After being considered extinct for 30 years, a camera in Vietnam has taken pictures of the meek Turgul animal, the meek deer, according to reports.
The camera took pictures of a creature wandering in search of food amid intertwined shrubs in a forest in southern Vietnam, the first confirmed sight of the creature since the 1980s.
Targull is an eccentric animal resembling a tiny deer, but with a mouse-like head decorated with reddish-brown fur. It also has hooves, which means it is actually a rare species of hooves, which is only found in Vietnam.
"We had no idea what to expect," said Anne Nguyen, a researcher at the World Wildlife Protection Organization. "So I was surprised and excited when we checked the camera records and saw pictures of a silver turtle."
The news was first revealed in a report in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution. The opening paragraph of the report called for renewed conservation.
"Here we provide evidence that the silver-backed turgul is still present, with the first photographs of this species in the wild, and we urge immediate action to preserve it to ensure its survival," the report said.
Nguyen's team discovered the rare animal after it set up three sets of camera traps that took pictures for five months in forests not far from the Vietnamese coastal city of Nha Trang.