Environmentalists have confirmed that wild gaur, an ox-like animal, have begun to return in large herds to Cat Tien National Park, which borders the three southern provinces of Dong Nai, Lam Dong and Binh Phuoc.
 A herd of 14 gaurs come back to Cat Tien forest in the southern province Dong Nai last month |
The scientists finished their fieldwork in the area last month to trace down the wild animals and have recently announced the good news.
Ho Chi Minh City-based photographer Tang A Pau spent two years searching for gaur in Cat Tien and shot a series of photos to prove the return of the wild animals after many years of dwindling populations.
“Cat Tien contains around 40 species of wild animals and the gaur is the one that scientists and photographers spend the most time observing, only after the rhinoceros,” Pau said.
He said he had been searching for guars in Cat Tien for two years, and on April 10 he spotted a herd near Tuong (elephant) mountain.
“I was asleep in my sentry box there after hours of threading through forests, a cascading noise woke me up,” he said. “It was the very gaur that I searched for years. Altogether there were 14 gaurs including some babies.”
Pau said he began to take photos as the herd approached.
As they continued to approach the sentry box, he said the animals were able to smell him when they were about 200 meters away.
Following their natural characteristics when confronting a possible threat, the adult gaur herd formed a circle around the young and calves to shield them, he said.
After seeing the collection of photos Pau took, Cat Tien Vice Director Nguyen Dinh Quoc Viet said this was the first time in nine years a herd of gaur had been found in Cat Tien.
Later, Cat Tien managers coordinated with scientists to find the herd and fit the animals with GPS sensors, but they haven’t been able to find them yet.
Dr. Chris Wazer said the species has been listed as vulnerable on the IUCN red list since 1986.
The gaur, which is notable with their muscular bodies, distinctive dorsal ridges and large dewlaps, is the largest species of wild cattle. A male can weigh up to 2,000 kilograms with a body length of up to 3.6 meters and a shoulder height of 2.3 meters. A female is slightly smaller.
The gaur habitat is largely confined to evergreen, semi-evergreen, and moist deciduous forests, and more importantly, relatively undisturbed forest regions.
A terrain below an altitude of 1,800 meters with the availability of water and an abundance of food such as grass, bamboo and shrubs is preferred.
Other than Cat Tien, the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak is another suitable location for gaur.
