Silver Page 39: Lucky Rabbit's Foot
(click here for previous page) | Read the Story from the Beginning

The clever (and large) medic with the horns is a Kouprey, a wild forest-dwelling ox found mainly in northern Cambodia. It was discovered in 1937.There are estimated to be fewer than 250 kouprey left in the world. These low numbers are attributed to uncontrolled hunting by locals and soldiers, in conjunction with diseases introduced from cattle and loss of habitat. No kouprey have been sighted since 1983, and during the last decade several searches for the animal have proven fruitless. The 2008 IUCN report lists the Kouprey as Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct). There is no captive population. The only individual in a western zoo died early in World War II.

The airplane passanger in front of Uncle Paul is an Alagoas Curassow Mitu Mitu, a large, mainly glossy black pheasant-like bird. It was formerly found in forests in north-eastern Brazil, but it is now extinct in the wild.