Scientists have confirmed the first sighting in more than a
decade of one of the world’s rarest animals - the saola,
sometimes called Asia’s “unicorn.” The animal was captured by
villagers in Laos in August, according to the International
Union for the Conservation of Nature. The villagers took the
saola back to their village in Bolikhamxay province and Laotian
conservation authorities sent a team to check on the animal. The
creature, likely weakened from its time in captivity, died
shortly after that team arrived. "The death of this Saola is
unfortunate,” the Provincial Conservation Unit of Bolikhamxay
province said in the IUCN statement. “But at least it confirms
an area where it still occurs and the government will
immediately move to strengthen conservation efforts there." This
was the first confirmed sighting of a saola since 1999, when
remotely triggered cameras took images of one in Laos. First
discovered in 1992, the saola is considered critically
endangered, its numbers so few that biologists have ne