we first need to locate the Saola, which we are seeking to do during the current phase of our program.

To find Saolas, a comprehensive, all-out intensive search program based on the best science and state-of-the-art methods is imperative.

Our Annamite Mountains Research and Conservation team consists of an indigenous animal tracking unit, a scent detection dog unit, field technicians and logistics assistants, along with team and unit leaders. In creating this team we have paired the best local indigenous knowledge with the knowledge of international technical specialists.

Our Animal Tracking Unit is the first such unit to be developed in mainland Southeast Asia, based on the scientific principles of our partner organization the CyberTracker International network. Our Scent Detection Dog Unit is the first national scent detection dog unit in mainland Southeast Asia dedicated to biodiversity conservation. Our partner organization Working Dogs for Conservation has been leading the training, and sourced and trained our first two detection dogs, which have been active in the forest with the Lao field team since September 2024.

In collaboration with the Wildlife Conservation Society we have developed an extremely sensitive, reliable, easy to use and very portable DNA field testing platform which can identify Saola DNA from dung. Having the equipment at basecamp in the forest allows us to have test results potentially available within hours of finding the source in the forest.

We estimate there is approximately 15,000 km2 of potentially occupied habitat remaining. Searching all of it is not possible, so the effort is concentrated: a systematic intensive search of a 300 km2 target area in the Nam Chouan and Nam Xang area of Bolikhamxay Province, at a survey intensity of at least 10 linear kilometers of search effort per square kilometer.

A formal MoU signed between the Saola Foundation and the Government of Lao in January 2025 demonstrates political buy-in for this issue.

At the Saola Foundation we believe that it is not too late to save the Saola.

Solutions for Finding Saola  ·  Our Strategy  ·  Donate

The Search to Find, and Save, the Last Saola

The Search to Find, and Save, the Last Saola

Going all-in to find a mysterious, charismatic mammal in the mountains of Southeast Asia.

This story  originally appeared on Ensia.

“I’ve seen grown men reduced to tears in the Annamite Mountains,” says wildlife biologist Lorraine Scotson of the mountain range along the border of Laos and Vietnam. “[Men] who are physically fit and really strong, adventurous types.” There’s a “claustrophobia that gets introduced” when you’re in these forest-covered mountains, she says.

“Then you’ve got the leeches and the ticks and the horseflies and all of the mosquitoes biting,” Scotson says. “It’s like the whole forest is out to get you.”

Scotson knows the Annamite Mountains well. She’s spent almost two decades in the jungles of Southeast Asia studying bears. Now, as the CEO of the Saola Foundation, she’s on a different mission in the Annamites: locate what is likely the world’s most elusive large land mammal, the saola.

Only discovered by Western scientists in 1992, the animal, which scientists believe is naturally rare and low density, has become so endangered that a tracker with the Saola Foundation, Maiy Thammanan, says few local people even know of it — though older residents are more likely to, due to “direct experience catching saola by snaring and hunting dogs.” But knowledge of the saola to the West came as a shock, akin to the finding of the okapi in 1901.

There is nothing on Earth like the saola — a true megafauna at around 200 pounds (90 kilograms), with two long curving horns up to 20 inches (50 centimeters) and striking white face markings. Superficially, it resembles an African antelope, like a bongo or an oryx. But the saola is not an antelope; instead, it’s more closely related to wild cattle. Still, it’s so distinct from every other bovid that it sits alone in its own genus, Pseudoryx.

Since 1992, the saola has only been documented a handful of times, including a couple animals briefly held in captivity and a couple others caught on camera trap. The last conclusive proof the saola still existed was in 2013 when one was photographed by a camera trap.

Now, a team of trackers with the Saola Foundation is hoping to change that. The expedition, currently ongoing in the Annamite Mountains, involves a unique pairing of high-tech and natural-tech tactics, using in-field DNA detectors, tracking dogs, and local and international experts.

A natural question to such an effort for an animal that might be extinct is: Why do it? Why put all this energy into trying to find the saola?

But for William Robichaud, co-founder of the Saola Foundation and the world’s leading expert on the animal, that’s not the right question. “Nobody ever asks the guards and the curators of the Van Gogh Museum at Amsterdam, ‘Why are you doing all this work to save [his paintings]?’” Robichaud says.

That said, the intrinsic value of the animal aside, Robichaud, who spent a brief time with a captured saola dubbed Martha before she died in 1996, notes that the foundation’s effort is about much more than the saola.

“We’re developing a field team unlike anything that’s ever been seen in Southeast Asia before. It’s extraordinary,” he says. “This approach has never been attempted before in Laos and breaks from the traditional model of relying entirely on international expertise.” He further notes that no one has combined detection dogs, professional trackers, local indigenous ecologists and field DNA tests before.

Robichaud thinks the foundation’s model could help in efforts to track other endangered species in the region, such as Edwards’s pheasant, Owston’s civet, red-shanked douc langur and the large-antlered muntjac.

“We want this team to be together for the next 20, 30, 40 years working on conservation projects in Laos, in the Annamites, and serving as a regional model for other NGOs,” Robichaud says. “We’re this tiny little saola foundation barely with two nickels to rub together, but we’re figuring out how to do this. Maybe other NGOs will take notice and start copying what we’ve done because we think it’s quite successful.”

