Banteng  (Bos javanicus)

Range

The South and Southeast Asian distribution includes the countries of Cambodia, Indonesia (Kalimantan; Java; Bali), Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam (1). Until recently, it also included Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, India and Peninsular Malaysia (1). There is also a fairly large introduced population of banteng in Northern Australia, which are currently thought to number up to 400 animals (4).

View a distribution map for this species at UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre.

Habitat

On the Asian mainland, banteng prefer open, dry, deciduous forests (1), although individuals in Myanmar inhabit mixed deciduous and evergreen forest (4). Feeding in open clearings, banteng depend on dense thickets in which to retire for shelter and safety (2). During the monsoon seasons, banteng tend to migrate to higher areas, where they occupy dense forests and bamboo jungles (6). Within the more humid areas of Java and Borneo they occupy secondary forest that has formed after logging and fires, and they also occur in a tract of sub-humid forest (1).

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