The first recorded images of the large-antlered muntjac, one of the rarest and most threatened mammal species of Southeast Asia, were taken under a biodiversity monitoring and assessment activity supported by the US Agency for International Development, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) and WWF-Vietnam.
Since 2000, this species had only been seen in images from camera traps in three protected areas in Vietnam.
The record in Quang Nam includes photographs of a male and a female, providing hope for the continued survival of a species that is on the brink of extinction.
"The two individuals are both mature and of reproductive age. These photographs prove that the species still survives in Quang Nam province and raises a hope that there might even be a breeding population of this rare species,” said Director of the Forest Protection Department of Quang Nam province Phan Tuan.
Dr. Benjamin Rawson, the Conservation Director of WWF-Vietnam noted that "Large-antlered muntjac do not currently exist in captivity, so if we lose them in the wild, we lose them forever."
He added that scientists are in a race against time to save the species.
