ORDER ARTIODACTYLA: EVEN-TOED UNGULATES 523 



Javan Banteng 



BIBOS SONDAICUS soNDAicus (Schlegel and Miiller) 



Bos sondaicus Schlegel and Miiller, in Temminck's Verb. Natuurl. Geschiedenis 

 Nederl. overz. bezittingen, Zool., Mammalia, pis. 35-39, 1840(?) [at 

 least not later than 1844] ; accompanying text (pp. 195 ff.) published in 

 1845. ("Java.") (Cf. Harper, 1940, p. 324.) 



SYNQNYMS: Bos banteng "Raffl." Wagner (1844); Bos banting "Raffl." Sun- 

 devall (1846). 



FIGS.: Schlegel and Muller, op. cit., pis. 35-39; Lydekker, 1898a, pi. 25, fig. 

 2; Lydekker, 1898c, pi. 3; Lydekker, 19126, pi. 20, fig. 2 (subsp.?) ; Lydek- 

 ker, 1912d, p. 903, fig. 123; Lydekker, 1913, vol. 1, p. 24, fig. 11; Tropische 

 Natuur, vol. 14, p. 46, fig., 1925; Dammerman, 1929, p. 35, fig. 9. 



This extremely interesting form of wild ox occurs only in Java, 

 where its numbers are now so limited that it is "threatened with 

 extinction" (Dammerman, in Skottsberg, 1934, p. 422). 



Size smaller and build lighter than in the Gaur, with the dorsal 

 ridge less developed ; head more elongate ; horns relatively small and 

 slender, curving upward and outward ; tail well tufted and reaching 

 below the hocks; general color (including the face) of adult bulls 

 blackish brown or black; white rump-patch very large and distinct; 

 females reddish chestnut, with very small horns; lower part of legs 

 in adults whitish. Height at shoulder, 5 feet 9J inches. (Lydekker, 

 1898a, p. 277, and 1913, vol. 1, pp. 22-24.) Length of horn on outside 

 curve up to 26J inches (Ward, 1935, p. 321). 



Presumably the Banteng formerly inhabited Sumatra also, but 

 died out there (De Beaufort, 1926, p. 62). It is not found in the 

 wild state on the Lesser Sunda Islands, although feral domestic 

 Bantengs occur on Bali and Lombok (Mertens, 1936, p. 279). It 

 "will breed freely with domestic cattle, and is itself kept in a more 

 or less domesticated condition by various native tribes of the Malay 

 countries" (Lydekker, 1898c, p. 37). 



According to Muller (1839, p. 45), it is pretty common in Java in 

 all wooded regions, both lowland and mountainous. 



Heynsius-Viruly and Van Heurn (1936, pp. 51-52) give the fol- 

 lowing account: 



In Java the banteng is reported from Oedong Koelan, the Tegal-waroe 

 districts, east of the dessa Dampak on the slopes of Andjasmoro, near the 

 Baloeran, in the Nature Monument of the Blambangan Peninsula, and further 

 westward to Poegoer; again in the districts of Karangnoenggal and Pangan- 

 daran. The 40 bantengs of the Krawang district are specially protected. 

 Bantengs are by no means rare in the southern parts of West Indramajoe, 

 where, according to estimates, there are 4 or 5 herds, totalling about 50 head. 



In South Bali, bantengs were formerly common in the forests of Sangketan 

 at the foot of the Batoekaoe; but with the deforestation of these areas they 

 have disappeared completely. One finds there, though, Bali cattle gone wild, 

 looking much like banteng. . . . 



