THE BANTENG

@zekedarwinscience

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Rising Phoenix

Siem Pang Wildlife Sanctuary is managed by the Rising Phoenix, who are dedicated to conserving Siem Pang's wildlife, and protecting Critically Endangered bird species like the giant ibis. The Rising Phoenix combats logging and poaching and preserves the invaluable wildlife and forest ecosystems.

Why it worked

The video effectively combines educational content about a critically endangered species with a compelling conservation story, featuring a clear call to action and highlighting the impactful work of relevant organizations. The use of visuals, including maps and footage of the animals, enhances engagement.

Summary

This video explains the Banteng, a critically endangered species, and its evolutionary history. It highlights the conservation efforts of Rising Phoenix and the financial support from The Colossal Foundation to reintroduce Banteng into protected areas in Cambodia, showcasing the challenges and successes of these initiatives.

Structure

1Introduction to the Banteng and its evolutionary history.
2Explanation of Banteng social structures and sexual dimorphism.
3Discussion of the Banteng's critically endangered status and the threats they face.

Original caption

Saving Cambodia’s Banteng | A doomed forest, a bunch of people that care about animals, a helicopter, and a population saved from the edge. What is the banteng, how is it related to modern cattle, why are they critically endangered, and how is the Colossal Foundation’s Species Reintroduction Fund helping support Rising Phoenix as they work against time to save the banteng? #animals #conservation #endangered #cambodia #learning