Game Changer

One game changer in how the Saola Foundation is pursuing their quarry is a bespoke DNA field tester created by the Wildlife Conservation Society Molecular Diagnostics Lab. It’s groundbreaking because of its speed. When the team finds scat that might be from a saola — and not that of other animals in the region — they take it back to base camp to be tested, with results available in just an hour.

 

“It’s essentially very similar to a COVID test. The result comes back saola, not saola,” says Scotson. Prior to the new in-field DNA tester, she says, it would take months to get a result. Researchers would have to carry the sample out of the forest and transport it to a city, where they would get permission to mail it to a lab overseas. By that point, even if the test came back positive for saola, it would not be particularly useful for tracking the animal. “Without [the new] device, none of this would be possible.”

However, tracking the animal is just one of the group’s goals. That tracking will be followed by what might seem like an audacious plan for an animal that has been dubbed the “Asian unicorn” due to its nearly mythical elusiveness: starting a captive-breeding program in Laos.

“We don’t just need one saola, we need a breeding population,” says Scotson.

Capturing the animals is risky, but conservationists believe it’s the best chance to keep the saola from extinction.

The foundation is working off years of research and advocacy by the Saola Working Group, a part of the IUCN. The group’s analysis showed that the saola is likely among the most endangered land mammals on the planet and helped convince both range countries, Vietnam and Laos, that captive breeding is the best path forward to avoid the worst case scenario for the saola.

Before capture, the team must first monitor the animals to better understand their movements and needs. “The first saola will really be like the teacher and allow us to train Saola-specific dogs, learn about its behavior, movement pattern, ecology and also how to identify its tracks, because at the moment it’s mostly guesswork,” Scotson says.

Deep Habitat

Conservationists fear that snaring, which has wiped out tigers from Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, will do the same to the saola. Hunters lay thousands of metal snares in the region that are like land mines to animals. The snares can lie in the foliage for years until something, maybe a saola, gets caught in one and dies slowly, often of thirst.

“The main problem is organized poacher gangs in Vietnam crossing the border in the forest of Laos,” says Robichaud. “They’ll set hundreds or thousands of snares. Then they go back to Vietnam for like a month or two, and then they just come back and check the snare lines.”

It doesn’t matter if the animal is rotted, Robichaud says, because the poachers are mostly looking for items valuable in Chinese medicine, such as cat bones, pangolin scales or deer antlers. They aren’t even looking for the saola.

But the Saola Foundation expedition is, and it’s not easy. “The slopes are truly steep, the forest tangled, the rocks slippery, the places where we need to go don’t have paths. Undiagnosed fevers and infections [are] a certainty,” says Rob Timmins, the technical director of the foundation.

One team member had to be evacuated with dengue fever. Another got trench foot due to the endlessly wet conditions, and a landslide split the team for a week during the rainy season. At one point even a tracking dog had to be evacuated.

“[A team member] just strapped the dog to his chest and just marched out the forest with him,” Scotson says.

Still, it’s not all unpleasant. Onkeo Khamphavongsa, another tracker, describes the joy of waking to gibbons singing every morning or encountering groups of doucs — a type of monkey — 10 to 40 strong.

The team has already taken a photo of a frog that is likely previously unknown to Western science. There have also long been rumors of a monkey that has yet to be described by Western science in the remote karsts of the Annamite Mountains, based on reports from villagers and observations from Timmins and other researchers. What’s needed now is photographic evidence.

Timmins says he thinks they could probably find a new species every day if they had a full taxonomy team.

After months of training, the team is now entering deep habitat where the forest is potentially healthy enough — and remote enough — to still contain saola. While they haven’t detected the animal yet, Robichaud says they are seeing signs of an abundance of other species that no one would have expected, including hundreds of scat and visual sightings of serow, a goat-antelope.

But the question remains: Is the saola even out there? Or has it vanished in the last 10 years? The Saola Foundation estimates that the potential habitat of the animal is the size of New Jersey, but points to an analysis that shows only about 2% of that potential habitat has been intensively, and therefore sufficiently, explored for the saola.

Robichaud, who lives in Wisconsin, points out just how stealthy even large animals can be. He says the moment hunting season starts in his home state, all of a sudden, the 1.6 million white-tailed deer that live there are almost impossible to find.

“That’s what I think about,” he says. “I can’t even find a white-tailed deer in rural Wisconsin once the hunting season starts.”

The team remains convinced the saola is still out there, its secrets waiting to be discovered and, with some luck, its future ensured. But even if the search fails and the saola has been lost to time, many other needy species await, and Robichaud expects the team’s model will be helpful in future endeavors to find and protect them.

“Laos is a Buddhist country,” says Robichaud, “and the Buddha said no good effort is wasted.”
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Aimee traveling through the Annamites with the Saola Foundation team along rivers and difficult terrain.

Scent Detectives: Extraordinary Partners in the Quest to Find Saola in the Wild of Laos

Meet Aimee Hurt and Paul Bunker, two dedicated individuals who work with dogs to make a significant impact on wildlife conservation. In this article, we delve into an engaging conversation with Paul and Aimee, learning more about them, scent detection dogs and exploring their experiences during an expedition in Lao in late 2022 alongside the Saola Foundation and dog handler candidates. You can listen to the whole conversation in the link at the bottom.

