Kouprey

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Kouprey
Temporal range: Middle Pleistocene-Holocene[1]
File:Kouprey at Vincennes Zoo in Paris by Georges Broihanne 1937.jpg
The young male kouprey at the Paris Zoological Park was designated the holotype of the species in 1937

Critically endangered, possibly extinct (IUCN 3.1)[2]
CITES Appendix I (CITES)[3]
Scientific classification edit
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Bovidae
Subfamily: Bovinae
Genus: Bos
Species:
B. sauveli
Binomial name
Bos sauveli
Urbain, 1937
Bos sauveli distribution.svg
Geographic range
Synonyms

Bibos sauveli (Urbain, 1937)[4]
Novibos sauveli (Coolidge, 1940)[4]

The kouprey (Bos sauveli), also known as forest ox" is a forest-dwelling, wild bovine species native to Southeast Asia. A young male was sent to the Paris Zoological Park in 1937 and was described by the French zoologist Achille Urbain who declared it the holotype. The kouprey has a tall, narrow body, long legs, a humped back and long horns.

The kouprey has not been sighted since 1969–1970. A camera trapping survey in the region of these sightings failed to document it in 2011. It has been listed as Critically Endangered, and possibly extinct, on the IUCN Red List since 1996.[2]

The kouprey is the national animal of Cambodia and is also the nickname of their football team.

Description

Female and male in comparison to an adult human.

The kouprey is believed to be a close relative of the aurochs (Bos primigenius), gaur (B. gaurus), and banteng (B. javanicus). A very large ungulate, the kouprey can approach similar sizes to the wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee). These bovids measure 2.1 to 2.3 m (6.9 to 7.5 ft) along the head and body, not counting a 1 m (3.3 ft) tail, and stand 1.7–1.9 m (5.6–6.2 ft) high at the shoulder. Their weight is reportedly from 680 to 910 kg (1,500 to 2,010 lb).[5][6] Unverified reports of a body mass up to 1,700 kg (3,700 lb) from Vietnam are considered dubious, since they far exceed other recorded weights for the species.

Kouprey have tall, narrow bodies, with long legs and humped backs. They can be grey, dark brown or black. The horns of the female are lyre-shaped, with antelope-like upward spirals. The horns of the male are wide, and arch forwards and upward; they begin to fray at the tips at about three years of age. Both sexes have notched nostrils and long tails.

Habitat and distribution

Historical distribution of this species included Cambodia, southern Laos, east Thailand, and western Vietnam. They are thought to be extinct in all areas outside of Cambodia. If still extant, it likely exists in Lomphat Wildlife Sanctuary, Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary, Mondulkiri Protected Forest, and/or Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary.[2]

Kouprey live in low, partially forested hills, where they eat mainly grass. Their preferred habitat is open forest and savannas often near thick monsoon forests. They are diurnal, eating in the open at night and under the forest cover during the day. They usually travel up to 15 km in a night.

They live in herds of up to 20 and are usually led by a single female. These herds generally consist of cows and calves, but have bulls during the dry season. Older males form bachelor herds. Many herds are known to break up and rejoin as they travel and have been found to be mixed in with herds of banteng or wild buffalo.

Diet

The kouprey predominantly graze on grasses, as well as shoots of bamboo, ploong, and koompassia species. They spend a lot of time around salt licks, mud pits, water holes. Mud baths help in repelling biting insects.

Status

There are estimated to be fewer than 250 kouprey left in the world. There is some speculation on whether or not they are already extinct.[7][8]

These low numbers are attributed to uncontrolled hunting by locals and soldiers for meat, horns and skulls for use in traditional Chinese medicine, in conjunction with diseases introduced from cattle and loss of habitat due to agriculture and logging activity.

Ongoing conservation efforts

Kouprey are legally protected in all range states and may be present in some protected areas. Prince Sihanouk designated it as the national animal of Cambodia in the 1960s, partly due to its mystique. On the 15th and 16th of January 1988, the University of Hanoi hosted the International Workshop on the Kouprey: Conservation Programme. Headed and coordinated by the IUCN, in a collaboration with the governments of Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand, aimed to create a feasible and realistic action plan for immediate kouprey conservation. Other organizations in attendance and contributing to the action plan were the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the Centre for Environmental Studies, VNIUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC), the Asian Wild Cattle Specialist Group, as well as WWF International.[9]

The 2008 IUCN Red List report lists the kouprey as critically endangered (possibly extinct).[2]

Large mammal surveys continue to take place in Cambodia, hoping to rediscover living kouprey. Other surveys have been taking place in the kouprey's historical range as recently as 2011. These surveys were done to determine the regions in their range with the highest probability of the kouprey's persistence. This is based on the habitat type and survey effort to date. During the last decade, several searches for the animal have proven fruitless.[10]

