A non-mythological unicorn?   So it seems.   Unicorns have been mentioned throughout history, in mythology and in the works of The Bible and Pliny the Elder's Natural History.    Today the modern westernized unicorn is pure white and hangs out with virgins.

In zoology, it is never so simple.

In 1992, in Vietnam's Vu Quang Nature Reserve near the country's border with Laos, a spectacular zoological discovery occurred.  A creature with long horns (sorry unicorn fans - two of them) and white facial markings, and resembling the antelopes of North Africa but more closely related to wild cattle, a new species called the Saola was discovered.

But sightings since then have been rare and no biologist has seen one in the wild.  A new confirmed sighting has happened and the saola was photographed in the central province of Bolikhamxay after being captured and brought back to their village. The animal died several days later, but was photographed while still alive. 

Saola
This is a saola, which was captured by villagers in Laos.  Credit: Bolikhamxay Provincial Conservation Unit

This is the first confirmed record of the species since two photographs of wild saola were taken in Laos in by automatic camera traps in 1999.

Saola are so seldom seen they are likened to unicorns, two horns notwithstanding.   Today, saola occur only in dense forests of the Annamite Mountains along the Lao/Vietnamese border. The species is classified as "Critically Endangered" by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and probably no more than a few hundred survive. It is one of the more threatened large mammals on the planet and none exist in captivity.

A statement issued by the Provincial Conservation Unit of Bolikhamxay Province read, "The death of this saola is unfortunate. But at least it confirms an area where it still occurs, and the government will immediately move to strengthen conservation efforts there."

When news of the saola's capture reached Lao authorities, the Bolikhamxay Provincial Agriculture and Forestry Office immediately dispatched a technical team, advised by the Lao Program of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the IUCN Saola Working Group, to examine the saola and release it. Unfortunately, the animal, an adult male weakened by the ordeal of several days in captivity, died shortly after the team reached the remote village.

The IUCN Saola Working Group is part of the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC). It is a network of scientists and conservationists under the auspices of the IUCN SSC Asian Wildlife Cattle Specialist Group, and provides strategy and technical guidance for saola conservation.