Aimee Hurt
Aimee Hurt, Working Dogs for Conservation
Paul Bunker
Paul Bunker, Chiron K9

Aimee is one of four co-founders of Working Dogs for Conservation (WD4C), based near Missoula, Montana, USA. WD4C works globally, leveraging remarkable skills of specially trained detection dogs to aid in conservation efforts. Aimee’s journey began in the mid-90s, when she became intrigued by advancements in DNA analysis from scat that opened new possibilities for tracking and monitoring wildlife. In 2000, she and the other co-founders formalized their vision and established WD4C. Since then, Aimee has been at the forefront of the growing field of conservation dogs, deploying dogs to help protect wildlife and ecosystems around the world.

Paul Bunker, originally from Lincolnshire, England, UK, has an impressive background in dog training and a distinguished military career. He started as a dog trainer with his father and later joined the Royal Army Veterinary Corps for the British Army. After 22 years of service, he was invited to the US to set up an off-leash detection program for the Department of Defense, primarily to support missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Following his military tenure, Paul continued to be involved in the canine training community by managing programs for the Marine Corps and conducting research and development in canine detection for the Office of Naval Research. Eventually, he founded his own company, Chiron K9, specializing in detection dog training and consultancy.

Laos was Paul’s first experience of Asia, and he found it full of surprises. His prior knowledge of the continent was limited to the internet and movies, but as soon as he arrived in October 2022, he knew he was in for an adventure. Paul and Aimee spent nearly a month in Laos, working with our Lao team and getting familiar with the challenging yet beautiful terrain. Paul notes that one of the most remarkable aspects of the journey were the genuine friendliness and helpfulness of the local people. They always looked out for one another, and him, leaving a welcoming and lasting impression on him.

Aimee was surprised by the unexpected presence of tourism in Laos, particularly in Vientiane, where many tourists from many countries were apparent. She was delighted to find that the local food, especially sticky rice, brought her comfort and joy, reminding her of the familiar tastes of Thai and Vietnamese cuisines.

The main mission of Working Dogs for Conservation and Chiron K9 with the Saola Foundation is to train scent detection dogs, and dog handlers, for the Saola search. Dogs are known for their incredible ability to learn and comprehend scents. They can put together a comprehensive scent picture during searches, which often surprises their trainers. However, this can also be a challenge, as dogs build context and understanding based only on what they experience. If not properly trained, monitored, and supported they can veer ‘off mission’ from the objective at hand.

Aimee traveling through the Annamites with the Saola Foundation team along rivers and difficult terrain.
Paul traveling through the Annamites with the Saola Foundation team along rivers and difficult terrain.
Paul and Aimee traveling through the Annamites with the Saola Foundation team along rivers and difficult terrain. Photos: Souksamlan Laladeth / Saola Foundation

Over the years, advancements in our understanding of how animals learn and in dog training techniques have led to significant improvements in the capacity of trained detection dogs. Conservation efforts have pushed the boundaries of this training, and even Aimee and Paul have been amazed at what these dogs can do. For instance, in one recent project, scent detection dogs showcased their ability to distinguish between oil spills of varying ages. They were able to disregard naturally occurring tar balls on the beach and only alert when they detected fresher spilled oils.

The Saola Foundation’s search for Saola program presents some new challenges for scent detection dogs. One significant obstacle is the lack of Saola dung to use for training. Typically, dogs are trained using the scent of the target animal, associated with a positive reinforcement like toys or treats. However, with no Saola dung available, WD4C and Chiron K9 are using dung from similar types of animals, supplied by zoos that are partners with the Saola Foundation.

The rugged and remote environment of the Lao forest poses additional challenges. In addition, our Lao team of dog handlers are all new to this type of work. Aimee and Paul and some of their staff will provide continual support, supervision and mentoring to our team throughout the Saola search.

Discover Aimee and Paul’s firsthand insights into Laos, uncover the challenges they’ve encountered, explore innovative solutions, and delve into the cutting-edge technology aiding Saola conservation in their exclusive Q&A interview. Unlock the captivating full conversation by clicking on the link:
https://youtu.be/x4dY00B7Dbc

We thank Working Dogs for Conservation and Chiron K9 for the wonderful expertise, partnership, and time to have a conversation with us!

You can find out more about Working Dogs for Conservation here: https://wd4c.org/

You can follow Chiron K9 and find out more about them here: https://www.instagram.com/chironk9

Aimee Hurt and Paul Bunker (back row, middle) with the Saola Foundation team and candidates for training, in October 2022.
Aimee Hurt and Paul Bunker (back row, middle) with the Saola Foundation team and candidates for training, in October 2022. Photos: Souksamlan Laladeth / Saola Foundation
What appears to be ponds are actually water-filled bomb craters from the Vietnam War era, as seen from a helicopter in 1997 near the northeastern Laotian village of Sam Neau.

Secret wars, secret creatures, and hope

Bill Robichaud, Co-Founder, Director, Saola Foundation 17th April 2023

Today, April 17, marks the 50th anniversary of an event of considerable historical significance,yet little noted: the last US bombing mission over Laos. This largely brought to an end the so – called “Secret War”, a nine-year conflict hidden for most of that time from the US Congress, the American people and the world.

A central feature of the conflict was a nearly non-stop US bombing campaign – a planeload ofbombs was dropped on Laos an average of every eight minutes, 24/7 nonstop from 1964 – 1973. The US military considered the conflict a “sideshow” to the main war next door in Vietnam, but it rendered Laos the most bombed country in history – 2.5 million tons of bombs were dropped on a country the size of the UK (or the US state of Oregon), with a population then of just three million. This was a greater tonnage of bombs than dropped all countries of Europe during World War II.

