What has the head of a mouse, the body of a small deer, and has been scientifically confirmed only once since 1907?
Global Wildlife Conservation rediscovered the silver-backed chevrotain—a deer-like species about the size of a rabbit—lost to science since 1990.
Also known as the Vietnamese mouse-deer, the animal was last recorded more than two decades ago. It is the first mammal rediscovered on GWC’s list of top 25 most-wanted lost species.
The silver-backed chevrotain was first described in 1910, based on four deer collected near Nha Trang in Vietnam. A Russian expedition in 1990 uncovered a fifth.
Nearly 30 years later, a team of analysts from GWC, Southern Institute of Ecology, and Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research visited areas to set up camera traps where villagers had described seeing the chevrotain.
“The results were amazing,” expedition team leader An Nguyen, a GWC associate conservation scientist, said in a statement.
“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,” he continued.
Three camera traps left in the field for five months yielded 275 photos of the mysterious species. Another 29 cameras set up in the same area captured 1,881 images of the chevrotain over five months.
The field team will begin trap surveys in two more areas, where cameras will run for at least three months.
“For so long this species has seemingly only existed as part of our imagination,” according to Nguyen, also field coordinator and PhD student with the Leibniz Institute. “Discovering that it is, indeed, still out there is the first step in ensuring we don’t lose it again. We’re moving quickly now to figure out how best to protect it.”
There are 10 known species of chevrotain in the world, primarily in Asia. Despite their nickname, the creatures are neither mice nor deer, but the world’s smallest ungulates (hoofed mammals).
Shy and solitary, chevrotain appear to walk on the tips of their hooves and have two tiny fangs. They typically weigh less than 10 pounds.
“The rediscovery of the silver-backed chevrotain provides big hope for the conservation of biodiversity, especially threatened species, in Vietnam,” Hoang Minh Duc, head of the Southern Institute of Ecology’s Department of Zoology, said. “This also encourages us, together with relevant and international partners, to devote time and effort to further investigation and conservation of Vietnam’s biodiversity heritage.”
In addition to the silver-backed chevrotain, GWC has confirmed the rediscovery of three more species from its most-wanted list: Jackson’s climbing salamander in Guatemala and the Wallace’s giant bee and velvet pitcher plant in Indonesia.
More details were published this week in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.
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