I remember reading taht you can purchase Bion and Banteng and several other exotic ungulates somewhere. I have a friend who is very interested in this, so if someone remmebers where you saw teh ads for the for sale (some farm magazine) or any details on how to get them, i would love it
bison are available from a breeder in victoria. not sure of the name but your friend could find out possibly through the restaurant trade? (they are famed for meat obviously). i'm talking in excess of $10,000 for an animal though!!! i read about it some years ago in The Age. i know banteng are available because i saw them in a burke's backyard publication that listed breeders for animals featured in the shows "roadtest" segment. they are often referred to as bali cattle. hope this is of help....
banteng are very attractive cows - i love the colours and the contrast between the males ane females. have you ever seen a guar? they are like banteng on steroids. no questioning why their alternative name is indian bison. interestingly the feral animals from the NT (from which i assume WPZ's banteng are all decendants of) are actually genetically purebred (no interbreeding with feral cattle) and therefore are of conservation significance. i want one!!!
Yes you are rigth Zuki, The Gaurs are very impressive looking animals I have seen a few in collections over the years and never get tried of looking at them. It would be a very hungery Tiger to take on an adult. Wish we had a few here in Aust.
Really $10,000 for a bison? In America they are a lot cheaper. Maybe a white bison could go for $7,000 but a regular bison, for 10 grand I'm shocked. I have seen them go for around $500 a head before and at the most $1400. I know their is a currency difference. So the the price your talking would be around 9,000 of us dollars. But that is still quite a hefty amount. I have the same interest as your friend in owning exotic ungulates. It would be easier if he lived in America to get exotics but hopefully he will be able to get some banteng soon. For us they would be way more expensive than buffalo. Has your friend also thought of Gayal they are an interesting breed I guess you would call them since they are mixed with Gaurs. It almost looks as if they have the body of a Gaur and the horns of a Watusi.
Are there any banteng on show in Australia? Are the wild banteng in Australia pure bred or a genetic mix?
Well I am not quite sure I read this archive Catalyst: Banteng - ABC TV Science It said that settlers let 20 Banteng go but these could have been bred with cattle since I don't think settlers would have really cared as long as they had cattle. I don't think they are genetically pure but it does seem that from other sources that we are going to fall back on the Australia population if they become extinct in their natural area. This article says they are purebred so I am not quite sure. Endangered cattle find pastures new - life - 05 August 2006 - New Scientist
Re: introduced species and native fauna. Several questions crop up with me. 1) I cannot read the New Scientist/2006 article. Which subspecies of banteng are we talking about? I.o.w. where did the immigrants originate from (Bali, Jawa ..., elsewhere)? 2) I would be extremely concerned with habitat modifying effects of any non-native ungulate on the outback ecosystem. Any effects there have been too many too mention! (for a country so immersed in the idea of Bio-security (a very contentious issue with you guys/girls outthere ..., it surprises me no end) pro or con ...). 3) I would strongly advocate their relocation to Indonesia and provide the source population with genetic back-up. If this followed IUCN guidelines on reintroduction, there would surely be no opposition against the general idea.
the banteng came from Bali, and although I haven't seen anything relating to how the animals were originally obtained I would personally make the assumption they were domestic stock and not wild banteng, in which case they are of little value for anything except farming.
Thanks, Chlidonias. I remain mightly concerned regards their impact on the Australian environment. I am not as lighthearted as the individual reporting seems to be (I have in my mind a way to describe his attitude ...).
I just did a quick search about the Australian banteng and came across this informative article [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banteng]Banteng - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame] which says they were originally introduced to the country as a domestic animal and then went feral, but they are genetically pure whereas many of the domestic banteng in Asia have had other Bos genes introduced to them. So to me that puts them in a strange in-between category -- of little use to the wild populations, but of more importance than the Asian domestic populations
Same here I in between. I am mostly confused on why do people say they can fall back on these Bantengs if their true population dwindles. If their not genetically pure sure their similar but should we be counting on this population? I just found a good article read the section about Australian Environmental Impact and Conservation Value of Australian Banteng Population Banteng: Facts, Discussion Forum, and Encyclopedia Article