The main players in the Secret War were, on one side, the US-backed Royal Lao Army, the USAir Force and CIA-supported Hmong irregular fighters, and on the other, the communist Pathet Lao insurgency and the North Vietnamese Army. A major zone of conflict was the Annamite Mountains along the Laos-Vietnam border. There, North Vietnam worked to develop and maintain a network of supply routes just inside Laos – the Ho Chi Minh Trail – to skirt US ground forces in South Vietnam and funnel war materiel to their Viet Cong allies there.

Much of the bombing targeted the Ho Chi Minh Trail, but it also targeted many Lao villages, unlucky to be situated in the wrong areas. The objective was to render them incapable of supplying (voluntarily or not) food and other support to the North Vietnamese military. The conflict went unacknowledged by the major protagonists because most were violating a peace agreement signed in 1962, which stipulated that Laos was to remain neutral in the growing conflict in Indochina, with all foreign military presence banned from the country.

A half-century later, the people of Laos still deal with the legacy of unexploded ordnance (UXO). In some areas yet today, turning over the soil to make a new rice paddy with a metal hoe or plow risks injury or death. There are other impacts that can never be resolved by the clearance of UXO. While working in Laos on wildlife surveys in the early 1990s, I stayed for a few days in a small provincial capital, Phonsavanh, at the north end of the Annamite Mountains. The town was fairly new – the original had been so thoroughly bombed that it had to be relocated and rebuilt. Near my guesthouse each evening, a friendly Lao couple would set up a few plastic chairs and a grill along the dirt lane in front of their small clapboard house. They sold small skewers of grilled chicken and bottles of beer to earn some extra income. One evening as I sat chatting with them in my incipient Lao, they asked where I was from. When I replied America, the husband paused for barely an instant, then said, “Ah, America – a very good country. You are fortunate”

As the evening and our blossoming friendship progressed, I asked him how many children they had.

“Five”, he replied.

“Ah, where are they all?”, I asked.

He answered matter-of-factly, “Two are here, one studies in Vientiane, and two were killed in the American bombing.”

When it came time to walk back to my guesthouse for the night, they refused to accept payment for the skewers of chicken I’d eaten, because we were now friends and thus I was their guest.

I learned much that night, from their lack of rancor, and their willingness to not stare at the past, nor hold me responsible for it. Their simple gesture of generosity of spirit that night remains one of my greatest teachers.

After the US ended its military involvement in Laos in April 1973, the Pathet Lao eventually triumphed, seizing full power in December 1975, several months after the fall of Saigon in Vietnam. Like the new Socialist Republic of Vietnam on the other side of the Annamites, the newly named Lao People’s Democratic Republic had understandably had enough, thank you, and largely withdrew from western contact and influence.

By the early 1990s, the closed doors of Laos and Vietnam began to crack back open, and in1992 the Annamite Mountains attracted international attention for another, more hopeful reason. A joint team of Vietnamese and western biologists commenced a biodiversity survey of a small nature reserve, Vu Quang, in the Annamites of Vietnam. What they found surprised the world – the animal we now know as the Saola. It’s generally agreed that it was the most spectacular zoological find of the 20th century.

Saola was already uncommon at the time of its discovery in 1992. The intense US bombing in the Annamites, along with aerial spraying of Agent Orange and other defoliants, undoubtedly killed hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Saolas, and it’s possible the species never fully recovered from this. Nor have the years since Saola’s discovery been kind to wildlife in the Annamites. A new kind of “Secret War” has unfolded there – a war on wildlife by commercia lpoachers. Colleagues and I first observed this phenomenon unfolding in the mid-1990s. What lit the fuse for an explosion in the region’s transborder wildlife trade is not certain; it may have been an unanticipated result of the liberalization of private economic activity at about this time in Vietnam and neighboring China.

For the past thirty years the worst damage has been done by thousands (and by now likely millions) of wire leg-hold snares set by poachers. Ironically, Saola is not a target of this carnage– poachers mainly seek animals valued in traditional Asian medicine, or prized as bushmeat. Saola fits neither category, yet the species has been caught up in the general slaughter.

Laudable improvements in nature protection by the governments of Laos and Vietnam, with the support of many hard-working NGOs, simply have not been able to keep pace with the intense poaching. Consequently, the global conservation community (guided by the IUCN Saola Working Group) and the governments of Laos and Vietnam agree that a captive rescue and breeding program is now Saola’s best, and perhaps only, chance.

As those who follow the Saola story know, there remains the considerable challenge of the first essential step: finding individuals of a species so elusive that no biologist has seen one in the wild. This is a challenge that the Saola Foundation was built to meet. This year in the Annamite Mountains of Laos we will launch one of the most intensive and important searches of our time for a wild animal.

This will be not be easy, nor cheap – the intensive two-year search alone will cost about $3million. A fair question is, “why?” Why go through all this effort and expense for an animal that only villagers have seen, and that contributes nothing to the economic well-being of humankind? While the Annamites themselves are an important area of forest, with multiple ecosystem benefits for Laos, Vietnam and the region, Saola itself offers nothing of obvious economic value.

