Will wildlife smuggling strip Asia of animals?

Chris Shepherd, deputy regional director for Southeast Asia at Traffic, fears Asian wildlife have a bleak future.

The illegal wildlife trade, Shepherd says, is thriving. "It's not a pretty picture," he says, citing tigers as an example. "They're being absolutely hammered. We've lost so many tigers over the past couple of years. Anywhere there are tigers, there are people trying to kill them. Here in Southeast Asia, it's the meat and bones. It's something rare, something illegal; it's impressive if you eat it. It's worth a lot of money."

The trade is pervasive. Thai tiger farms have been nabbed illegally selling surplus cubs; tiger-bone glue, made from bones that have been boiled, dried and ground into a powder, is a popular medicine in Vietnam; Chinese tiger farms reportedly serve "king meat" and tiger-bone wine in on-site restaurants. Gosling says Vietnam, China, Thailand and probably Burma and Laos have tiger farms or tiger parks that foster the trade in body parts.

In Vietnam, environmentalists worry about the silence of the northern forests. A few years ago, Indonesian traders sent 25 tonnes of freshwater turtles to China each week, to be sold as food with medicinal properties. Now, conservationists say, there are too few remaining turtles to make the poaching worthwhile.

Police general Misakawan Buara, who commands a force of 470 staff at the Royal Thai Police division of natural resources and environment crime, has a fair idea who some of the big illegal wildlife traders are in Thailand, but he won't name names.

"I cannot tell you, I don't have proof. It's very hard to catch people like that. I suspect [them], but maybe I will lose [in court]." He knows trading and poaching has reached alarming levels across the nation. "If we keep going like this, some time soon in Thailand there will be no animals."

Saving the Unicorn of Vietnam

The Vietnamese government has approved a Saola Natural Reserve to protect one of the world's most endangered—and most elusive—mammals.

The Saola (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis) - often referred to as the Unicorn of Vietnam, despite sporting two horns - is one of the most enigmatic endangered animals in the world today.

The shy ungulate lives in the dense jungles of Vietnam and Laos, and is more related to wild cattle than Africa's antelopes.

The saola is so unusual that is has been given its own genus: Pseudoryx, due to its superficial similarities to Africa's oryx, and animal remained wholly unknown to science until 1992.

The new reserve in Quang Nam Province rests on the border of Vietnam and Laos.

"This new reserve will create a biodiversity corridor connecting the East of Vietnam to West side of Xe Sap National Park in Laos," explained Ms. Tran Minh Hien, Country Director of WWF Vietnam, in a statement.

There are no specimens of saola in zoos, making reintroduction impossible should the species go extinct in the wild. Over a dozen individual saolas have been held in captivity, but all died within a few months time.

While the saola looks like an Africa antelope, it is actually more closely related to wild cattle, though it is evolutionary unique enough to have its own genus. The saola's range extends along the Annamite Mountains in both Vietnam and Laos. The animal is threatened by snares set by poachers, dog-hunting, and loss of habitat largely exacerbated by road construction.

Visit the Save the Saola website.

Do Wild Men roam the earth?

Could wild men still be roaming the jungles, forests and wilderness regions of the world?

There are reports from all over the globe of large 'man apes' - America has its Bigfoot; Canada has its Sasquatch; Australia has its bush ape, the Yowie; Indonesia boasts the Orang-Pendek; Brazil has its Mapinguary; China has its Yeren; Vietnam its Wildman; India its 'forest man' or Mande Barung; Nepal its Yeti...surely there must be something to all of these tales?

And what are they? Remnant race? Distant cousin? A new species?

Henry Gee, senior editor of that esteemed journal Nature, reckons there's a strong chance:

"It is entirely legitimate to ask whether H. floresiensis, or something like it, still exists, or, perhaps, became extinct in historical times: a human version of the red gazelle, perhaps.

"And if one admits H. floresiensis to the canon, what of other celebrated mythical beasts - if not necessarily Nessie, then the orang pendek of Malaysia? The yeti? The sasquatch? Bigfoot? Are all such creatures the products of delusion, conspiracy theories and hoax? Perhaps - but not necessarily. The little we know of those large mammals on the fringes of knowledge suggests that they live in remote places, are very shy, are extremely rare, and that to find them before they become extinct requires a degree of luck. So far, no hard evidence for yetis (say) has emerged. But in a world that hosts H. floresiensis and the saola, the kouprey and the red gazelle, one should keep an open mind."

How refreshing and inspiring to know there are still some very open minds in science, and that the spirit of adventure and inquiry isn't dead - not by a long shot!

This week there has been talk of launching a high-level expedition in the remote mountains of China's Shennongjia Nature Reserve in search of the Yeren, a costly exercise but one that could very possibly bear fruit given the remote locality.

In neighbouring India, the CFZ will soon be searching for the Mande Barang (or Burung) during a three-week expedition departing October 31 and returning November 20. The team consists of seasoned explorers Adam Davies, Dave Archer, Jon McGowan, Dr. Chris Clark and Richard Freeman.

To get an idea of what the team are in for when they get there, read Alistair Lawson's BBC story from 2008 about the Mande Barung sightings.

Now don't you wish you were getting out of that armchair and going with them?