Identifying habitat and understanding movement resistance for the Endangered Bornean banteng Bos javanicus lowi in Sabah, Malaysia

The Preferred Habitat of Reintroduced Banteng (Bos javanicus) at the Core and the Edge of Salakphra Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand

Monitoring of banteng (Bos javanicus) after reintroduction is important for their management. This study aimed to monitor the preferred habitat and area of use of reintroduced banteng at the core (13 banteng) and the edge (three banteng) of Salakphra Wildlife Sanctuary between 2019 and 2021 and compared the finding with previous studies conducted from 2014 to 2019. The Binary Logistic Regression (BLR) showed the most preferred, moderately preferred, and least preferred areas were 44.7 km², 1.2 km², and 54.1 km² in the dry season, and 25.9 km², 1.0 km², and 9.3 km² in the wet season, respectively. Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) showed the most preferred, moderately preferred, and least preferred areas as 12.1 km², 17.3 km², and 65.9 km², respectively. Banteng have previously been found close to ponds and salt licks. The area of use size, as determined by Minimum Convex Polygon (MCP) and Kernel Density Estimation (KDE), was 20.3 km² and 6.5 km², respectively. Three banteng were reintroduced to the edge area in 2020. The edge area was temporarily utilized by these individuals. In the core area, the area of use in this study decreased compared to the previous studies from 2014 to 2019, indicating they were able to find their preferred habitat. This study suggested that, if the area is managed appropriately, banteng will be able to live in a smaller habitat, and we will be able to restore the banteng population in the future.

Hunting pressure is a key contributor to the impending extinction of Bornean wild cattle

Widespread and unregulated hunting of ungulates in Southeast Asia is resulting in population declines and localised extinctions. Increased access to previously remote tropical forest following logging and changes in land-use facilitates hunting of elusive wild cattle in Borneo, which preferentially select secluded habitat. We collated the first population parameters for the Endangered Bornean banteng Bos javanicus lowi and developed population models to simulate the effect of different hunting offtake rates on survival and the recovery of the population using reintroduced captive-bred individuals. Our findings suggest that the banteng population in Sabah is geographically divided into 4 management units based on connectivity: the Northeast, Sipitang (West), Central and Southeast, which all require active management to prevent further population decline and local extinction. With only 1% offtake, population growth ceased in the Northeast and Sipitang. In the Southeast and Central units, growth ceased at 2 and 4% offtake, respectively. Extinction was estimated at 21-39 yr when offtake was 5%, occurring first in Sipitang and last in the Central unit. Supplementing the population with captive-bred individuals suggested that inbreeding was likely to limit population growth if using ≤20 founder individuals. Translocating 2 individuals for a 10 yr period, starting after 20 yr of captive breeding resulted in a faster population recovery over 100 yr and a lower extinction probability. Our results suggest that shielding the population against further losses from hunting will be key to their survival in the wild, provided that active management in the form of captive breeding is developed in the interim.