Scientists have managed to snap a photo of one of earth’s rarest mammals, the saola, which had not been seen in 15 years.
The antelope-like, long-horned ox appears to walk through dense foliage at the edge of the automatic camera’s range in the image taken in Vietnam in September.
Conservationists WWF said: “This is a breathtaking discovery and renews hope for the species.”
Twenty years since they were first known to science, the elusive mammals remain hard to detect and little is known about them.
At best, no more than few hundred, and maybe only a few dozen, live in the remote, dense forests.
The animal was discovered in 1992 and it proved to be the first large mammal new to science in more than 50 years.
Two saola were captured in Vietnam in 1993 but died in captivity. The last sighting of one in the wild was in 1998
