The saola is a forest-dwelling ox weighing about 100 kg (220 lb). All known locations for the species are mountainous with steep river valleys, covered by evergreen or semideciduous forests between 300 - 1800 m (1000 - 6000'), with low human disturbance. Current knowledge indicates that the saola prefers the edge areas of wet lowland evergreen forest habitats and evergreen montane forests. Villagers say that the ox eats the leaves of fig trees and other bushes along riverbanks. The small size of the incisors suggests a browsing diet. It stays in the higher elevations during the wetter summer season, when streams at these altitudes have plenty of water, and moves down to the lowlands during the winter, when the mountain streams dry up. The saola is said to travel in small groups of 2 - 3 animals, rarely up to 6 - 7 animals.saola was first documented by Western scientists in Vietnam in 1992 (WCMC/WWF 1997). It occurs in forested hills and mountains along the border between Laos and Vietnam. It is currently estimated to occur in less than 15 forest blocks in the two countries. The species is absent from small forest fragments, and restricted to remote core areas of the larger forest blocks. The number of saola subpopulations is probably about 6 - 15, and none likely numbers more than 50 animals. It is likely that total saola numbers are fewer than 250 mature individuals. The population is also highly dispersed, and fragmentation is worsening. Saola numbers may be so low that no viable populations remain. The saola population is declining at a high rate, probably due to the intensive, non-specific hunting of most larger species of wildlife throughout the saola's range (spurred by commercial demand for bushmeat and Asian traditional medicine). This is augmented by habitat loss due to logging and forest clearance, all of which are accelerating due to recent and widespread expansion of road networks in the species' range.
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