Conservation Value of Non-Native Banteng in Northern Australia |
| |
Authors: | COREY J. A. BRADSHAW&Dagger ,YUJI ISAGI&dagger ,SHINGO KANEKO&dagger ,DAVID M. J. S. BOWMAN, BARRY W. BROOK |
| |
Affiliation: | School for Environmental Research, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory 0909, Australia;Faculty of Integrated Arts and Sciences, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima Pref., 739–8521 Japan. |
| |
Abstract: | Abstract: The global species extinction crisis has provided the impetus for elaborate translocation, captive breeding, and cloning programs, but more extreme actions may be necessary. We used mitochondrial DNA, Y-chromosome, and nuclear lactoferrin-encoding gene sequencing to identify a wild population of a pure-strain endangered bovid ( Bos javanicus ) introduced into northern Australia over 150 years ago. This places the Australian population in a different conservation category relative to its domesticated conspecific in Indonesia (i.e., Bali cattle) that has varying degrees of introgression from other domesticated Bos spp. The success of this endangered non-native species demonstrates that although risky, the deliberate introduction of threatened exotic species into non-native habitat may provide, under some circumstances, a biologically feasible option for conserving large herbivores otherwise imperiled in their native range. |
| |
Keywords: | Bos javanicus endangered species translocation non-native species semidomestication |
|
|