RESUMEN
Wild bovids provide important ecosystem functions as seed dispersers and vegetation modifiers. Five wild bovids remain in Thailand: gaur (Bos gaurus), banteng (Bos javanicus), wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee), mainland serow (Capricornis sumatraensis) and Chinese goral (Naemorhedus griseus). Their populations and habitats have declined substantially and become fragmented by land-use change. We use ecological niche models to quantify how much potential suitable habitat for these species remains within protected areas in Asia and then specifically Thailand. We combined species occurrence data from several sources (e.g. mainly camera traps and direct observation) with environmental variables and species-specific and single, large accessible areas in ensemble models to generate suitability maps, using out-of-sample predictions to validate model performance against new independent data. Gaur, banteng and buffalo models showed reasonable model accuracy throughout the entire distribution (greater than or equal to 62%) and in Thailand (greater than or equal to 80%), whereas serow and goral models performed poorly for the entire distribution and in Thailand, though 5 km movement buffers markedly improved the performance for serow. Large suitable areas were identified in Thailand and India for gaur, Cambodia and Thailand for banteng and India for buffalo. Over 50% of suitable habitat is located outside protected areas, highlighting the need for habitat management and conflict mitigation outside protected areas.
RESUMEN
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.
RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Banteng (Bos javanicus d'Alton 1823) are an endangered species, highly sensitive to habitat structure and quality. In many areas, banteng were extinct and needed to be reintroduced to restore their population. Thus, understanding the responses of body condition of reintroduced banteng to their habitat was important for ensuring the sustainability of a reintroduction program. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the body condition of banteng after reintroduction into the Salakphra Wildlife Sanctuary in Thailand based on photographs from camera-traps carried out between July 2016 and November 2018. METHODS: Seven banteng were bred at the Khao Nampu Nature and Wildlife Education Center and systematically reintroduced into the Salakphra Wildlife Sanctuary in December 2015 (four) and July 2016 (three). The seven reintroduced adults and two newborns (from the 2015 group) were captured via camera traps in 2018. The body condition scoring (BCS) obtained from these photographs was used to identify the individual performance of all seven adults after their reintroduction. RESULTS: The BCS scores in reintroduced adult banteng, both males and females, (between 5 and 7 years old) increased significantly over time after reintroduction into a natural habitat (p < 0.05), although the BCS scores in females were not significantly different between the second and third years (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The results from the present study suggest that camera traps are a practical tool to assess the BCS of reintroduced banteng, and can be used to monitor their condition post-release. These techniques may be appropriate for translocation programs elsewhere.
RESUMEN
Banteng (Bos javanicus) are susceptible to hunting and habitat destruction. Banteng were successfully reintroduced in Salakphra Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand. Thus, understanding their adaptation to natural forage species and nutrition is important to enhance the chance for successful reintroduction of the banteng. We studied the adaptation of banteng to natural forages and nutrition before and after the reintroduction in Salakphra Wildlife Sanctuary between November 2015 and November 2017. Four individuals in 2015 and three individuals in 2016 were reintroduced. We analyzed nutritional values before release and after release into the natural habitat. Twenty-four forage species were identified and the ratio of monocots to dicots was 20:80. The highest energy was found in Dalbergia cultrate (17.5 MJ kg-1) in the wet season and Wrightia arborea (19.9 MJ kg-1) in the dry season (p < 0.001). Nutritional values were significantly different among experiments (p < 0.001). Moreover, the macro nutrients including N and Ca in natural forages were the highest in the dry season. In the wet season, micro-nutrients were the highest in dung collected while bantegn were in captivity. Our research improves our understanding of how banteng adapt their foraging after release into the wild, helps in evaluation of the reintroduction, and informs adaptive management of the banteng to support the long term survival of the population.