SherLEECH Holmes

Leech

Saola "Asian Unicorn"

The International Union for Conservation of Nature says that researchers don't even know about 15 percent of mammals enough to even determine if they are threatened by extinction or not. Many animals are still unknown to humans. Researchers try to track rare species by using footprints, dung, and motion-sensitive cameras, but the work is laborious, especially when researchers are working in dense rain forest. The Saola is a deer like animal with the nickname, "Asian Unicorn", it has two straight horns on its head. Researchers first saw these horns in hunters' homes in 1992, but ever since then they only found remains of Saola's and never a living one in the wild. Tom Gilbert, a geneticist University of Copenhagen, discovered an effective way to track rare species. Gilbert got this idea when a colleague that was monitoring rare tapirs in Malaysia was bit by a terrestrial leech and wondered if the blood inside the leech can be used for DNA analysis . Tom Gilbert tested his new idea by feeding 40 different leeches goat blood. After he ground them into a paste he saw that every one of the ground leeches contained goat DNA even after 4 months. (2010) Gilbert tried this new method on 25 leeches that had been captured in Vietnam. 21 leeches contained DNA from different mammals and two of theme were extremely rare. Although there was no evidence of the Saola, Gilbert had found the DNA of the Annamite striped rabbit. Scientists had seen this animals only once in a Laotian food market in 1995 but it was never seen since. Tom Gilbert is now analyzing blood DNA of leeches from countries all over the world including Indonesia, Malaysia, and Madagascar. I think that this idea was really creative and great.

List of Top 5 Rare Animals:

1. Thylacine

The striped meat-eating Tasmanian tiger was a marsupial the size of a large dog. Though experts agree the last one died in a zoo in 1936, some people have hope.

2. Javan Rhino

This animal may be extinct because it is hunted so much.

But scientists estimate that about 50 might survive on the western tip of Java.

3. Saola

Scientist think that about a couple dozen to a few hundred of these rare animals live in the Annamite mountains of Vietnam and Laos.

4. Greater Bamboo Lemur

Even though the name might be "Greater" Bamboo Lemur, this creature weighs only five pounds. Researchers think that about 100-160 of these small creatures live in the bamboo forests of Madagascar.

5. Annamite Striped Rabbit

Researchers think that these rabbits are hiding in the same areas as the Saola.

(Annamite Mountains- Annamite Striped Rabbit)

Sources: Popsci 

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