The population of the Philippines' dwarf buffalo, one of the world's rarest animals, has grown to its largest since efforts to save them from extinction began, conservationists said Friday.

An annual survey counted 382 tamaraws in a protected mountain area this year, an increase from 345 in 2013, according to data from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

The tamaraw, famed for its distinct v-shaped horns, can be found only in the mountains of Mindoro, a farming island in the central Philippines.

The stocky tamaraw, with its chocolate brown coat, runs wild in the forest and weighs half as much as the more common carabao, which is used by farmers in the Philippines to plough rice fields.

"The tamaraw is the flagship species of the Philippines. It is our moral obligation and international commitment to preserve them," forest ranger Rodel Boyles, who heads a joint government and private sector conservation effort, told AFP.

"If they are not protected, the species might get wiped out in five years," he said.

The tamaraw is considered "critically endangered" -- two steps away from extinction -- by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Hunting and the destruction of their habitat to make way for grazing areas for cattle led to their near decimation, as the population fell from 10,000 in the 1900s to just 154 by 2000, according to the WWF.

The government and private sector's Tamaraw Conservation Programme aims to double the dwarf buffalo's population from 300 in the mid-2000s to 600 by 2020, Gregg Yan, a local spokesman for the WWF told AFP.

This requires ramping up forest patrols to ward off poachers and installing hidden cameras in the mountains to better understand the behaviour of the beast, Yann said.

A team of 30 forest rangers patrol a 37-acre portion of a mountain that is considered the buffalo's "core habitat", Boyles said.

"They are hunted down for food and trophy. When a species is rare, their price in the black market also goes up," he said.

Boyles said conservationists had held meetings with locals to discourage them from eating tamaraw meat.

"People also have this misconception that the flesh of wild animals taste better than farmed ones," he said.

The effort is paying off as the tamaraw population has been increasing every year for the last 12 years, WWF data shows.

This year's survey also showed an increased number of young tamaraws, indicating that they have been reproducing in the wild, Boyles said, adding past attempts at captive breeding have failed.

"We are hopeful that their numbers will continue increasing," he said.

Fanged deer spotted in Afghanistan, first sighting in 60 years
Kabul, Afghanistan (UPI) Oct 31, 2014 - After an absence of more than 60 years, a handful of rare fanged deer have been spotted in Afghanistan -- just in time for Halloween. The sharp-toothed mammal known as the Kashmir musk deer hadn't been seen in the country since 1948.

But as researchers recently reported in the journal Oryx, a team of field observers with the Wildlife Conservation Society spotted several of the rare specimens -- on multiple occasions -- in the remote alpine fields of northeast Afghanistan, meadows lush with juniper and rhododendron and accented with forested slopes and rugged rock outcrops.

"Musk Deer are one of Afghanistan's living treasures," lead author of the study, Peter Zahler, said in a recent press release. "This rare species, along with better known wildlife such as snow leopards, are the natural heritage of this struggling nation."

The sharp white enamel that protrudes from the musk deer's mouth are more tusks than they are fangs -- not used to kill or eat prey, but to impress females and compete with other males during rutting season.

The Kashmir musk deer, one of seven similar species in Asia, is considered endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The Dracula-like deer's largest threats are habitat loss and poaching. The species' scent glands are highly prized for their use in perfume, incense, and medicine -- selling for $20,000 per pound on the black market.

"We hope that conditions will stabilize soon to allow WCS and local partners to better evaluate conservation needs of this species," Zahler added.

Without improved conservation infrastructure and wildlife initiatives, researchers say the deer is likely to disappear from Afghanistan's Nuristan Province and elsewhere in India and Pakistan.