Malaysia's Wild Cattle: Seladang and Banteng

source : Mammals of Malaysia by M.W.F. Tweedie
picture by : da|NATURALIST

SELADANG (Bos gaurus)

This is the largest and heaviest of all wild cattle, big bulls stand nearly two metres high at the shoulder. Over and behind the shoulders the back is raised to form a hump-like crest. The body in adult males and females is almost black with the hair on the forehead and between the bases of the horns pale grey, and there are white 'stockings' on the fore and hind legs. Young gaur, up to six months old, are bright golden brown. Gaur range from India through Burma to south-eastern Asia and Malaya, but not to any of the Sunda Islands. The gayal of Burma is possibly a domesticated race of the gaur.

They feed by grazing, not from the leaves of trees and bushes and therefore need clearings where grass is available. They frequent salt-licks and can be attracted by clearing a wide space of trees and allowing grass to grow, as at Kuala Tahan in the Taman negara. They are magnificent animals and fully justify the conservation of forest needed to keep them in existence.

a full grown male seladang.
















The magnificent Seladang



BANTENG (Bos javanicus)

This is a smaller animal than the gaur and lacks the hump-like crest over the shoulders. Bulls are blackish but cows and young animals are pale brown. They have white 'stockings' and a very distinctive white patch on the hind quarters below the tail; this immediateley distinguishes banteng from gaur. The range is from south-eastern Asia southward to Borneo and Java, but in Malaya they have always been confined to the northern States and may nos be extinct there. Banteng are domesticated on a large scale in Java and Bali.

A young banteng. Notice the white patch.