This Rare Creature Was Lost For Nearly 30 Years Then Scientists Spotted Movement On A Camera Trap

this rare creature was lost for nearly 30 years then scientists spotted movement on a camera trap [Music] [Applause] deep in the forts of vietnam scientists are patiently waiting to catch side of the silverback chevretine the creature in question hasn't been seen for nearly 30 years and is so rare that scientists fear it could be almost extinct but just when it seems that all hope might be lost a movement in the woods triggers a camera trap you may not have heard of the silverback chevertaine also known as the tragelus versicolor or vietnamese mouse deer it was first described by the british zoologist oldfield thomas in 1910 when four specimens were found near the southern vietnamese city of not trang however they have since proved pretty elusive as a species back when the silverback chevrotain was discovered scientists noted a unique slate grey sheen running along a trump this along with some distinctive markings on the throat set the species apart from the more prevalent lesser chevrotane however after these initial sightings the trail on the animal went cold for decades little was known about the silverback chevrotane the information we did have on the creature was a description of its appearance the mysterious animal resembles a small deer but it is no bigger than a rabbit and it sports distinctive two-tone fur which results in a silvery sheen given the unusual appearance of the silverback chevrotain it's perhaps easy to see how the animal earned its vietnamese mouse deer nickname but it's not actually related to either of these two creatures instead they are ungulates or hoofed animals and they weigh less than 10 pounds which makes them the smallest of their species in the world one particularly curious thing about the appearance of the silverback chevrotein is its tusk like incisors these are particularly long in males and given the fact that chevrotanes have no antlers or horns it's believed that they may use these fangs when competing for mates in territory the few specimens of the silverback chevrotain that scientists have obtained were found in the coastal forests near nautrang it's been theorized that the animals prefer dry habitats like thorn scrubs as opposed to vietnam's wetter tropical forests that's because they've actually never been spotted in the latter the dry habitats the silverback chevrotain has been found in are a rarity in the region andrew tilger is a biologist that specializes in the wildlife of southeast asia and he talked about the animal's surroundings in a 2019 interview with national geographic he said although such forests aren't common there are parts of vietnam that remind me of my home state of texas but while scientists believe that they may have narrowed down a habitat for the silverback chevrotane the creature remained elusive after the initial specimens of the animal were obtained there were no more sightings for 80 years when russian scientists seized a further example from vietnamese hunters the russian obtained silverback chevrotane proved to be a one-off though and for nearly three decades there were no further sightings of the animal as a result little is known about the unusual creature this makes it one of scientists most wanted animals in the world alongside similarly invasive species such as attenborough's long beak echidna and the pawn to cherry shark when it comes to so-called law species like the silverback chevrotain conservationists know very little it's not even clear where such creatures can be found let alone how many of them are left in existence with that in mind the international union for the conservation of nature lists the silverback chevrotain as data deficient that's because there isn't enough information to determine if they're extinct endangered or otherwise because scientists know so little about the silverback chevrotane it's not clear what kind of threats they face or how to protect them it's believed that the animals may be preyed upon by pythons wild dogs and leopards however there's also some fear that they fall victim to snares left by hunters so in the nearly 30 years that followed the last sighting of a silverback chevrotain there was some fear that the animal may have been pushed close to extinction as a result the race was on to locate the lost species before it was too late that's where global wildlife conservation stepped in adding the creature to its list of the 25 most wanted creatures global wildlife conservation is an organization that works to retain and restore biodiversity its work is particularly focused on the forgotten animals that are facing extinction but are often overlooked and it's also concerned with locating lost species like the silverback the group has put together a list of 1200 types of plants and animals that have become missing to science they have gone unseen for a number of years and could potentially be close to extinction so in order to save these species the global wildlife conservation organization set out to locate them in order to find a lost species global wildlife conservation teamed up with over a hundred scientists to scour some of the world's most remote locations these included the dry coastal forest near nautrang where it was believed the silverback chevrotain would be found and andrew tilger who works with the global wildlife conservation formed part of the team on the animal's trail the exact places where the silverback chevrotain specimens had been found hadn't been recorded back in 1910 as a result tilker and his team had some investigating to do so in their search for the lost species they spoke to local forest experts and hunters to determine whether they had spotted the animal in the area the location where the silverback chevrotain had been previously found lies within the greater animites echo region the area takes its name from the animites range a mountain chain that runs down the border of laos and vietnam and it provides habitats for some of the world's rarest animals amazingly several of the rare creatures that call the greater animites home have only been discovered in fairly recent times this includes the saula a species of wild cattle that has been nicknamed the asian unicorn it was only identified in 1992 and is believed to be one of the rarest creatures in the world however due to the prevalence of poaching throughout the greater anamides the echo region is far from a safe place or sanctuary for many animals that's because hunters use wire snares to catch prey the devices are cheap but they are also brutal snagging any creature that walks the forest floor without discrimination poaching in vietnam