|
Translate:
       
Animal Info - Kouprey
(Other Names:
考布利牛, 高棉牛, コウプレー, Boeuf Gris Cambodgien, Cambodian Forest Ox, Grey Ox,
Indo-Chinese Forest Ox, Toro Cuprey)
Bos sauveli (Bibos or Novibos s.)
Status: Critically
Endangered
Contents
1. Profile (Picture)
2. Tidbits
3. Status and Trends (IUCN Status, Countries Where
Currently Found, Population Estimates, History of Distribution, Threats and Reasons
for Decline)
4. Data on Biology and Ecology (Weight, Habitat, Gestation Period, Birth
Season, Early Development, Maximum Age,
Diet, Behavior, Social
Organization)
5. References
Profile
Pictures: Kouprey
#1 (21 Kb JPEG); Kouprey
#2 (65 Kb GIF)
The kouprey is a forest ox weighing 680 - 910 kg (1500 - 2000 lb). It inhabits low,
rolling hills, covered by open country interrupted with patches of dry forest and adjacent
to denser monsoon forest. Its diet consists mostly of grasses. Salt licks and water holes
are important habitat requirements. The kouprey is diurnal,
grazing in open areas during the day, and entering the forest for shelter from the sun,
for refuge from predators, and to seek food when the grasslands are dry. It lives in herds
of up to 20, which generally contain cows and their calves but can include bulls during
the dry season.
The kouprey became known to Western science only in 1937. Since that time, its range
has been centered in northern and eastern Cambodia.
It also occurred in southern Laos, eastern Thailand, western Vietnam, and possibly southern China. Between the 1940's and the 1960's it experienced
a marked numerical decline. By 1970 there were fears that it might have become extinct,
mainly because of military action. However, by 1986 it was believed still to occur in the
southernmost provinces of Laos, the Dongrak mountains
of eastern Thailand and the western edge of Vietnam, with its distribution centered on the
northern plains of Cambodia. The kouprey has not
been observed since 1988, but it is thought to persist based on the occasional finding of
tracks and of skulls for sale in local markets.
The major reason for the kouprey's decline has been uncontrolled hunting by local
inhabitants and by the military. Other factors include disease transmitted from domestic
stock and loss of habitat due to illegal logging and slash-and-burn agriculture. (It
should be noted that the kouprey always seems to have been rare, occurring with naturally
low population densities.)
Tidbits
*** The kouprey is one of the world's rarest mammals.
*** Prince Sihanouk of Cambodia designated the
kouprey as the country's national animal in 1960.
*** As of 1995, a 1952 field study of only 2 months duration was the sole source of
ecological data on the kouprey.
*** It is believed that the kouprey may be immune to rinderpest.
*** When the bulls are about 3 years old, the horns split at the tip, and as the horns
grow larger the split pieces also continue to grow. This fraying of the horn tips is
said to be caused largely by their being used for digging into the ground or thrusting
into tree stumps. (Nowak 1999)
Status and Trends
Countries Where the Kouprey Is Currently Found:
2004: Occurs in Cambodia. May be extinct
in Laos, Thailand
and Vietnam. (IUCN
2004)
Population Estimates:
[Note: Figures given are for wild populations only.]
History of Distribution:
The kouprey became known to Western science only in 1937. Since that time, its range
has been centered in northern and eastern Cambodia.
It also occurred in southern Laos, eastern Thailand, western Vietnam, and possibly southern China. Between the 1940's and the 1960's it experienced
a marked numerical decline. By 1970 there were fears that it might have become extinct,
mainly because of military action. However, in 1974 it was found still to be present in Cambodia and Laos,
and by 1976 in Thailand as well. By 1986 it was
believed to occur in the southernmost provinces of Laos,
the Dongrak mountains of eastern Thailand and the
western edge of Vietnam, with its distribution
centered on the northern plains of Cambodia. The
kouprey has not been observed since 1988, but it is thought to persist based on the
occasional finding of tracks and of skulls for sale in local markets (Nowak 1999).
Distribution Map
(5 Kb GIF) (Huffman 2004)
Threats and Reasons for Decline:
The major reason for the kouprey's decline has been uncontrolled hunting by local
inhabitants and by the military, especially during the three-decades-long series of wars
and insurgencies in Indochina. Other factors include disease transmitted from domestic
stock and loss of habitat due to illegal logging and slash-and-burn agriculture. (It
should be noted that the kouprey always seems to have been rare, occurring with naturally
low population densities.)
Data on Biology and Ecology
The kouprey weighs 680 - 910 kg (1500 - 2000 lb).
Habitat:
The kouprey inhabits low, rolling hills, covered by a
mosaic of open forest (dry dipterocarp forest)
and savannah adjacent to denser monsoon forest, a
habitat that has been largely created by slash-and-burn agriculture.
The kouprey is one of the species that live in both the Indo-Burma
Biodiversity
Hotspot (Cons.
Intl. 2005) and the Eastern Indochina Dry & Monsoon Forests Global 200
Ecoregion. (Olson & Dinerstein
1998, Olson & Dinerstein 1999)
8 - 9 months.
Birth Season:
Mating occurs in April, with births in December and January.
Early Development:
A mother and young may stay away from the herd for about a month.
Maximum Age:
About 20 years.
Diet:
Mostly grasses. Salt licks and water holes are important habitat requirements.
Behavior:
The kouprey is diurnal, grazing in open areas
during the day, and entering the forest for shelter from the sun, for refuge from
predators, and to seek food when the grasslands are dry. It is both a grazer and a browser.
Social Organization:
The kouprey lives in herds of up to 20, which generally contain cows and their calves
but can include bulls during the dry season. The herds are not particularly cohesive.
References
Burton & Pearson 1987, Cons.
Intl. 2005, Curry-Lindahl 1972, Fitter
1974, Focus 1997b, Hendrix 1995, Huffman
2004, Humphrey & Bain 1990, IUCN 1968, IUCN 1994,
IUCN 1996, IUCN 2000, IUCN
2003a, IUCN
2004,
IUCN 2002, Lekagul 1967, Macdonald
1984, Nowak 1999, Nowak & Paradiso 1983, Olson & Dinerstein 1998, Olson & Dinerstein 1999, Oryx 1974c, Oryx
1976, Oryx 1986d, Oryx 1988b, Thouless 1987, Univ. Hohenheim, WCMC 1994, WCMC
et al. 2000, WCMC/WWF 1997
Top of Page | Search
This Site
Home | Rarest
Mammals | Species Index | Species Groups Index | Country
Index | Links
Last modified: October 29, 2005;
|
