Animals that can't be squeezed in face an uncertain future. Some are kept as pets, some are smuggled across the border for use in traditional medicine, and some get eaten. Even those that aren't deliberately killed often die. For example, people unknowingly feed fruit to monkeys that can only digest leaves. After five decades of wars and embargoes, the country is opening to the outside world.
Trade is up, and the human population is booming.
Every year more forest habitat is cleared, and every year more animal species are forced into contact with humans. Four of them were discovered in Vietnam in the 1990s. The animals remained undiscovered for so long because they lived far from major battlefields and Viet Cong enclaves. Defoliation took its toll in parts of the country, but enough vegetation in the mountains allowed wildlife to thrive. Peace now endangers much of the forests.