is fueled by the popularity of bushmeat throughout east asia but the use of wire snares has caused animals to disappear from some areas completely this issue has been described as empty forest syndrome and many animals in the greater animites teeter on the brink of extinction as a result given the sensitive nature of the poaching issue in vietnam scientists would have to tread carefully when approaching hunters in the area so they spend time gaining their trust and eventually the global wildlife conservation team got locals on board with their search for their silver-backed chevrotain and when led the expedition on behalf of global wildlife conservation and he said that locals were fully aware of the issues facing animals in the area the expert told national geographic people have become very concerned about how much wildlife has vanished in the past five to ten years they know it's because of over-hunting and the use of snares in their interviews with villagers and forest rangers nguyen and his team pieced together potential clues to locate the silverback chevrotain some locals spoke about seeing gray chevrotains which seemed to match the description of the lost species so there appeared to be hope that the animal wasn't yet extinct with the help of locals the global wildlife conservation team identified parts of the forest where there had been recent suspected silverback chevrotain sightings in these areas camera traps were established with the hope that they could collect evidence of the elusive animal's existence in total scientists set up three camera traps in the low-lying forests for five months the devices were poised to capture a sighting of the mysterious silverback chevrotane and though the global wildlife conservation team had no way of knowing what they would uncover they wouldn't be disappointed with the results over the course of the five month period the cameras captured a total of 72 significant events according to the guardian scientists subsequently established a further 29 traps in the hopes of replicating the success of the first three this led to another 208 independent events being recorded much to the delight of conservationists the reason scientists were so pleased with the findings is because the camera traps did indeed find proof that the silverback chevrotain was still in existence the first set of cameras captured 275 photos of the lost species while the second law recorded 1881 images over the five-month period footage that global wildlife conservation obtained through its camera traps included evidence of the silverback chevrotane grazing on the forest floor judging from the data the animals seemed to be solitary creatures and walked cautiously on their hoove tips meanwhile it's not clear how many of the animals were captured on film throughout the study the images captured by the global wildlife conservation cameras marked the first time in 30 years that the silverback chevrotain had been sighted in the wild the animal's rediscovery was made public in 2019 through a press release posted on the global wildlife conservation website it also appeared in a scientific paper published in the nature ecology and evolution journal in a statement given as part of the global wildlife conservation press release nguyen revealed his reaction to finally locating the elusive animal he said we had no idea what to expect so i was surprised and overjoyed when we checked the camera traps and saw photographs of a chevrotain with silver flanks nguyen who was also studying for his phd at the leipnids institute for zoo and wildlife research in germany added for so long the species has seemingly only existed as part of our imagination discovering that it is indeed still out there is the first step in ensuring we don't lose it again and we're moving quickly now to figure out how to best protect it juan manduk is the head of the department of zoology at vietnam southern institute of ecology and he also expressed his joint the breakthrough the experts said the rediscovery of the silverback chevrotain provides big hope for the conservation of biodiversity especially threatened species in vietnam mndok added that fighting the silverback chevrotain had inspired the conservation community to invest more efforts into the region he explained this also encourages us together with relevant and international partners to devote time and further effort to investigation and conservation of vietnam's biodiversity heritage after establishing that silverback chevrotains were still in existence global wildlife conservation aimed to find out more about the size of its population and how stable it was as a species they also hoped to learn more about the distribution of the animal and determine what threats it faced in order to gather more data on the silverback chevrotana team from global wildlife conservation set out on the first comprehensive survey on the animals as part of their study the experts established camera traps in two more areas the information gleaned from this endeavor will then be used to establish how they can help sustain the animal's existence into the future barney long is the senior director of species conservation at global wildlife conservation and in the statement posted to the organization's website he expressed his joy at the rediscovery of the silverback chevrotain however long warned that there was still work to be done if the animal was to be safe from extinction long said it is an amazing feat to go from complete lack of knowledge of the wildlife of the greater animites 25 years ago to now having this question mark of the silverback chevrotain resolved but the work is only beginning with rediscovery and initial protection measures that have been put in place now we need to identify not just a few individuals on camera traps but one or two sites with sizable populations so that we can actually protect and restore the species andrew tilker agreed that more was needed to be done in order to protect the animal in the report published in nature ecology and evolution he said stopping snaring will not only protect the silverback chevrotane but also numerous other species including several mammals and birds that are only found in the greater animites eco region and are threatened with extinction given the success the global wildlife conservation team had in locating the silverback chevrotain tilker was hopeful that the other elusive animals would eventually be found he said a key aspect to future surveys for lost species will be to work with local communities incorporating this local ecological knowledge was critical for our work and this strategy could prove successful for other species in other parts of the world