Silver-backed chevrotain rediscovered in Vietnam after 30 years
Why in the news
The silver-backed chevrotain, a tiny hoofed mammal that had been treated as lost to science for about thirty years, has been rediscovered in southern Vietnam. Researchers confirmed it through camera-trap images.
Key facts
- Species: silver-backed chevrotain, also called the two-tone mouse deer.
- Location: Greater Annamites ecoregion, a lowland forest zone that spreads across Vietnam and Laos.
- Method: camera traps left in the forest for several months, combined with interviews of villagers and forest rangers.
- Main threat: hunting, particularly with snares.
- Other threats: leopards and wild dogs prey on it.
About the animal
It is a small hoofed mammal, about as big as a rabbit. Its head and front legs are russet, the body and hind legs are silver-grey, and the rear is white with a grizzled look. The coat pattern explains the alternative name, two-tone mouse deer.
Exam angle
- Species in the news questions often ask for the country and the ecoregion: Vietnam and the Greater Annamites.
- Remember the alternate name, two-tone mouse deer.
- The case shows how camera traps and local knowledge work together in biodiversity surveys.
- Rediscovery means a species thought lost has been confirmed alive again.