Threatened Java Ox Gets Good News and Bad News

Fidelis E. Satriastanti Jakarta Globe 5 Sep 10;

Jakarta. A team of scientists raised hopes for the threatened banteng, or Javanese wild ox, when it reported an increase in herd numbers at a controlled testing area at the Alas Purwo National Park in East Java. A study in August found 73 individual Bos Javanicus, which are indigenous to Java, at the site, up from 50 a few years earlier.

But that good news was tempered by earlier reports that animal numbers could be on the wane in neighboring Baluran National Park.

“It’s improvement, even though the study was limited to the 80-hectare feeding ground developed specifically to cater to the banteng population,” Dian Sulastini, a park ecosystem officer, said on Saturday.

Dian said there were no figures for the banteng population for the entire park, which spans 43,000 hectares. “We usually have a problem with the water supply at Alas Purwo, which keeps the banteng away,” Dian said.

“Another issue is the migration of the animals to neighboring Sumber Gedang, which provides a much more suitable habitat for them, with enough grass and water, but falls under the jurisdiction of [state-owned logging company] Perum Perhutani.”

The study, by a trio of young scientists from Indonesia, Taiwan and Thailand, also found banteng tracks among bamboo patches in Alas Purwo.

“We found most of the tracks near the bamboo forests, but we can’t say for sure whether they’re eating bamboo now rather than grass,” said Taiwanese researcher Teng He Huang.

Dian said there were indications that the animals were eating bamboo shoots along with grass, which could indicate that the animals’ normal food supply has become scarce.

“There are 11 types of bamboo that make up 27 percent of Alas Purwo,” she said. “We found bite marks on the bamboo stems that we suspect came from banteng. It’s possible that they’re eating the shoots, but that’s just a theory we have.”

Meanwhile, an official at the 25,000-hectare Baluran National Park said the banteng population there had fallen sharply from 200 in 2003 to 40 in 2008. Water shortages have been blamed for the losses.

“The water issue here goes back to 2002, when people began stealing the pipes that used to channel water to the park from Mount Baluran,” said park official Swiss Winasis.

“That caused the banteng here to either die or to migrate to other areas in search of water.” He added since the water dried up, most of the animals had moved to the Bajulmati River, which falls outside the park’s protected boundaries.