The Saola's profile
- The official status of the Saola’s is Critically Endangered according to the ICUN.
- CLIMATE: The climate in the area of Vietnam where the Saola’s are found is usually in the northwest-southeast of vietnam. The temperatures can generally be very hot but they do have a monsoon season when the weather gets cooler and drier. It’s a tropical area with high humidity and a high rate of rainfall.
- HABITAT: They are often found within forests that have either very little of no dry season. They live in dense forests that are usually not disturbed by humans. They are thought to climb higher up ruing the wet season but have been sighted at different levels of elevation but they like higher ground better.
- DIET: Like the other antelope species is known to be a herbivorous and survives on a diet made of plants and other plant matter. Even though there is very little records of the saola in their natural environment. They are though to live on the leaves of fig and other tree’s and bushes that grow along the riverbank. It’s thought but not confirmed that they eat seeds and berries from the ground also.
- Predators: The predators of the Saola’s are known to be us homo sapiens, as a species we are threatening them with our poaching and destroying their forests where they live. They are also being killed by humans for meat of are getting caught in snares set for other animals. In their natural environment though their more posing threats are large animals like tigers and crocodiles as they share their habitat with each other.
HOW IS THE SPECIES THREATENED?
- Habitat loss - For the saola’s a very large amount of their habitat has been lost as a result of deforestation in the area. These area’s have been wiped out to make way for new plantation, agriculture and infrastructure resulting in the saola’s being shoved into a smaller space. The area’s are often being used for things like timber extraction, roads or hydropower development (Dam’s or waterways). The pressure of the country growing economically and how rapid the is infrastructure is growing is a testament to the saola’s losing their habitat. If their habitat is not being split up and separated then human’s seem to be making roads through area’s of forests once left alone. An interesting fact though is that although the saola’s have lost so much habitat through all of these factor’s their is still more saola habitat than there is saola’s. Habitat fragmentation is overall one of the saola’s biggest habitat threats and is seems to be uncontrollable.
- Hunting and poaching - The Saola’s as a species are actually often caught in snares or traps set by poachers that are not necessarily set for them but for other species. These snares are set up by locals usually for crop protection. There has been a increase in the lowland people hunting due to a tradition Chinese medicine and food markets after parts of the saola. They have been hunted to be mounted on walls by people in the north of their range, their horns have now became a very highly prized trophy to have in ones possession. Protected area’s of land would not do the saola’s any good in protecting them from the poaching as they can’t safeguard the animals 24/7. There has been no anti-hunting measures put into place for the saola’s living area’s and it’s unlikely any will be effective. As a species in the trade market saola’s have not been in demand but it may increase as the species grows rarer, in early 2000 their horns were being sold in vietnam as US$600. As mentioned earlier the saola is being intensely looked for by hunters as they are a ‘new’ species and make good bushmeat. But it has been said that the vietnamese government had created some nature preserve and have banned all hinting within their habitat in the hopes of protecting the animal. It was said that since 2011 their has been forest guard patrols in the area and have removes over 30,000 snares from the habitat. Many conservationists were concerned that as a result of habitat loss hunters would have more access to the forest area’s of the saola’s that were once untouched.
- Pet/Zoo trade - For the saola’s the pet/zoo trade is basically non-existent due to the fact that there increasingly close-call with extinction is eminent and the fact that there is no saola populations held in the zoo’s anywhere is the world (ICUN). It’s mystery surrounding how it’s suddenly a species which we hav only recently admired up close just add’s to it’s enigma. They have rarely ever been sighted of photographed and have been found difficult to keep alive when in captivity, when you add into that the fact that they were mistreated in the past it is understandable they would be wary to humans. They have been unable to be caught and therefore the zoo’s have no idea how they would care for them in captivity and keep them healthy. For the saola’s extinction in they natural habitat will mean extinction everywhere as they have not been kept anywhere else.