Unknown To Science - The Mammals That Time Forgot

The pseudoryx (Pseudoryx nghentinhensis)

THIS IS a jungle antelope-like beast, also known as the Vu Quang ox, the spindlehorn, and by its Vietnamese name sao la, meaning weaving spindle. This animal was unknown to science until 1992 when the first skulls and skins were described. The first live one was captured in 1994. When grown it weighs up to 225lb, standing 3ft at the shoulder. The WWF has set up guard posts to help to preserve them.

The Vietnamese rhino (Rhinoceros sondaicus

THE VIETNAMESE subspecies of the Javan rhino may be the world's rarest animal, and among the world's most endangered creatures. There were only about 60 animals known to be in the wild. A 1998 footprint survey in Vietnam's Cat Tien national park confirmed the existence of perhaps the last surviving Vietnamese rhino family - with between five and seven members. Like all Asian rhinos, it has one horn.

The Kouprey (Bibos sauveli)

THE LAST major mammal to be discovered before the 1990s also came from south-east Asia. The kouprey, known as the forest ox, was unknown to science until a living specimen was sent to the Paris zoo in 1937. Numbers believed to be down to between 100 and 300 animals, it lives in parts of western Vietnam, southern Laos, Cambodia and the Dongrak Mountains of eastern Thailand. The only evidence that the ox still exists comes from hunters.