There is no captive population. The only individual in a western zoo was sent to the Paris Zoological Park in 1937; that was the individual designated as the holotype by Urbain.[11] It died early in World War II.[12]

Relation to other species

Research published by Northwestern University in London's Journal of Zoology indicated a comparison of mitochondrial sequences showed the kouprey might be a hybrid between a zebu and a banteng.[13] However, the authors of this study rescinded their conclusion.[14] Because a fossilized skull was found dating from the late Pleistocene or early Holocene epoch, they concluded the kouprey is not a hybrid. More recent genetic analysis has supported this position.[15]

References

  1. ^ K. Suraprasit, J.-J. Jaegar, Y. Chaimanee, O. Chavasseau, C. Yamee, P. Tian, and S. Panha (2016). "The Middle Pleistocene vertebrate fauna from Khok Sung (Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand): biochronological and paleobiogeographical implications". ZooKeys (613): 1–157. doi:10.3897/zookeys.613.8309. PMC 5027644. PMID 27667928.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ a b c d Timmins, R.J.; Burton, J. & Hedges, S. (2016). "Bos sauveli". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T2890A46363360. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-2.RLTS.T2890A46363360.en. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  3. ^ "Appendices | CITES". cites.org. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  4. ^ a b Grigson, C.: "Complex Cattle", New Scientist, August 4, 1988; p. 93f. URL retrieved 2011-01-27.
  5. ^ [1] Archived 2011-08-10 at the Wayback Machine (2011).
  6. ^ Burnie D and Wilson DE (Eds.), Animal: The Definitive Visual Guide to the World's Wildlife. DK Adult (2005), ISBN 0789477645
  7. ^ Douglas M. Considine, Glenn D. Considine (2013). Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia. Springer US. p. 446. ISBN 9781475769180. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  8. ^ Andy D. Herring (2014). Beef Cattle Production Systems. CABI. p. 22. ISBN 9781780645070. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  9. ^ MacKinnon, John Ramsay; Quy, Vo; Stuart, S. N. (1989). The kouprey : an action plan for its conservation. IUCN. ISBN 2-88032-972-8. Retrieved 8 October 2022.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ "Search for the kouprey: trail runs cold for Cambodia's national animal". Phnom Penh Post. 2006.
  11. ^ Urbain, A.: "Le kou-prey ou bœuf gris cambodgien", Bulletin de la Société Zoologique de France 62 (5), 1937, pp. 305–307.
  12. ^ Hoffmann, R. S.: "A new locality record for the kouprey from Viet Nam, and an archaeological record from China", Mammalia 50 (3), 1986, pp. 391–395.
  13. ^ Northwestern biologists demote Southeast Asia's 'forest ox'
  14. ^ G. J. Galbreath, J. C. Mordacq, F. H. Weiler (2007) 'An evolutionary conundrum involving kouprey and banteng: A response from Galbreath, Mordacq and Weiler.' Journal of Zoology 271 (3), 253–254. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2007.00317.x
  15. ^ Cambodia's National Animal Is "Real," Study Says
  • Alexandre Hassanin, and Anne Ropiquet, 2007. Resolving a zoological mystery: the kouprey is a real species, Proc. R. Soc. B, doi:10.1098/rspb.2007.0830
  • G. J. Galbreath, J. C. Mordacq, F. H. Weiler, 2006. Genetically solving a zoological mystery: was the kouprey (Bos sauveli) a feral hybrid? Journal of Zoology 270 (4): 561–564.
  • Hassanin, A., and Ropiquet, A. 2004. Molecular phylogeny of the tribe Bovini (Bovidae, Bovinae) and the taxonomic status of the kouprey, Bos sauveli Urbain 1937. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 33(3):896-907.
  • Steve Hendrix: Quest for the Kouprey, International Wildlife Magazine, 25 (5) 1995, p. 20-23.
  • J.R. McKinnon/S.N. Stuart: The Kouprey - An action plan for its conservation. Gland, Switzerland 1989.
  • Steve Hendrix: The ultimate nowhere. Trekking through the Cambodian outback in search of the Kouprey, Chicago Tribune - 19 December 1999.
  • MacKinnon, J.R., S. N. Stuart. "The Kouprey: An Action Plan for its Conservation. "Hanoi University. 15 Jan. 1988. Web 13 Last Kouprey: Final Project to the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund for Grant Number GA 10/0.8" Global Wildlife Conservation. Austin, TX, 25 Apr. 2011. Web 13 Nov. 2013.

External links

Kouprey media from ARKive

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