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1993-04-08
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THE WEEK, Page 22HEALTH & SCIENCEJourney Into Vietnam's Lost World
An expedition finds several new creatures, including a kind
of goat
It is hard to imagine that much of scientific interest would
be left in the once pristine jungles of Vietnam, site of almost
uninterrupted warfare from the 1940s through the mid-'70s. The
conflict with the U.S., with its carpet-bombing and wholesale
spraying of Agent Orange, was especially devastating. Thus it
was something of a surprise that the first scientific foray deep
into the Vu Quang Nature Reserve, near Laos, found what amounts
to a "lost world" of animal and plant species.
The most exciting discovery: a large, horned mammal that
may be a kind of goat. Scientists brought out bones and skin
samples to help them find out where it fits in the evolutionary
puzzle. The expedition, sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund,
also brought back sightings or specimens of two new species of
bird, one new kind of fish, and a previously unknown,
yellow-shelled tortoise -- and there are probably more new
creatures to be found. A follow-up expedition is already in the
works.