The kouprey (''Bos sauveli''), also known as forest ox is a forest-dwelling, wild

bovine Bovines (subfamily Bovinae) comprise a diverse group of 10 genera of medium to large-sized ungulates, including cattle, bison, African buffalo, water buffalos, and the four-horned and spiral-horned antelopes. The evolutionary relationship betwe ...

species native to

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

. A young male was sent to the

Paris Zoological Park The Paris Zoological Park (), formerly known as the Bois de Vincennes Zoological Park (), and commonly called the Vincennes Zoo, is a facility of the National Museum of Natural History, located in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, which covers ...

in 1937 and was described by the French zoologist Achille Urbain who declared it the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of seve ...

. 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 The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biolo ...

since 1996. The kouprey is the national animal of

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand ...

and is also the nickname of their football team.

Description

The kouprey is believed to be a close relative of the

aurochs The aurochs (''Bos primigenius'') ( or ) is an extinct cattle species, considered to be the wild ancestor of modern domestic cattle. With a shoulder height of up to in bulls and in cows, it was one of the largest herbivores in the Holocene ...

(''Bos primigenius''),

gaur The gaur (''Bos gaurus''; ), also known as the Indian bison, is a bovine native to South Asia and Southeast Asia, and has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986. The global population was estimated at a maximum of 21,000 m ...

(''B. gaurus''), and

banteng The banteng (''Bos javanicus''; ), also known as tembadau, is a species of cattle found in Southeast Asia. The head-and-body length is between . Wild banteng are typically larger and heavier than their domesticated counterparts, but are otherw ...

(''B. javanicus''). A very large

ungulate Ungulates ( ) are members of the diverse clade Ungulata which primarily consists of large mammals with hooves. These include odd-toed ungulates such as horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs; and even-toed ungulates such as cattle, pigs, giraffes, ...

, the kouprey can approach similar sizes to the

wild water buffalo The wild water buffalo (''Bubalus arnee''), also called Asian buffalo, Asiatic buffalo and wild buffalo, is a large Bovinae, bovine native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It has been listed as ''Endangered species, Endangered'' i ...

(''Bubalus arnee''). These bovids measure along the head and body, not counting a tail, and stand high at the shoulder. Their weight is reportedly from .Burnie D and Wilson DE (Eds.), ''Animal: The Definitive Visual Guide to the World's Wildlife''. DK Adult (2005), Unverified reports of a body mass up to 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 Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist s ...

, east

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

, and western

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...

. They are thought to be extinct in all areas outside of Cambodia. If still extant, it likely exists in

Lomphat Wildlife Sanctuary Lomphat Wildlife Sanctuary is a protected area covering in eastern Cambodia that was established in 1993. It is heavily forested and straddles Ratanakiri, Mondulkiri, and Kratie provinces. It is home to a variety of endangered wildlife such as ...

Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary ( km, ដែនជម្រកសត្វព្រៃភ្នំព្រេច) is a large protected area in eastern Cambodia that was established in 1993. It is part of maybe the largest protected area complex i ...

, Mondulkiri Protected Forest, and/or

Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary ( Khmer: ដែនជម្រកសត្វព្រៃកែវសីមា) is a protected area of mixed seasonal tropical forest in eastern Cambodia, located in Mondulkiri and Kratié provinces. The area was f ...

. Kouprey live in low, partially forested hills, where they eat mainly

grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns a ...

. 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 Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, ...

, ploong, and

koompassia ''Koompassia'' is a genus of legume in the family Fabaceae occurring in southeast Asia. It belongs to the subfamily Dialioideae. They are tall tropical rainforest trees; '' K. excelsa'' is one of the tallest tree species in the tropics. The genu ...

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. These low numbers are attributed to uncontrolled

hunting Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

by locals and soldiers for meat, horns and skulls for use in traditional Chinese medicine, in conjunction with

disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...

s introduced from

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ...

and

loss of habitat Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

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 Norodom Sihanouk (; km, នរោត្តម សីហនុ, ; 31 October 192215 October 2012) was a Cambodian statesman, Sangkum and FUNCINPEC politician, film director, and composer who led Cambodia in various capacities throughout his ...

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 Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU; vi, Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội, ĐHQGHN) is a public research university in Vietnam. The university has 10 member colleges (called "universities") and faculties. VNU is one of two Vietnam's natio ...

hosted the ''International Workshop on the Kouprey: Conservation Programme.'' Headed and coordinated by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

, 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 Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), originally the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums, is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1924 and dedicated to the advancement of zoos and public aquariums in ...

, the

Centre for Environmental Studies The Centre for Environmental Studies (CES) was an environmental think-tank in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1967 by the second Wilson government as an independent charitable trust for the purpose of advancing education and research in ...

, VNIUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC), the ''Asian Wild Cattle Specialist Group,'' as well as WWF International. The 2008

report lists the kouprey as critically endangered (possibly extinct). 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. There is no captive population. The only individual in a western zoo was sent to the

in 1937; that was the individual designated as the

by Urbain.Urbain, A.:
Le kou-prey ou bœuf gris cambodgien
, ''Bulletin de la Société Zoologique de France'' 62 (5), 1937, pp. 305–307. It died early in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

.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.

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 The zebu (; ''Bos indicus'' or ''Bos taurus indicus''), sometimes known in the plural as indicine cattle or humped cattle, is a species or subspecies of domestic cattle originating in the Indian sub-continent. Zebu are characterised by a fatty h ...

and a

. However, the authors of this study rescinded their conclusion. 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.Cambodia's National Animal Is "Real," Study Says
/ref>

References

* Alexandre Hassanin, and Anne Ropiquet, 2007. Resolving a zoological mystery: the kouprey is a real species, Proc. R. Soc. B, * 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

{{Taxonbar, from=Q321255 Bovines Mammals of Laos Mammals of Vietnam Mammals of Cambodia Mammals of Thailand National symbols of Cambodia Mammals described in 1937 Critically endangered fauna of Asia