Word: quang
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...simple horns that remind Arctander of a Viking helmet. The giant muntjac has large canine teeth that deerlike animals used in fights long ago, before they evolved elaborate antlers. All three animals have braincases that are relatively small in proportion to their size. Taxonomist Groves says the Vu Quang ox seems somewhat similar to the hemibos, an extinct creature that lived in India 5 million years...
...presence of what may be ancient species is evidence that Vu Quang and its environs have been ecologically stable for millions of years. "With no fluctuations in climate," Arctander explains, "relic species can survive for a very long time." Both Arctander and Groves say that given the diversity of the area, and its ability to support many large herbivores such as the newly discovered species as well as elephants, cattle-like gaur, sambar deer and forest hogs, the region may have served as a refuge through the ages, even as climate fluctuated elsewhere in Southeast Asia...
...Quang was uninhabited until Vietnamese began to move in during the 1950s. This may explain why ancient species still survive. But now hunters' snares indiscriminately kill anything they trap, including endangered animals such as the tiger and sun bear. Human pressures have reduced the elephant population to as few as five animals, and the same fate could befall the species just uncovered. MacKinnon, disturbed by the connotations of the name slow-running deer, is worried that this animal may become extinct even before it is scientifically described...
...might be one of the best places in the world for studying biodiversity and how it evolves. Scientists have not even begun to examine the biological riches contained in the rugged hills. Says Arctander: "If mankind wants to preserve biodiversity, it makes sense to start in places like Vu Quang, which have proved able to sustain biodiversity for a long time...
Both countries have recently moved to protect these ecosystems. On the basis of recommendations by MacKinnon and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the Vietnamese government has expanded the Vu Quang reserve from 40,000 to 150,000 acres and shut down logging in the park. Vu Quang connects to the 900,000-acre Nakai Nam Theum National Biodiversity Conservation Area in Laos, and if current proposals are adopted, the two areas will be joined to an additional 750,000 acres of reserves and the surrounding mountainous forests in Vietnam. There are also proposals to enlarge and link protected areas...