The muntjac is one of the most threatened species

The male and female muntjacs are adults, and the imaging was the result of the biodiversity monitoring and assessment undertaken by the World Wildlife Fund in Vietnam, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research and the authorities of Quang Nam Province, supported by the US Agency for International Development.

Phan Tuan, head of the provincial forest ranger unit, said it was a great news that both of the muntjacs were adults and of reproductive age. "The images prove the existence of muntjacs in Quang Nam and give us hope about a breeding group of this rare species living somewhere near," he said.

Large-antlered muntjac is one of the rarest and most threatened species in Southeast Asia. Since 2000, the muntjacs had only been seen in images captured via camera traps in three protected areas in Vietnam.

The large-antlered muntjac was discovered in 1994 and is found only in the Annamites mountain range bordering Vietnam and Laos. Poaching has seriously threatened the survival of this species. There are a huge number of sophisticated traps found in the forests in the central region.

From 2011 to 2017, local forest ranger units and the patrols from the World Wildlife Fund removed over 100,000 traps in Saola Nature Reserve in Thua Thien-Hue and Quang Nam provinces.

Spotting the large-antlered muntjac is a milestone for the conservationists. Researchers from World Wildlife Fund and Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research are expanding the monitoring area to Thua Thien-Hue and northern area of Quang Nam Province.