New Ferret-Badger Confirmed Discovered in Vietnam

A species of ferret-badger (pictured above) hitherto not known to western science has been found in a national park in the central Vietnamese province of Ninh Binh. It was announced in the German scientific journal Der Zoologische Garten.

Tuoi Tre newspaper on November 23, 2011, noted the non-profit organization PanNature as saying that the animal, Melogale cucphuongensis sp.nov, belongs to the genus Melogale, which has four species – together known as weasels — and is mainly found in Indochina, Java, Bali, and parts of Borneo.

It has different characteristics from the other four — a dark brown head and body with a black and white stripe running from neck to shoulders.

Newswire Dan Tri said the new species, locally known as chon bac ma (silver-cheeked fox) had first been discovered by the Cuc Phuong National Park’s Endangered Primate Rescue Center in January 2006 when it attempted to rescue an injured ferret-badger. However, its study was interrupted because the animal died, and only recently could another animal of the same species be found.

A related new species of mammal, the ferret-badger shown below was discovered in Royal Manas National Park, Bhutan, for the first time in February 2010. The ferret-badger is small dark grey carnivore with pale or white lips, chin, throat, belly, and inner legs. It has a dorsal white streak from head to shoulders and has long, white tipped, brownish-grey tail and padded feet with striations suitably adapted for tree life.

Loren Coleman 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.

Email • Facebook • Twitter •