title: Conservation value of non-native banteng in northern Australia.
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.
authors.affiliation: School for Environmental Research, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory 0909, Australia. corey.bradshaw@cdu.edu.au
authors.forename: Corey J A
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Bradshaw
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Isagi
authors.forename: Shingo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kaneko
authors.forename: David M J S
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Bowman
authors.forename: Barry W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Brook
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001315:Australia; D002417:Cattle / Q000235:genetics; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods*; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000032:analysis; D005843:Geography; D007781:Lactoferrin / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D012418:Ruminants / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014998:Y Chromosome / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D007781:Lactoferrin