#saolas

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Happy World Saola Day! 🏞️

Did you know that the Saola was only discovered 30 years ago? 😮 They are a Critically Endangered species and very little is known about them.

To learn more about the elusive species, follow the Saola Foundation at saolafoundation.org and sign up to their newsletter for updates on their epic search to #savesaola!

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Last of the Wild: Vanished and Vanishing Giants of the Animal World. Written by Robert McClung. Illustrated by the author and Bob Hines. 1997.

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The saola is a large bovid that was only discovered by Western science in 1992, when a hunter in Vietnam gave a biologist a strange skull with two long, straight horns.  Since then, sightings and encounters with this animal have been few and far between; it was first photographed in the wild in 1999, and the few animals captured alive by locals have all died within a few weeks.  The saola’s rarity and elusiveness have caused it to be nicknamed “The Asian unicorn”.

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Saola with Color Pencils [Time Lapse]

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The discovery of the saola in 1992 is the first discovery of a large mammal since that of the African okapi in 1901.  The two animals, though only very distantly related, also share a few similarities.  They are both shy, forest-dwelling animals with deep brown coats and white markings.  Perhaps the most remarkable similarity is the animals’ tongues.  Like the okapi, the saola has a long, flexible tongue that it can use to clean around its own eyes and ears.  This may be related to the saola’s large maxillary glands, but no one knows for sure.

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The long grooves you can see on either side of the saola’s face are skin flaps covering two large scent glands.  These maxillary glands, probably the largest among all animals, secrete a strong-smelling, greenish paste that the saola rubs on the underside of leaves and branches.  This may be a form of territorial marking, or of signaling potential mates, but no one knows for certain.

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The name “saola” means “spindle horn” (or, more accurately, "spinning-wheel post horn"), referring to how the saola’s two straight, parallel horns resemble weaving needles used by local people and/or the wooden posts used to support a spinning wheel.  These horns are quite similar to those of the oryx (bottom image), though the two animals are only distantly related.  This gives the saola its genus name, Pseudoryx.

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In Laos, the saola is known for the silent, cautious way it moves through the forest.  Because of this, it is locally known as saht-supahp, which translates to “the polite animal”, and is highly regarded by local Buddhists.  This nickname may also refer to the saola’s gentle nature and the delicate way that it eats, gently chewing leaves from twigs rather than yanking branches down.  This likely also contributes to its link with the mythical unicorn, an animal renowned for its grace and kindness.