I’ve worked on Saola conservation for more than 25 years for one principal reason: beauty. For me, that’s enough. I suggest we would do well to let go a bit of the common ‘ecological services’ argument for nature conservation – as if wild species and wild places need to earn their right to exist through their economic benefit to humans. The Saola has been a thing of gentle, breathing beauty on our planet for about 8 million years, far longer than Homo sapiens. It has ‘earned’ its place here, and there is nothing more it need prove. Like the works of Van Gogh or Pollock, on which humans spend millions to possess and preserve, the world is a better, more wonderful place with Saola in it. For that, $3M seems a bargain.

As a baby boomer American, I grew up watching the Vietnam War on the nightly TV news – all those reports by Walter Cronkite about how many young Americans had died that day, and how many on the other side we had killed. Fifty years after we finally ended our misguided and unhappy “sideshow” in Laos, I take heart that where my country once destroyed, perhaps we can now help restore, through helping to save the Saola, and the Annamite forests where some of them still quietly live.

Can conservation of a bit of nature and beauty help reconcile such damage? One answer is that true healing is available only through nature, so we would do well to try. Doing so could help heal not just the Annamite Mountains, but also ourselves.

What’s in a Name?: The Saola Foundation’s long-term strategy

What’s in a Name?: The Saola Foundation’s long-term strategy

Conservation news from Asia is often bleak, with many species already in severe decline and others facing new threats. Biodiversity everywhere on the continent is disappearing fast. So why focus on a single species (Saola) in a single small region (the Annamite Mountains)? What – besides the name – is the logic behind the Saola Foundation’s choice?


Although it’s not a pleasant thought, we live in an age where it has become apparent that we can’t save everything. Extremely tough decisions must be made in the conservation world. But as difficult as such choices are, procrastination is not an option. The natural world deserves our dedication to making these choices well.


While the Annamites are not the most biodiverse region in the world (a title that would perhaps go to the rainforests of Sumatra or a site in South America), they are in a class of distinction when it comes to both endemism and richness. Unfortunately, the threats that face nature in the Annamites are also infamously great in both their breadth and intensity. This region may be the place within Asia where the point of intersection between all of these metrics is highest. Therefore, although no region is safe from harm, it would be hard to find another region in such dire need of help.

What’s in a Name?: The Saola Foundation’s long-term strategy
Cuora galbinifrons, the Critically Endangered Indochinese Box Turtle
What’s in a Name?: The Saola Foundation’s long-term strategy
What’s in a Name?: The Saola Foundation’s long-term strategy
What’s in a Name?: The Saola Foundation’s long-term strategy
What’s in a Name?: The Saola Foundation’s long-term strategy
What’s in a Name?: The Saola Foundation’s long-term strategy
What’s in a Name?: The Saola Foundation’s long-term strategy
What’s in a Name?: The Saola Foundation’s long-term strategy
What’s in a Name?: The Saola Foundation’s long-term strategy

In fact, there is more at stake here than almost anywhere else in the world. We at the Saola Foundation feel justified in saying that the Annamite Mountains are one of the highest global conservation priorities. Irreplaceable biodiversity in the Annamites is in acute trouble. We need to make choices to save as much as we possibly can, before it’s too late.


With that in mind, how do we start to prioritize and make decisions? It boils down to the answers to three questions: what is irreplaceable, what is in the most need, and where can we be the most effective and the most certain of a positive outcome. This narrows the field considerably. A clear answer, and thus a clear priority, is the Saola.


For most life on Earth, extinction will be forever. Resurrection may be possible for some species in the future, but not for all. While it’s hard to argue that one species is more deserving of protection than another, the Saola is a frontrunner.


This species has a lot going for it, including its evolutionary distinctiveness and the fact that it represents an ancestral form or “missing link” in the bovid family tree. In appearance, the Saola has more in common with its extinct ancestors than its living descendents. It is not just another wild ox, in the way that a Tiger is another big cat or a White-cheeked Gibbon is another gibbon. And it’s hard to deny that the Saola’s graceful appearance also accords with humanity’s preferences for beauty; although I believe beauty is everywhere in nature.


Other, highly threatened non-endemic large mammals in the Annamites have a greater “safety net” because they also occur in other regions. The Gaur has more secure populations in India, and the two species of pangolins found in the Annamites have much larger global distributions. If they were ever to be extirpated in the Annamites, there would still be a chance to conserve them elsewhere. This is also the case with the two species of rhino that the region has lost. But for Annamite endemics like the Saola, there are no other options. If we lose them, then they will likely be gone for good. The Saola truly is irreplaceable and on the precipice of extinction.


Of course, it may share the precipice with a handful of species; for instance, there could be an endemic terrestrial leech in peril as a result of the loss of Annamite megafauna. But besides its large mammals and birds, we know shockingly little about most of the biodiversity of the Annamites. It’s safe to say, however, that the Saola must be one of the most threatened Annamite endemics.


For one, large mammals have a tendency to be at a heightened risk relative to other species. They need bigger areas to survive than the majority of other living creatures – a definite disadvantage, especially when natural resource exploitation occurs within their habitat.


How do we weigh our chances of success if we prioritise the Saola? What factors should we use to define success? In the absence of a crystal ball, we can at least predict where we can be successful in the next few years. We have knowledge of trends spanning several decades, and we know through experience what has worked and what has not. We can be reasonably confident in these predictions. But unfortunately, short-term gains are often ephemeral. It’s important that we consider long-term strategies and outcomes now to make our short-term strategies more resilient.


