A species of deer not spotted in Afghanistan for 60 years, noted for its Dracula-like fangs, has been seen in the country's northeast region, a wildlife conservation team says.
Kashmir musk deer, last observed in Afghanistan in 1948, were seen in five separate sightings in a region with alpine meadows and rocky, steep outcrops, the team headed by the Wildlife Conservation Society reported.
The sightings included a single male seen in one area on three different occasions, one female accompanied by a juvenile, and a solitary female that may have been the same animal without the youngster, the researchers reported in the journal Oryx.
Male deer use the species' distinctive fangs during mating season to battle with other males over prospective mates, and to impress those mates, the researchers say.
Musk deer have long been the target for poachers, who kill the animals for their scent glands, used for centuries in perfumes and traditional medicines and which can fetch more than $20,000 a pound for illegal wildlife traffickers in black market trading.
Ongoing poaching and habitat loss have been particularly hard on the Kashmir musk deer, one of seven similar species found in Asia, leading them to be categorized as endangered on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List.
They last confirmed sightings before now were by a Danish survey team passing through the region in 1948.
Difficult to even spot, the deer proved wary and impossible to photograph, the WCS researchers said of the new sightings.
"Musk deer are one of Afghanistan's living treasures," says study co-author Peter Zahler, WCS Deputy Director of Asia Programs. "This rare species, along with better known wildlife such as snow leopards, are the natural heritage of this struggling nation."
Deteriorating security conditions in the region of Afghanistan where the deer were sighted has forced NGOs like the Wildlife Conservation Society to leave the area, but WCS officials say they are in contact with local peoples it trained there and will pursue funding to for ecosystem protection and research in the region when the situation improves.
With funding support from the United States Agency for International Development, the WCS has been working to build Afghanistan's capacity for sustainably managing their natural resources at both the government and community levels, officials said.
"We hope that conditions will stabilize soon to allow WCS and local partners to better evaluate conservation needs of this species," Zahler says.
