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Nonetheless, the Vu Quang ox, giant muntjac and slow-running deer might have come to the attention of the world much sooner had Vietnam and Laos not been isolated by wars and trade embargoes. For many years, local hunters and even Laotian forest officials have used antlers taken from the animals as hat racks or as parts of ceremonial altars, unaware that these trophies represented species new to science. Indeed, MacKinnon found among the unsorted bones in the collection of Hanoi's Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources some skulls of the slow-running deer that had been gathering dust since the late 1960s, when they were picked up during a Vietnamese collecting expedition. During a recent trip to the institute, MacKinnon spotted yet another strange pair of antlers in the same box of bones. A fourth species? It defies probability, but he set the antlers aside for further investigation.
A common feature of the three newly discovered animals is their primitive characteristics, suggesting that they have remained essentially unchanged for aeons. The slow-running deer has simple horns that remind Arctander of a Viking helmet. The giant muntjac has large canine teeth that deerlike animals used in fights long ago, before they evolved elaborate antlers. All three animals have braincases that are relatively small in proportion to their size. Taxonomist Groves says the Vu Quang ox seems somewhat similar to the hemibos, an extinct creature that lived in India 5 million years ago.
The presence of what may be ancient species is evidence that Vu Quang and its environs have been ecologically stable for millions of years. "With no fluctuations in climate," Arctander explains, "relic species can survive for a very long time." Both Arctander and Groves say that given the diversity of the area, and its ability to support many large herbivores such as the newly discovered species as well as elephants, cattle-like gaur, sambar deer and forest hogs, the region may have served as a refuge through the ages, even as climate fluctuated elsewhere in Southeast Asia.
It is quite likely, however, that all the new species once roamed over larger areas than they do today. Human activities have transformed Southeast Asia far more significantly than climate shifts in recent centuries, and these changes have accelerated. As recently as 40 years ago, Vietnam had at least 50% of its original forests. Today less than 10% of those forests are still pristine. In fact, one reason new species are being discovered is that more people are penetrating ever deeper into ever dwindling forest.
Vu Quang was uninhabited until Vietnamese began to move in during the 1950s. This may explain why ancient species still survive. But now hunters' snares indiscriminately kill anything they trap, including endangered animals such as the tiger and sun bear. Human pressures have reduced the elephant population to as few as five animals, and the same fate could befall the species just uncovered. MacKinnon, disturbed by the connotations of the name slow-running deer, is worried that this animal may become extinct even before it is scientifically described.