The Saola, Asia's Unicorn
In 1992, scientists in a Vietnamese forest found the long, straight horns of an animal that wasn't in any book.
What was reported
In May 1992, a survey team from Vietnam's Ministry of Forestry and the conservation group WWF was working in the Vũ Quang forest, near the border with Laos, when they found a skull with two long, straight horns hanging in a hunter's home. It came from an animal unknown to science.
Local people knew it well. They called it the saola, and described a shy, forest-dwelling animal with white markings on its face.
Explanations offered
The saola was described as a new species in 1993, the first large land mammal discovered in over 50 years. It is so rare and secretive that it has been photographed in the wild only a handful of times, and is critically endangered. It is often called the Asian unicorn.
- When
- Discovered by science in 1992
- Where
- Vũ Quang, Annamite Mountains, Vietnam
- Witnesses
- Local hunters; a joint survey team
- Status
- Confirmed
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.