Word: kouprey
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Last year Zoologist Charles Wharton, an adventurous young (28) scientist financed by the Coolidge Foundation, set out for Cambodia to study the kouprey, an elusive and nearly extinct wild ox. Back in the U.S. last week, he had learned a lot about the kouprey, despite the hazards of scientific research in IndoChina's guerrilla-infested jungles...
With an American photographer, a French guide and an escort of 70 Cambodian soldiers, Wharton established a study camp close to the kouprey country. There are only about 500 koupreys left, and although they are big animals (5 ft. 6 in. at the shoulders), they are as shy as deer. During the day they hide in the thickest jungle, grazing only at night. "They are so elusive," says Wharton, "that you might almost call them ghost animals. But they are the kings of wild cattle. They have grace and elegance not found in ordinary beasts...
Wharton decided that koupreys are about the toughest cattle alive. For half the year they contend with drought; for the other half, with monsoon rains. But they thrive better than domesticated breeds. He suspects that some of man's earliest cattle (i.e., the long-tailed, lyre-horned cows of Egypt) may have descended from the kouprey or a close relative. When Cambodia is deloused of Communists, he hopes to bring out red kouprey calves as the start of new strains of hardy cattle for hot climates...