Lost, found, lost?

 

This is an interesting article.  Because it describes the discovery of the very rare saola, a bovid (like cattle, sheep, goats, and all the many different kinds of antelopes).

It was only discovered to exist in 1992, and that is astonishing in itself.  Now, due to its rarity, habitat loss, and how little is know about it, it may disappear into extinction -- and like the ivory-billed woodpecker, that might not be a certainty for a couple of decades.

Scientists step up hunt for ‘Asian unicorn’, one of world’s rarest animals

"In 2001, the saola population was estimated to number 70 to 700 in Laos and several hundred in Vietnam. More recently, experts have put the number at fewer than 100 – a decline that led to the species being listed as critically endangered on the IUCN red list in 2006, the highest risk category that a species can have before extinction in the wild. The animal was last camera-trapped in 2013 in the Saola Nature Reserve in central Vietnam. Since then, villagers continue to report its presence in areas in and around Pu Mat national park in Vietnam and in Bolikhamxay province in Laos."

 

OK, I'll say it again; yet another reason I wish there was a democratic world government. Impossible, right?  Probably -- but it would sure make things easier.  And it would enable the passage of a worldwide Endangered Species Act.