Rare giant muntjac spotted in Vietnam's Saola Nature Reserve
On Oct. 23, Lê Ngọc Tuấn, director of the management board of the Saola Nature Reserve in Thừa Thiên-Huế province (now Huế city) in central Vietnam, said that reserve staff had captured images of the giant muntjac (scientific name Muntiacus vuquangensis), a rare mammal living in the wild in the reserve.
The presence of the giant muntjac and other endemic mammals in the Saola Nature Reserve points to the area's enormous biodiversity potential, and reflects both the effectiveness of its forest protection patrols and the efforts of the reserve's staff to protect rare species.
Photo: Mark Kostich/kostich.com
Building on this, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is helping the reserve's management board set up more camera traps, in the hope of capturing more images of the rare wildlife found there and adding to the unique biodiversity of Vietnam as a whole and of Thừa Thiên-Huế in particular.
The former Thừa Thiên-Huế province issued a decision formally establishing the Saola Nature Reserve and expanding its area from 12,153 hectares (as agreed in a 2008 document on its size) to 15,519 hectares.
The Saola Nature Reserve in Thừa Thiên-Huế is tasked with conserving the saola population and the hoofed mammals giant muntjac and Annamite muntjac, as well as other endemic and rare animals and plants, species, gene pools and habitats.
Since its establishment, the reserve has been zoned into separate functional areas: a strictly protected zone, an ecological restoration zone and an administrative and service zone.
Notably, the reserve contains some of the last remaining natural primary forest in the central Annamite (Trường Sơn) range. This is one of the most biodiverse places in the region and the world, and home to rare and endemic species such as the saola, the Annamite muntjac, the giant muntjac and the Annamite striped rabbit, along with many other animals and plants of the central Annamites.
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