( CNN ) -- Environmentalists in Vietnam were ebullient this week after remote cameras in a forest reserve snapped pictures of a live saola , one of the rarest large mammals on Earth . At most a few hundred -- and as few as a couple dozen -- of the animals are thought to exist . Because of that rarity and its elusiveness , the saola is dubbed the `` Asian unicorn . '' That moniker comes despite the fact it has two closely spaced parallel horns . `` These are the most important wild animal photographs taken in Asia , and perhaps the world , in at least the past decade , '' said William Robichaud , coordinator of the Saola Working Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature 's Species Survival Commission , in a World Wildlife Fund press release . Scientists discover new species in Australian rainforest . `` This is an historic moment in Vietnam 's efforts to protect our extraordinary biodiversity , '' Dang Dinh Nguyen , deputy head of the country 's Quang Nam Forest Protection Department , said in the release . The picture of the animal was taken in September in a reserve in the Central Annamite Mountains and announced by the WWF on Tuesday . 441 species discovered in Amazon since 2010 . Van Ngoc Thinh , WWF-Vietnam 's country director , called the picture `` a breath-taking discovery . '' `` When our team first looked at the photos we could n't believe our eyes . Saola are the holy grail for Southeast Asian conservationists , '' Van said in a press release . The saola , which is a relative of cattle but looks like an antelope , was first discovered in 1992 in forests along the Vietnam-Laos border . A WWF survey team found a skull of the animal in a hunter 's home . In Vietnam , a saola was last seen in the wild in 1998 . In Laos , a remote camera snapped a picture of one in the wild in 1999 . And in 2010 , Laotian villagers captured a saola that died before word got to researchers . Olinguito : The newest rare mammal species . There are no saola in captivity . Environmentalists said Wednesday the pictures show that efforts to save the saola are working . `` Saola are caught in wire snares set by hunters to catch other animals , such as deer and civets , which are largely destined for the lucrative illegal wildlife trade , '' Van said in the WWF release . `` Since 2011 , forest guard patrols ... have removed more than 30,000 snares from this critical saola habitat and destroyed more than 600 illegal hunters ' camps . '' New legless lizards found in California . 'Chewbacca bat , ' other bizarre species found in national park .
Saola caught on forest camera in Vietnam . At most , only a few hundred saola thought to exist . Species was first discovered in 1992 .