So why is investing in Saola the best bet for maximising long-term conservation gains in the Annamites? We can’t be certain that the Saola can be saved from extinction, and there is some risk involved. What we do know is that the benefits will outweigh the risk, even if we are not successful in saving the Saola. Our project will create the foundation required for achieving the long-term conservation gains that are so badly needed.


Saving the species in the Annamites that is closest to extinction would demonstrate that conservation gains can indeed be made there. And the unprecedented effort, resources, and expertise required to save the Saola will also be needed to save countless other species. If the Saola cannot be saved, it will be because we were too late in trying. But in trying, we will have substantially raised the bar for Annamites conservation. We will have set the pieces in place to conserve irreplaceable biodiversity.


Conservation in the Indochinese region is already on a slippery slope, as is true in countless places. It is our task to stop the slippage and set new, encouraging precedents. Focusing on the Saola allows us to optimise conservation gains. Saola is not the endgame; our sights are focused on the fragile (and perhaps untold) richness that makes the Annamites so special. We are working from a vision that spans decades. And as our team begins to carry out our strategy, we will make the difficult decisions with both passion and scientific confidence. We hope you’ll continue to support us on this journey, and become an advocate yourself for the incomparable Annamite Mountains.

Remembering three conservation giants

Remembering three conservation giants

It’s been some tough weeks recently for conservation. In a stretch of 9 days, three of wildlife conservation’s giants all passed away—Thomas Lovejoy, Richard Leakey and E.O. Wilson. These three men began their careers trying to understand how nature worked. Ed Wilson started by studying ants, Leakey as a safari guide and Lovejoy in the Amazon rain forest. While they may have studied different species and ecosystems, they all had one discovery in common—just how fragile nature is. As Wilson worked to understand islands, he uncovered the secret of just how easy it was for species to go extinct on them. While Lovejoy worked to understand the Amazon, he discovered that its immensity masked its delicacy. While Leakey started out studying humanity’s past, he shifted his focus to protecting humanity’s future.

These men weren’t just your ordinary wildlife conservationists. Lovejoy coined the term “biodiversity”, invented the debt-for-nature swap and started the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragmentation Project, which helped us understand what happens to the Amazon when it is carved up by people. Leakey discovered the incredibly important fossil remains of “Turkana boy”. He chaired the Kenyan Wildlife Service. He burned Kenya’s 12-ton stockpile of confiscated ivory to show the world that it was worthless unless attached to an elephant. Wilson could have spent a lifetime studying the complexities of ants, but instead he co-created the Theory of Island Biogeography, invented the discipline of social biology and invented the concept of “Half Earth.”

Saola Foundation Board Chair Steve Burns (left) with E.O. Wilson

As I reflect on the passing of these three brilliant scientists, what I will miss most is not their body of scientific work but rather their bravery and their leadership. They could have spent lives blissfully passing the years figuring out some new biological model, but their greatest discovery was realizing that the natural world needed more than that. What nature really needed was their voices, for them to get outside of their comfort zones and speak up. To ask the hard questions. To take a stand. To challenge us to do better. To be better.

Like many people, I consider these men to be some of my heroes. The couple of times I had the good fortune to meet with Ed Wilson were some of the best days of my life. I once got to take a 15-minute walk with him. If you had been flying a drone over our path, you would have only recorded one set of footprints because I was floating six inches off the ground. As I have watched them age, I have asked myself many times, “where will the next generation of conservation leaders come from? Who is going to take up the mantle once they are gone?”

This is why I am proud to serve on the Board of the Saola Foundation for Annamite Mountains Conservation. Over the last couple of years, as I have tried to explain to people what the Saola Foundation does, I often get a puzzled look in response. I often get a question that sounds something like this. “So you’re looking for a handful of animals that no one has seen in years in a rainforest the size of New Jersey?” Followed simply by the question “…why?”

The answer to that question is also simple. “Yes, because that is what nature needs from us.” Nature needs us to take the risk of finding one of its most elusive creations. Nature needs us to focus more attention on one its most diverse, yet undiscovered places, the Annamite Mountains. It needs us to inspire people around the world that nature isn’t lost, but rather that it can be found. What nature needs from us is to be brave.

For me, I no longer have to answer the question of where the next generation of conservation leaders will come from. I have the good fortune of working with them.

The Line in the Sand: Saola in a Broad Conservation Context

The Line in the Sand: Saola in a Broad Conservation Context

By Lorraine Scotson, CEO & Steve Burns, Chair, Saola Foundation

Edited by Grace Vosen

Securing a future for wildlife in the Annamite Mountains will be a long game. The first five years of on-the-groundwork by the Saola Foundation will focus on Pseudoryx nghetinhensis.

But you might ask – why the narrow focus? Despite what is being done for Saola, what about other threatened species in the Annamites?

Wildlife conservationists are perched at the top of a slippery slope. If the world can let an animal as magnificent as the Saola go extinct, then no species is safe. By marshalling sufficient resources to save the Saola, we will simultaneously raise the standards of wildlife conservation in the Annamites, through development of advanced methods, tools and technology, which are transferrable beyond the search for Saola. This will make it considerably easier to save other species on the brink. So, in reality, the Saola focus isn’t narrow, it’s just the first important move in a broad, long-term endeavour to save many species in the Annamites.

