A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
(Full Story)
Search This Blog
Back to 500BC.
==========================
Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Thursday, March 21, 2019
Conservationists fight for ‘critically endangered’ status for Bornean wild cattle
19 Mar 2019
AT THE headwaters of the Belantikan River on the island of Borneo, an
organisation committed to protecting orangutans is extending its efforts
to a slightly less charismatic megafauna: the endangered Bornean
banteng, a type of wild cattle.
Long thought to be subspecies of the banteng found on Java, Bos javanicus,
a growing body of DNA evidence suggests the Bornean banteng may be its
own species — a distinction conservationists hope will earn the animals
the attention they need to help ensure their survival.
“We’ve been researching them since 2003,” said Eddy Santoso, the
director of the Indonesian Orangutan Foundation, known by its local
acronym of Yayorin.
A master’s degree student initially caught wind of the elusive
population in 2003, through stories from the local community, but it
wasn’t until 2007 that the first tracks were confirmed. Eventually
researchers found droppings and horn marks deep in the forest.
Motion-activated cameras placed near mineral salt licks in 2013 captured
the first photographic proof that the small population indeed exists.
Ultimately, a network of 32 video cameras placed throughout the
64-square-kilometer (25-square-mile) study area recorded the banteng.
Several were traveling in family groups, with calves up to 3 years old
following their mothers through the thick forest. The best estimates put
the total number of wild cattle living in the Belantikan area at no
more than 20 animals.
Scientists estimate somewhere between 5,000 to 8,000 Bos javanicus remain
in the wild, but habitat loss, hunting, and crossbreeding with domestic
cattle have placed the species on the IUCN’s Red List as endangered.
Three distinct subspecies are currently recogniz=sed: B. j. javanicus occupy the Indonesian islands of Java and Bali, while B. j. birmanicus are found throughout mainland Southeast Asia.
The Belantikan population of banteng, along with a few other isolated
groups found on the island of Borneo, have long been considered a third
subspecies, B. j. lowi, but physiological differences, and now genetic markers, suggest they may be their own species entirely.
“Because accurate baseline data about the banteng is lacking in
Indonesia, it has long been assumed that these animals are descendants
of the Javan banteng,” said Iman Safari, program manager at Yayorin.
But according to Iman, recent genetic tests conducted by researchers at
the Bogor Institute of Agriculture indicate that the Bornean banteng may
actually be more closely related to the gaur (Bos gaurus) than B. javanicus. Ranging from India to mainland Southeast Asia, the gaur is the world’s largest wild bovine.
The genetic analysis of a protein known as Cytochrome C oxidase I found a
4.3 percent difference between the Bornean banteng and the Javan
banteng. Analysis on a different protein, Cytochrome B, put the species
separation at 5.5 percent.
New species have been declared based on a genetic difference of only 3
percent, Iman said, so the findings support the notion that the Bornean
banteng may actually be a separate species.
“What this means, anyway,” Iman said, “is that it has given us the confidence to push to declare this group a new species.”
He pointed to the 2017 declaration of the Tapanuli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis) as a separate species from the Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii)
as a precedent. This, Iman said, could serve as a roadmap for how the
Yayorin researchers can go about getting their banteng recognised. He
said he hoped to speed through the typically long and laborious process
of declaring a new species.
If the Bornean banteng is indeed a separate species, it would likely be
listed as critically endangered, given the small remaining population
size and rapidly shrinking habitat. This distinction could help bring
new attention and resources to help protect the animals, who share the
forest with Yayorin’s main species of concern: the Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus).
“Orangutans are an umbrella species that exist as part of a greater
ecosystem,” Eddy said, “and if there are banteng in the orangutan’s
ecosystem, we will work to protect the banteng as well.”
In the early 2000s, the Belantikan forest was home to some 6,000
orangutans — the largest wild population found outside of a national
park, wildlife reserve or other protected forest. Around the same time,
only about 30 banteng were thought to exist in the same area. A census
conducted two years ago now puts the number of banteng closer to 20.
The Belantikan River runs along the Schwaner Mountains, a natural
barrier between Indonesia’s Central and West Kalimantan provinces.
Yayorin’s center of operations is in Lamandau district, near Nanga Matu,
the furthest upstream village. Nanga Matu, like most villages around
the headwaters, is surrounded by an area classified by the government as
production forest, which means it’s open to logging and other
commercial activity.
But the lands around the village are in better shape than in many other
parts of the district that have been converted to oil palm plantations.
The Belantikan forest still contains trees with trunks more a meter (3
feet) in diameter, and support some 56 species of plants known to be
eaten by the banteng.
This isn’t to suggest that the forest around Nanga Matu is pristine. On
the contrary, a logging company previously held a concession covering
some 980 square kilometers (380 square miles) in the district, although
Eddy said the total area had since decreased. Yet despite this
disturbance, monitoring by Yayorin has confirmed that a small population
of banteng has been able to sustain itself up to this point, and
conservation efforts are expected to protect their future.
According to Iman, 17 square kilometers (7 square miles) of the
headwaters area have been designated as conservation forest by the
Lamandau government, and he is encouraged by the efforts of several
villages in the region that have issued bylaws to protect the banteng.
Some communities have invoked customary law to fine their own members
and outsiders who hunt the banteng, and community planning has spaced
rice fields farther apart so that the banteng have room to travel.
“In the past the fields were planted too close together,” Iman said,
“and if a banteng trampled a field, damaging the harvest, the villagers
would automatically kill it.”
Nanga Matu village is also considering developing a conservation tourism
package, though they admit it won’t likely be of mass appeal, and will
probably be quite expensive.
Other proposals for helping to protect the species include a sanctuary
breeding program, but Iman is concerned that this will be difficult, as
banteng are easily stressed; calves separated from their mothers don’t
often survive.
These ideas are being discussed for possible implementation by the newly
established Forum for Conservation of Belantikan Banteng, which will
work with the local government and communities to develop a conservation
plan that meets the needs of all parties.
“If nothing else, we hope to increase awareness of the banteng,” Iman
said, “and maybe get its status raised.” He points out that orangutans,
he pointed out, are classified as critically endangered, despite there
being far more of them than the banteng — which is only listed as
endangered.
By Budi Baskoro. This article was republished from Mongabay under a Creative Commons license. It was reported in part by Mongabay’s Indonesia team and was first published on its Indonesian site on March 10, 2019.