Photographed in Laos: Muntiacus vuquangensis
Posted by: Loren Coleman on July 28th, 2007
Large-antlered muntjak (Muntiacus vuquangensis) and unidentified poachers (below) in Nakai-Nam Theun National Protected Area, Laos. Copyright 2007 Nam Theun 2 Watershed Management and Protection Authority.
Rare Jungle Deer Photographed For The First Time
A camera trap has captured the first ever pictures of an elusive forest deer in its natural habitat, reports the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).
The deer, called a large-antlered muntjak, was previously known only from specimens collected by hunters and a few brief glimpses by biologists. The species stands approximately 25-30 inches tall (65-80 cm) and weighs up to 110 pounds (50 kilograms).
The photographs were taken using “camera traps” set in Laos’ Nakai Nam Theun National Protected Area (NNT NPA), in the Annamite Mountains, a densely forested mountain chain that straddles the Laos-Vietnam border and is considered one the world’s biodiversity hotspots. In recent years several previously unknown species has been discovered in the Annamites, which are also home to tigers, Asian elephants, and the highly endangered red-shanked douc monkey.
“This region is extraordinary for it’s distinctive wildlife,” said Dr. Arlyne Johnson, co-director of the WCS Lao Program. “We are delighted to be working with the WMPA to ensure a future for not only the large-antlered muntjak and Annamite striped rabbit, but the many other rare species that call this globally important region their home.”mongabay.com
The Sumatran striped rabbit (Nesolagus netscheri) was also captured on a trailcam.
The photograph of this muntjak confirms its Laotian location, as it was first known from skulls Vietnam.
Cryptozoologist, Cryptomundo friend, and Australian scholar Vern Weitzel, living in Ba Dinh, Ha Noi, has noted the following:
The three specimens on the right are skulls of the newly discovered robust muntjak deer Megamuntiacus vuquangensis in the Forest Inventory and Planning Institute in Hanoi. This species is now known to occur in border areas between Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. The skull on the fare left is of a common muntjak Muntiacus muntjak which also occurs in Vietnam. Credit: Vern Weitzel.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
YAY!
More proof that there are still mysteries waiting to be discovered and/or proven.
Is there a comprehensive list somewhere of the animals they have found and the animals they hope to find?
This is really good news. I also hope they catch the poachers they are a disgrace.
flame…There’s a sort of list to that effect in the front of LC’s, ‘cryptozoology from A to Z’.
Hope them poachers night was a long one… And that they went home empty handed…
fabulous place and people, Laos. please remember that the poachers are selling to someone or they are hungry. demand needs to be stopped and the hunger issue is just as complex. can’t tell you how good it is to see interest and progress in the area.