Banteng

The wild banteng is classified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, and populations have decreased by more than 50% in the past few decades.

The banteng (Bos javanicus; ), also known as the tembadau, is a species of wild bovine found in Southeast Asia, with domestic-wild hybrids present in parts of Northern Australia.

Being herbivorous, banteng feed on vegetation such as grasses, sedges, shoots, leaves, flowers, and fruits.

Rampant poaching (for food, game, traditional medicine and horns), habitat loss and fragmentation and susceptibility to disease are major threats throughout its range.

In Borneo numbers have fallen in areas like Kalimantan and Sabah, mainly due to poaching and human disturbance.

Wild banteng are typically larger and heavier than their domesticated counterparts, but are otherwise similar in appearance.

Banteng live for as long as 26 years.

Banteng occur in a variety of habitats throughout their range, including open deciduous forests, semi-evergreen forests, lower montane forests, grasslands, and abandoned farms.

The largest populations of wild banteng occur in Java, Cambodia, and possibly in Kalimantan (particularly East Kalimantan and North Kalimantan) and Thailand.

In the past banteng were widespread in the Southeast Asian mainland, including Yunnan Province (China) and extending to Borneo and Java through Peninsular Malaysia; northeastern India and Bali were probably part of the range.

Feral populations are found in East Kalimantan, the Northern Territory in Australia, and possibly in Enggano and Sangihe in Indonesia.

Domesticated banteng occur in Bali and many eastern Indonesian islands (such as Sulawesi, Sumbawa, and Sumba), Australia, Malaysia, and New Guinea.