The immediate benefits will be twofold. With dependable funding, the Saola Foundation will become a trusted technical guidance organization and partner. We are uniquely focused on conserving irreplaceable Annamite biodiversity and on ensuring that our strategy maximises conservation gains in the long-term. Many conservation NGOs in the region are struggling for technical support in issues related to wildlife monitoring and protection; issues which our Technical Team are especially skilled in. Our staff are already working closely with the IUCN Saola Working, Asian Arks and the Wildlife Conservation Society in Lao to achieve shared objectives.

Second, the Saola Foundation is assembling a highly skilled and versatile field team, to tackle and solve the technical challenges of endangered species conservation in the Annamites. Saola will by no means be the only beneficiary. The methods and approach our team will be develop will be applicable to, and will be freely shared for, efforts to save other threatened species in the Annamites – and beyond. To learn in detail about our technical strategy for Saola, see here: https://www.saolafoundation.org/why-saola-still-exists.

The slippery slope of species extinctions is especially steep in Indochina — and in fact the slippage began long ago. In terms of Annamite biodiversity, we believe that it’s not too late. Forests have shrunk, populations have dwindled, but losses to-date are largely reversable with the correct actions. This is not to say that any loss, any slippage, should be considered ok, but the effects become more perilous if we continue business as usual. And our optimism is waning, as what lies ahead, as we go further down the slope, is the loss of irreplaceable elements of Annamite biodiversity, including the extinction of unique endemic species, such as the Saola.

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Our Technical Team, Rob Timmins and Chanthasone Phommachanh work collaboratively with multiple organisations, supporting partners in the field, including the IUCN Saola Working, Asian Arks and the Wildlife Conservation Society, collaborating on projects supported by the Saola Foundation, the IUCN SWG, National Geographic, the Conservation Leadership Program and the Prince Bernhard Nature Fund. Image credit: Rob Timmins.
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How many snares are too many? Preventing decline of species in the Annamite Mountains…..

How many snares are too many? Preventing decline of species in the Annamite Mountains…..

How many snares are too many? Preventing declines of species threatened by snaring in the Annamite Mountains

Minh Nguyen, PhD Student, Colorado State University, USA and Conservationist, Vietnam

The current situation

In the 1990s, biologists were stunned by a series of discoveries of large mammals in the Annamite Mountains of Lao PDR and Vietnam. These included two of the world’s rarest ungulates, the Saola [Pseudoryx nghetinhensis] and the Large-antlered Muntjac [Muntiacus vuquangensis]. Clearly, the tropical forests of the Annamites, an area rich in rare and endemic species, are of intense conservation significance. Unfortunately, unsustainable hunting that utilizes snares is devasting ground dwelling mammal populations across much of the region.

To date, among the mammals and birds endemic to the Annamites, the Saola is most threatened; the Large-antlered Muntjac is next. Since both species became known to science in the early 1990s, their numbers have declined dramatically; both are considered Critically Endangered by the IUCN.No live Saola has been detected since 2013, and only remains of an animal purportedly killed in 2016 have been seen since. Expert opinion and local knowledge suggest that throughout the Annamites it is highly likely that some scattered individuals persist. Large-antlered Muntjacs are no longer found at most sites where they were known in the 1990s; today at only two sites in the entire Annamite region have they been found relatively commonly by camera traps. Although the Large-antlered Muntjac does not yet hover on the brink of extinction, as does the Saola, its future also looks bleak. There has been little recognition of the plight of this species among stakeholders; no strong voice calls for conservation solutions to preserve it until recently, with the formation of the IUCN Large-antlered Muntjac Working Group, and, most recently, the initiation of a ground breaking project to tackle the biggest threat to Large-antlered Muntjac in the wild – wildlife snaring.

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A male Large-antlered Muntjac.
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The problem — widespread wildlife snaring

The wildlife trade is booming, and its network is becoming more sophisticated. Rural communities that still practice a subsistence way of life are often wrongly blamed. However, the attractive profits from trading derivatives of exotic species, that include bears, primates, wild cats and ungulates, brings hunters to the Annamites from far and wide. Vietnamese hunters scour the forests across the border in Lao PDR and Vietnamese middlemen frequent rural communities on the forest edge to promote trade. Both the fast-growing economies and the population growth of China, Vietnam and beyond are fuelling demand as the end markets for wildlife products. They also bring huge investments for infrastructure development in and around the Annamites for hydropower dams, mining, and commercial agriculture. This in turn creates networks for traders and increases access to the forests for poachers.

The most devastating snares use cheap, readily available bicycle brake cable that is fabricated into wire nooses. These are set within narrow gaps in fences made of undergrowth. A team of hunters can set hundreds of snares that cover several kilometres stretching through the forest. These traps opportunistically intercept anything that steps on the trigger mechanism, which tightens the wire cable around the animal’s foot or neck.

Snaring has reached almost every corner of the Annamites. Consequently, the Saola, Large-antlered Muntjac and other species have steadily begun to disappear. The potential for huge profits, combined with the simplicity of snaring and the relative low risk of getting caught, fuels this technique. Snares and poachers are difficult to locate; poachers adapt their movements to avoid detection. Resources to employ, train, equip and manage ranger teams to keep up with poachers are limited. Further, in most cases, ranger activities are hampered by uncertainty of whether the patrol effort expended is enough to reverse declines of target species.

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This snare fence is 2km long in the forest. © Minh Nguyen
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How many snares are too many — a solution

One of today’s most essential tools to combat wildlife snaring is to be able to quantify to what level snares must be reduced in order to arrest the decline of a species. To collect snares haphazardly without assessing whether this benefits wildlife is largely futile.

