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From his first day in Vu Quang, a reserve that lies on the mountainous divide separating Vietnam from Laos, biologist John MacKinnon realized that he had entered an extraordinary, almost magical domain. Working out of a small army base that in earlier years had housed North Vietnamese troops, MacKinnon and a team of Vietnamese researchers set out in May 1992 on an expedition sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund. Their mission: to survey the animals in a mysterious area of moist, dense forest largely unexplored by scientists...
...took him just a moment with the skulls to realize that he was looking at an animal unknown to science. Subsequent analysis of the specimens' dna by Peter Arctander at the University of Copenhagen showed that the 220-lb. animal, variously called the Vu Quang ox, the pseudoryx and the Sao-la, was not just a new species but a new genus, probably separated from its closest cattle-like relatives for the past 5 million to 10 million years...
Finding an undiscovered genus of large land mammal was a stunning event in itself -- only three other new genuses have been documented in this century. But MacKinnon's beast was just the first of the wonders to emerge from Vu Quang and adjoining forests in Vietnam and Laos. In the past two years scientists have also found evidence of what appears to be two new species of deerlike creatures -- the giant muntjac and the quang khem -- and a novel species of fish resembling carp. Since exploration is still in its early stages, hopes are high that many more discoveries will...
Evidence of a third new mammal comes from the work of Vietnamese biologist Nguyen Ngoc Chinh, who went to Pu Mat, north of Vu Quang, to look for the Vu Quang ox. He returned with the skull of an animal the local hunters call quang khem, or slow-running deer, and scientists have taken to calling Chinh's deer. It is too early to say whether this is also a new species, but Arctander has so far been unable to match its DNA with that of known varieties of deer...
...could the natural riches of Vu Quang remain unknown to outsiders for so long, especially given the crowded conditions in much of Vietnam and the relentless deforestation taking place? Part of the explanation lies in the region's steep, ragged terrain and exceptionally wet, sweltering weather conditions. The mountainous spine that divides Vietnam and Laos traps moisture evaporated from the South China Sea, creating an unusually stable but inhospitable climate. Incessant rains during the rainy season and dripping fogs during the dry season nurture a slick algae that add a treacherous coating to rocks and other surfaces. That may explain...