Vũ Quang National Park is a

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

in Vũ Quang District,

Hà Tĩnh Province Hà is a Vietnamese given name, male or female, meaning "river". Hà is a Vietnamese 'surname' (during French colonialism). The name is transliterated as He in Chinese and Ha in Korean. Ha is the anglicized variation of the surname Hà. It is ...

, North Central Coast,

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

. This park contains biodiversity.

Saola The saola (''Pseudoryx nghetinhensis''), also called spindlehorn, Asian unicorn, or infrequently, Vu Quang bovid, is a forest-dwelling bovid native to the Annamite Range in Vietnam and Laos. It was described in 1993 following a discovery of ...

and

giant muntjac The giant muntjac (''Muntiacus vuquangensis''), sometimes referred to as the large-antlered muntjac, is a species of muntjac deer. It is the largest muntjac species and was discovered in 1994 in Vũ Quang, Hà Tĩnh Province of Vietnam and in c ...

are found in this park. Vũ Quang is a remote forested region of

, in which several new species of

deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...

and

antelope The term antelope refers to numerous extant or recently extinct species of the ruminant artiodactyl family Bovidae that are indigenous to most of Africa, India, the Middle East, Central Asia, and a small area of Eastern Europe. Antelopes do ...

have been discovered since the 1990s. Some are so new that scientific description is still pending, although most have local names. The area was declared a forest reserve in 1986 and a

in 2002. The national park has an area of 212 square miles (550 square kilometers).

List of new animals

New animals from Vũ Quang and surrounding areas: *

or Vu Quang ox (''Pseudoryx nghetinhensis'') * Quang khem (slow deer) *

Giant muntjac The giant muntjac (''Muntiacus vuquangensis''), sometimes referred to as the large-antlered muntjac, is a species of muntjac deer. It is the largest muntjac species and was discovered in 1994 in Vũ Quang, Hà Tĩnh Province of Vietnam and in c ...

(''Megamuntiacus vuquangensis'') - the world's largest

muntjac Muntjacs ( ), also known as the barking deer or rib-faced deer, (URL is Google Books) are small deer of the genus ''Muntiacus'' native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. Muntjacs are thought to have begun appearing 15–35 million years ago, ...

. *

Northern white-cheeked gibbon The northern white-cheeked gibbon (''Nomascus leucogenys'') is a Critically Endangered species of gibbon native to South East Asia. It is closely related to the southern white-cheeked gibbon (''Nomascus siki''), with which it was previously co ...

(''Nomascus leucogenys'') In addition, Vũ Quang is home to five new species of fish: * ''Parazacco vuquangensis'' * ''Crosscheilus vuha'' * ''Pararhoedus philanthropus'' * ''Pararhoedus equalitus'' * ''Oreoglanis libertus'' In addition to these animals, there are some tantalising glimpses of more: * A large, cream-coloured

slow loris Slow lorises are a group of several species of Nocturnality, nocturnal Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhine primates that make up the genus ''Nycticebus''. Found in Southeast Asia and nearby areas, they range from Bangladesh and Northeast India in the ...

was seen in

Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...

Zoo by Doug Richardson, assistant curator of mammals at London Zoo in 1994. * A black muntjac was seen in

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

by Dr

George Schaller George Beals Schaller (born 26 May 1933) is an American mammalogist, biologist, conservationist and author. Schaller is recognized by many as the world's preeminent field biologist, studying wildlife throughout Africa, Asia and South America. ...

of New York's wildlife Conservation society in 1994. * The skull and some meat from the Vietnamese warty pig (''Sus bucculensis'') was given to Dr Schaller on the same visit. The species was first described in 1892 but no physical evidence for it was ever secured.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vu Quang National Park Geography of Hà Tĩnh province National parks of Vietnam Protected areas established in 2002 2002 establishments in Vietnam