The likelihood of an animal stepping in a snare depends on its movement patterns; home range size, speed and ranging pattern. Ground-dwelling predators of the Annamites such as Dhole and wild cat species are highly susceptible. This is probably because they are fast moving and cover large distances. Likewise, the presumed large range size of the Saola increases the chance that their home range overlaps a snare line. For the Large-antlered Muntjac it may be because they move widely within their home range, thereby utilising more forest area than most other species, which would increase their chances of being captured in a snare.

Forest rangers are our front-line defense. They patrol forests, destroy snare lines, confiscate snare materials and intercept poachers. Like a game of hide and seek, forest rangers hasten to dismantle snare lines even as poachers reconstruct them at other locations. Snares are hard to detect; their lines can be laid faster than rangers can find them, and even the most intensive efforts by patrol teams have not proved to be effective enough to reduce the risk to mammals like the Saola and the Large-antlered Muntjac, which are highly susceptible to this trapping technique. To reverse widespread declines in mammal abundance, conservation managers must calculate how much effort is needed to keep snare levels below devastating thresholds. How many snares are too many? Without this knowledge conservationists are working blindfolded. Yet such information does not exist for any species in the Annamites.

My research in Lao PDR and Vietnam will directly address this question. I will analyze movement patterns of the Large-antlered muntjac using computer modeling, from data collected by satellite tracking of GPS collared individuals, together with other data from camera-trapping and field survey. By combining animal movement parameters with data on snare density and patterns of spatial snare placement in computer simulations, I will be able to determine snaring thresholds, above which muntjac populations will steadily decline toward extinction. In other words, I will identify the tipping point at which the number of snares instigate population decline. My research will enable wildlife managers to determine how much snare collection effort is needed in order to be effective. This research will enable development of improved in situ conservation strategies for law enforcement including design of “core areas” of optimal size for wildlife protection. We will know what works!

Minh Nguyen Bio
Minh Nguyen. © Do Van Lam
 
Minh Nguyen. © Do Van Lam

My interest is in animal ecology and behavior and how they relate to preservation of species. I intend to use the science behind animal ecology to create meaningful outcomes for wildlife conservation. My interest is reflected in my proposed Ph.D. research on how the snaring crisis affects the Large-antlered Muntjac. My study will engage local communities and management authorities, and it will help them align and optimize wildlife management strategies and strengthen their commitment to wildlife conservation. My project will create opportunities for students who are devoted to our wildlife heritage and will challenge them to find their own conservation paths.

Further Reading from Minh:

Berger, J. and Nguyen. M. (August 3, 2020). “The Large-antlered muntjac — Southeast Asia’s mystery deer (Commentary).“ Mongabay.

Herzl, R. (December 30, 2019). “Meet 2019 WCN Scholar Minh Nguyen“. WCN Wildlife Conservation Network.

Nguyen, M. (2020). “Was ist das Schicksal des wenig bekannten Riesenmuntjak? (What is the fate of the little-known giant muntjac?)” Zoologische Gesellschaft für Arten- und Populationsschutz e.V. (ZGAP) 2020-2.

Nguyen, M.“The snaring disaster and optimistic solutions for in situ wildlife conservation in Vietnam and Laos“. Conservation Leadership Programme. Retrieved March 11, 2021.

Suggested References:

Bennette, E.L., Robinson, J.G. 2000. “Hunting of wildlife in tropical forests: implications for biodiversity and forest peoples.” Biodiversity series: impact studies. The World Bank’s Environment Department.

Harrison, R.D., Sreekar, R., Brodie, J.F., Brook, S., Luskin, M., O’Kelly, H., Rao, M., Scheffers, B., Velho, N. 2016. “Impacts of hunting on tropical forests in Southeast Asia.” Conservation Biology 30: 972-981.

Le Trong Trai, Dang Thang Long, Phan Thanh Ha, Le Ngoc Tuan. 2003. “Hunting and Collecting Practices in the Central Truong Son Landscape.” Central Truong Son Initiative Report No. 7. WWF Indochina, Hanoi, Vietnam.

Nijman, Vincent. 2010. “An overview of international wildlife trade from Southeast Asia.” Biodiversity Conservation 19: 1101–1114.

O’Kelly H.J. 2013. Monitoring conservation threats, interventions and impacts on wildlife in a Cambodian tropical forest. PhD dissertation. Imperial College, London, and Institute of Zoology, London.

Timmins, R.J., Duckworth, J.W., Robichaud, W., Long, B., Gray, T.N.E. & Tilker, A. 2016. Muntiacus vuquangensis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T44703A22153828. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-2.RLTS.T44703A22153828.en.

Timmins, R.J., Hedges, S. & Robichaud, W. 2020. Pseudoryx nghetinhensis (amended version of 2016 assessment). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2020: e.T18597A166485696. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-1.RLTS.T18597A166485696.en.

Timmins, R.J. 2018. “Assessment of the Saola conservation potential and protection effectiveness of the Nakai – Nam Theun NBCA.” A report to the Watershed Management Protection Authority of Nakai – Nam Theun NBCA and the Saola Working Group.

UNODC. World Wildlife Crime Report 2020. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2020.

Wilkinson, Nicholas. 2016. Effects of five years of snare removal patrols on snaring in the Thua Thien Hue – Quang Nam Saola Landscape, an analysis of data collected by forest guard patrols.

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