Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

08/09/2022 | Press release | Archived content

Proposing a conservation plan for the giant muntjac


Proposing a conservation plan for the giant muntjac


(09:32:39 AM, 09/08/2022)

At a workshop on conservation of the ancient mammal, the giant muntjac, which took place recently in Viet Nam, domestic experts said that Viet Nam should immediately have a conservation plan before it is too late.

Also at this workshop, experts proposed to form a network to conserve large muntjac species in Viet Nam so that they can promote and unify solutions to conserve large muntjac species in special-use forests in the Truong Sa mountain range. Paint. From there, propose appropriate plans and strategies to conserve the giant muntjac in Viet Nam.

The goal for the future is that Viet Nam has a strong enough network to preserve not only the giant muntjac, Saola but also other rare animals.

Giant muntjac and Saola are two animals with very special ancient genes. These two individuals only exist in the Truong Son mountain range of Viet Nam, Laos and a small part in Cambodia.

Giant muntjac is an endemic, endangered animal living in the forest habitat of the Truong Son mountain range. Although newly discovered in the 1990s, along with Saola and Truong Son striped rabbit, the giant muntjac is also the most endangered ungulate in the world because it has the smallest distribution area of other ungulates.

The giant muntjac is classified as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) list. However, in Viet Nam, so far we have not had a specific conservation strategy to protect these endangered giant muntjac populations. Currently, many places and recently, Song Thanh National Park have discovered many large muntjac individuals, so there is an opportunity for us to preserve this species.

In May 2018, the Quang Nam Provincial Forest Protection Department informed that two individuals of the large muntjac were recorded by a camera trap in a forest in Quang Nam. This is considered the first time that images of this species have been recorded in the investigation and assessment of biodiversity in the area by the World Widelife Fund (WWF) - Viet Nam, the the Leibniz Institute for Zoo- and Wildlife Research (IZW) in collaboration with Quang Nam authorities. The image shows that the 2 large muntjac individuals are both in the adult and reproductive age.

K.An