page_title: Banteng
section_title: Subspecies
hierarchical_section_title: Banteng / Taxonomy and phylogeny / Subspecies
caption_attribution_description: Banteng heads
context_page_description: The banteng, also known as tembadau, is a species of cattle found in Southeast Asia. The head-and-body length is between 1.9 and 2.25 m. Wild banteng are typically larger and heavier than their domesticated counterparts, but are otherwise similar in appearance. The banteng shows extensive sexual dimorphism; adult bulls are generally dark brown to black, larger and more sturdily built than adult cows, which are thinner and usually pale brown or chestnut red. There is a big white patch on the rump. Horns are present on both sexes, and are typically 60 to 75 cm long. Three subspecies are generally recognised.
  Banteng are active during the day as well as at night, though activity at night is more in areas frequented by humans. Herds comprise two to forty individuals, and generally a single bull. Herbivores, banteng feed on vegetation such as grasses, sedges, shoots, leaves, flowers and fruits. Banteng can survive without water for long during droughts, but drink regularly if possible, especially from standing water. Not much is known about the reproductive physiology of banteng, but it might be similar to that observed in taurine cattle.
context_section_description: Three subspecies are generally recognised based on phenotypic differences, though some authors do not accept these, citing extensive breeding between the small remaining banteng populations and other sympatric cattle. The details of these subspecies are given below:
  Javan banteng (B. j. javanicus) d'Alton, 1823: Occurs in Java and possibly Bali.
  Indochinese (or Burma) banteng (B. j. birmanicus) Lydekker, 1898: Occurs on the Southeast Asian mainland.
  Bornean banteng (B. j. lowi) Lydekker, 1912: Occurs only in Borneo.
  A 2015 phylogenetic study obtained the complete mitochondrial genome of the Bornean banteng. It showed that the Bornean banteng is closer to the gaur (Bos gaurus) than it is to other banteng subspecies, having diverged from the gaur around 5.03 million years ago. Moreover, the Bornean banteng is genetically distant from taurine cattle and zebu, indicating that the wild Bornean banteng could not have hybridised with them, and therefore might form a purebreeding line. These researchers suggested that the Bornean banteng could be an independent species. The phylogenetic relationships of the banteng subspecies with other closely related bovids, as obtained from this study, are shown in the following cladogram:
caption: A comparison between Indochinese (left) and Javan (right) banteng in facial features (Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1898)
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