Banteng

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Banteng

Banteng in Disney's Animal Kingdom

Conservation status

Endangered

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Bovidae
Subfamily:	Bovinae
Genus:	Bos
Species:	B. javanicus

Binomial name

Bos javanicus
d'Alton, 1823

Range map

The Banteng, Bos javanicus is an ox that is found in Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Borneo, Java, and Bali. Some Banteng were introduced to Northern Australia during British colonization in 1849.

Banteng grow to about 1.6 metres at the shoulder and 2.3 m in head-body length. Banteng bulls usually weigh between 680 - 810 kg, females are smaller. Some very large males may weigh a ton. Banteng have white stockings on their lower legs, a white rump and white patches around their eyes and muzzle, however there is considerable sexual dimorphism. Males have a blue-black or dark chestnut coat, long upward arching horns and a hump over the shoulders. Females, however, have a reddish brown coat, small horns, which point inwards at the tips and no hump.

Banteng live in sparse forest where they feed on grasses, bamboo, fruit, leaves and young branches. The Banteng is generally active both at night and day time but in places where humans are common they adopt a nocturnal schedule. Banteng tend to gather in herds of two to thirty members.

Dark color variant of the banteng

Banteng have been domesticated in several places in Southeast Asia, and there are around 1.5 million domestic Banteng. Domestic and wild Banteng can mate and offspring are often fertile.

As of February 2005, the Banteng population of the Cobourg Peninsula is 10,000 head, making the population in the Northern Territory the largest herd in the world. Before the study by Charles Darwin University it was believed that only 5,000 pure-strain Banteng survived worldwide. In their native range the largest herd numbers less than 500 head.

[edit] Cloning

The Banteng is the second endangered species to be successfully cloned [1],[2] and the first to survive for more than a week (the first was a Gaur that died two days after being born). Scientists at Advanced Cell Technology in Worcester, MA, USA extracted DNA from Banteng cells kept in the San Diego Zoo's "Frozen Zoo" facility, and transferred it into eggs from domestic cattle, a process called somatic cell nuclear transfer. 30 embryos were created, sent to Trans Ova Genetics, which implanted the fertilized eggs in domestic cattle. Two were carried to term and delivered by caesarian section.[3] The first was born on April 1, 2003, and the second two days later. The second was euthanized [4], but the first survived and, as of September 2006, remains in good health at the San Diego Zoo.