An official government expedition to search for the Kouprey-Cambodia's national

animal and the world's rarest and most endangered wild bovine-came up empty handed

this week.

"No news," said Kouprey Reconnaissance Project advisor Hunter Weiler on

Jan 20. "It was more of a reconnaissance effort. We saw no Kouprey footprints."

Sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry's Department of

Wildlife Protection, the search took place from Jan 11-18 in a remote corner of Cambodia's

northeast along the Srepok River.

The team, which included a camera crew from America's cable TV show "The New

Explorers" hosted by Bill Kurtis, travelled by boat from Lomphat up river and

then by elephant into uninhabited scrub jungle areas.Weiler said the expedition had

good cooperation from provincial and district authorities, and that several Khmer

Rouge defectors helped with the search.