From the snow leopard to the pangolin, there are many animals that evade human contact. These elusive animals move secretly and silently through hard-to-reach habitats and are often at risk of endangerment. One of these animals, known as the Asian unicorn, is now one step closer to being found by humans – and in this case, that’s a good thing.
The saola is commonly referred to as the Asian unicorn because of its mythic existence. Scientists first became aware of it as late as 1992, making it the most recently discovered large land mammal. Even after discovery, it remained elusive and hasn’t been seen in the wild in over ten years.
“Right now, the existence of live saolas can neither be proven nor disproven. The last evidence we have was from 2013, when one was captured on a camera trap. But given the remoteness of its habitat, it is extremely difficult to say for sure whether there are still a few out there. There are some signs and indications that still give us hope,” said Nguyen Quo Dung from the Forest Inventory and Planning Institute in Vietnam in a press release.
The hope of finding the saola has increased lately, thanks to a new breakthrough in genetic analysis made possible by the first-ever mapping of the saola’s genome.
Read More: 5 Weird and Wild Animals You've (Probably) Never Heard Of
Saola Genome Mapping
Until now, there has been very little genetic data available for the saola. A new international study, published in Cell, has changed that by releasing the results of their saola genome mapping project.
The research team was able to generate complete genomes for 26 saolas using fragmented saola remains. This analysis has given researchers brand new insights into the saola’s past and future.
One of the most unexpected findings was that the saola is split into two, genetically different populations. They estimate the split to have happened 5,000 to 20,000 years ago. There are also indications that both populations have been in a steady decline since the Ice Age, with the total saola population on Earth never growing beyond 5,000 individuals over the last 10,000 years.
A decline across genetically different populations suggests that both populations have been steadily losing genetic diversity over time. This may sound like bad news, but the genetic analysis also uncovered another important detail: each population did not lose the same thing.
“This means that the genetic variation lost in each population complements the other,” said lead author Genis Garcia Erill in the press release. “So, if you mix them, they could compensate for what the other is missing.”
A Chance At Survival
Based on conservation models run by the research team, the best chance for saola survival is to mix the two different populations in a captive breeding program. Finding enough saolas to take part in the mixing, however, is proving to be difficult.
Thankfully, the results of the genetic mapping and analysis can also be used to aid various existing technologies to help find the last remaining Asian unicorns.
“Many researchers have unsuccessfully tried to find traces of saolas through methods like environmental DNA in water and even in leeches, the blood suckers inhabiting the same habitat,” said Minh Duc Le, co-author of the study from Vietnam National University, in the press release. “These techniques all rely on detecting tiny DNA fragments, and now that we know the complete saola genome, we have a much larger toolkit for detecting those fragments.”
Even if the worst-case scenario turns out to be true and the saolas are already extinct, the genetic analysis could still prove useful. Much like the recent efforts to bring back the woolly mammoth and dire wolves, the saola genome could be used as part of a de-extinction project in the future.
Read More: Dire Wolf De-Extinction Breeds Both Hope and Uncertainty
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As the marketing coordinator at Discover Magazine, Stephanie Edwards interacts with readers across Discover's social media channels and writes digital content. Offline, she is a contract lecturer in English & Cultural Studies at Lakehead University, teaching courses on everything from professional communication to Taylor Swift, and received her graduate degrees in the same department from McMaster University. You can find more of her science writing in Lab Manager and her short fiction in anthologies and literary magazine across the horror genre.
