From: Nhan Tran <tran@peora.sdc.ccur.com>
Subject: NEWS/VN: Vietnam's Whatizit animal
Originator: daemon@media-lab.media.mit.edu
Reply-To: tran@peora.sdc.ccur.com
Organization: N/A
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 14:21:30 GMT


08/16

Unknown Mammal

Copyright, 1992. The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

By DAVID BRISCOE
 Associated Press Writer
   WASHINGTON (AP) -- It's not a serow. It's probably not an anoa. And it's
likely not an oryx, since the last ones disappeared from the Asian continent
several million years ago.
   But scientists still don't know what it is: the remains of a long-horned
mammal discovered in May by Vietnamese and British zoologists conducting the
first scientific exploration of a "lost world" nature reserve in Vietnam.
   They're also looking for a living specimen of the animal which is equipped
with dagger-like horns deadly enough to fend of tigers. Wildlife experts fear
the last living example of the new species may have been killed by hunters.
   "There are only two animals in Asia vaguely like it and nothing with parallel
horns like these," said John MacKinnon, a British scientist who delivered an
inch-square piece of the animal's flesh last week to U.S. cancer research
scientists for DNA analysis.
   As Olympics fans argue over the true nature of the Whatizit mascot for the
1996 Atlanta Olympics, zoologists have a real Whatizit on their hands.
   MacKinnon, interviewed in Washington, is returning to Vietnam this week and
expects to consult with experts who may have gathered more information about the
mysterious beast and other possible new species found in the Vu Quang Nature
Reserve, which has survived decades of war and human encroachment.
   The roadless reserve includes a lush forest along the Laotian-Vietnamese
border, a rugged trek inland from the central Vietnamese town of Vinh.
   Scientists have yet to find a whole specimen of what could be one of only a
handful of large mammals newly recorded in the last 100 years. MacKinnon said
sets of horns and partial skulls found in the possession of Vietnamese villagers
are the only physical evidence so far found of the creatures.
   The animal, locally called a "forest goat," has two parallel, relatively
straight horns that extend more than a foot out of its skull, which MacKinnon
said is unlike any known goat.
   Asked if there is any chance the animal could prove to be a known species,
MacKinnon said, "No way. There's nothing like that."
   Since discoveries in the remote reserve were first made public last month,
several scientists have contacted MacKinnon, who works in London for the World
Wildlife Fund, known in Europe as the Worldwide Fund for Nature.
   Two experts who examined photographs he brought back from the expedition gave
several possible answers, MacKinnon said.
   Both suggested it could be either a serow, which is a wild goat found across
much of Asia, or an anoa, a small ox so far found only in Indonesia.
   But he said any relation to the goat is unlikely because the horns are so
different. The anoa has similar smooth horns, but they are much shorter and have
a different shape at the base, he said.
   "This thing has been fending off tigers. Maybe the ones in Indonesia just got
fed up with carrying those weapons around," MacKinnon joked.
   He suggested the most plausible theory is that the animal is a type of wild
water buffalo, possibly similar to the tamarau found in the Philippines.
   One theory he discounts is that it is a type of oryx, a desert antelope
normally found in Africa but known to inhabit parts of what is now Pakistan in a
previous age.
   DNA research is expected to determine the "evolutionary distance" between the
new mammal and other species, MacKinnon said. Only a few hairs are needed to
classify the animal, he said, but researchers say incisor teeth would be needed
to give a complete picture.
   Teeth from the few animals known to have been killed by hunters were ground
up for medicine, he said.
   MacKinnon said the protected area is so small -- about 65 square miles --
that if any of the animals still exist, there couldn't be more than about 100.
   He said there has been some speculation that the beast might once have been
used as a domestic animal. But he said its deadly horns make that unlikely.