More from @zekedarwinscience

On-screen text

THE BANTENG AT FIRST GLANCE SAVING THE BANTENG RISING PHOENIX + THE COLOSSAL FOUNDATION BUT IT'S NOT IT'S ACTUALLY A CRITICALLY ENDANGERED SPECIES AND ITS ANCESTORS DIVERGED FROM THE ON TO THE AUROCHS THE ANCESTORS OF TAURINE CATTLE AROUND 800,000 YEARS WHILE THE AUROCHS LINEAGE CONTINUED EVOLVING ACROSS THE FORESTS OF EURASIA THE BANTENG LINEAGE THEIR COUSINS WERE EVOLVING IN THE TROPICAL FORESTS OF SOUTHEAST ASIA ISLANDS THEY'RE AROUND THE YOUR TYPICAL CATTLE BUT THEY LIVE IN VERY DIFFERENT SOCIAL STRUCTURES SMALLER HERDS REACHING UPWARDS OF 20 TO 40 MEMBERS ON THE LARGER END THERE'S ONE MALE SURROUNDED BY LOTS OF FEMALES AND THE SPECIES IS EXTREMELY SEXUALLY DIMORPHIC THEY WERE FIRST THE MALES AND FEMALES Weren't RECOGNIZED AS BELONGING TO THE AT ALL MALES ARE DARK REDDISH COLOR AND THEY BOTH PATCHES ON THEIR BUTTS WITH WHITE STOCKINGS THESE TRAITS MAY HELP HERDS STAY TOGETHER IN THE DARK FORESTS TROPICAL FORESTS AND THEIR ABILITY NOCTURNAL LIFESTYLE WHEN NEEDED THE LAST KNOWN AUROCHS WAS PROTECTED IN POLAND'S JAKTORÓW FOREST. IT DIED IN 1627. THEM PERSIST LONGER THAN THEIR WILD AUROCHS COUSINS THEIR SAFETY IS DISAPPEARING LAST TWO DECADES THE WILD BANTENG POPULATION HAS DROPPED MORE THAN 80% 80+% LEADING TO THEM TO THE CRITICALLY Conservation status EXTINCT THREATENED LEAST CONCERN EX EW CR EN VU NT LC Critically Endangered (IUCN 3.1) IN 2024 IN CAMBODIA FOR EXAMPLE HABITAT FRAGMENTATION AN IMPORTANT KEYSTONE BUT THE POPULATION IS IN DANGER OF A SILENT THE KIND THAT WHEN POPULATIONS ARE TOO FRAGMENTED FROM EACH OTHER OCCUPYING ISOLATED FOREST PATCHES ALONGSIDE POACHERS BUT A CONSERVATION GROUP CALLED RISING PHOENIX IS DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT AND IN 2024 SMALL BREEDING POPULATION LIVING IN A FOREST THAT HAD AT ONE TIME BEEN A WILDLIFE CORRIDOR AND THEN IT WAS DEFORESTED THEY FOUND A SMALL POPULATION UNFORTUNATELY EVIDENCE AT THE SITE MADE IT CLEAR POACHERS HAD FOUND THEM FIRST BUT THIS ALLOWED THEM TO TRY THAT HAD NEVER BEEN DONE IN CAMBODIA BEFORE Siem Pang LOCATION OF THIS 30 KILOMETERS OR 18 MILES SOUTH OF SIEM PANG XI PIAN NATIONAL PROTECTED AREA LAOS CAMBODIA VIRACHEY NATIONAL PARK LAOS VIETNAM Siem Pang CAMBODIA VIETNAM WILDLIFE SANCTUARY BEEN WORKING TO ADD ANIMALS BACK TO DRONES TO MONITOR AND A HELICOPTER TO FUNNEL THEM TRUCK AND WITHIN 4 16 BANTENG TAKEN TO THE WILDLIFE SANCTUARY A REGION THAT HAD BEEN MISSING THEIR KEYSTONE UNGULATES SAVE THE POPULATION 2 CALVES HAVE BEEN BORN SINCE RISING PHOENIX Conservation news Helicopter translocation brings isolated banteng to safer grounds in Cambodia Carolyn Cowan An adult banteng released into Siem Pang Wildlife Sanctuary in February 2024. Image courtesy of Jeremy Holden Rising Phoenix. Earlier this month in northeastern Cambodia, conservationists deployed helicopters, trucks and more than 50 personnel to translocate a group of critically endangered banteng into a protected reserve. THIS IS HOW SPECIES GO EXTINCT LEFT BEHIND BY DEFORESTATION AND THE WORK OF RISING PHOENIX SAVE THESE POPULATIONS BUT HELICOPTERS PERSONNEL AND MONTHS OF MONITORING AND PLANNING THAT'S NOT CHEAP EFFECTIVE CONSERVATION TAKES PLAN IT TAKES FUNDING AND THAT'S WHERE THE COLOSSAL FOUNDATION colossal FOUNDATION OUR PROGRAMS The Species Reintroduction Fund: A Global Rewilding Initiative PROJECT DETAILS: SPECIES REINTRODUCTION FUND About Species Reintroduction Fund LAUNCHED IN 2025 IN Fund The Colossal Foundation commits $250,000 annually to supporting rewilding initiatives around the world. Prioritizing keystone species, biodiversity hotspots, and indigenous partners, the Species Reintroduction Fund offers both financial support and access to Colossal's de-extinction toolkit. Rewilding is the practice of restoring an ecosystem to a natural, self-regulating state by restoring natural processes, enhancing biodiversity, and reintroducing keystone species. The Species Reintroduction Fund supports rewilding at all stages of development-from feasibility research and habitat protection to reintroductions and sequencing for genetic diversity. In our mission to make extinction a thing of the past, the Species Reintroduction Fund represents another hopeful step forward. You can support this initiative by following @Colossal and our partners on social media. Help us spread the word- hope is never extinct! Apply for the Species Reintroduction Fund Interested in receiving support for your rewilding project? You can apply for our next round of supported projects by filling out and submitting an application. In Partnership With RE:WILD PROTECTS AND RESTORES THE WILD. WE HAVE A SINGULAR AND POWERFUL FOCUS: THE WILD AS THE MOST EFFECTIVE SOLUTION TO THE INTERCONNECTED CLIMATE, BIODIVERSITY AND HUMAN WELLBEING CRISES. FOUNDED BY A GROUP OF RENOWNED CONSERVATION SCIENTISTS TOGETHER WITH LEONARDO DICAPRIO. RE:WILD IS A FORCE MULTIPLIER THAT BRINGS TOGETHER INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, LOCAL COMMUNITIES, INFLUENTIAL LEADERS, NONGovernmental ORGANIZATIONS, GOVERNMENTS, COMPANIES AND THE PUBLIC TO PROTECT AND REWILD AT THE SCALE AND SPEED WE NEED. re:wild THE FUND COMMITS The Power of Rewilding $250,000 ANNUALLY TO SUPPORT REINTRODUCTION PROJECTS AROUND THE WORLD PARTNERING WITH LOCAL GROUPS TO HELP SUPERCHARGE THEIR REINTRODUCTION EFFORTS THIS YEAR THAT FUNDING IS SUPPORTING SEVEN SPECIES ACROSS SEVEN COMPLETELY DIFFERENT ECOSYSTEMS AND CONSERVATION CHALLENGES FROM BANTENG IN CAMBODIA'S FOREST TO SEA STARS NORTHWEST Species Reintroduction Fund nal reintroduction Species Reintroduction Fund nal reintroduction TO LEARN MORE CHECK MY COLOSSAL PLAYLIST UP TO DATE Rising Phoenix Join us in conserving Siem Pang Wildlife Sanctuary and its globally threatened species. SIEM PANG Wildlife Sanctuary WHO WE ARE Siem Pang Siem Pang Wildlife Sanctuary is a unique and globally irreplaceable site. It supports populations of five bird species listed by IUCN as Critically Endangered, including Cambodia's national bird, the giant ibis. This means without immediate conservation interventions, these species face a high chance of global extinction. The area forms part of one of the largest blocks of protected forest across Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Siem Pang is situated in North-Eastern Cambodia, in Stung Treng Province. FIND OUT MORE RISING PHOENIX WEB IF THERE IS A SPECIFIC ANIMAL FROM THE REINTRODUCTION ME TO COVER AND MAKE SURE COLOSSAL'S PAGE SO YOU CAN DATE WITH ALL AS IT IS ANNOUNCED

Transcript

At first glance the banteng may look like typical cattle, but it's not. It's actually a critically endangered species and its ancestors diverged from the line that would lead on to the aurochs, the ancestors of taurine cattle around 800,000 years ago. While the aurochs lineage continued evolving across the forests of Eurasia, the banteng lineage, their cousins, were evolving in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia and surrounding islands. They're around the same size as your typical cattle, but they live in very different social structures. Smaller herds, reaching upwards of 20 to 40 members on the larger end. There's one male surrounded by lots of females. And the species is extremely sexually dimorphic. In fact, when they were first described, the males and females weren't recognized as belonging to the same at all. Males are dark, females are a reddish color, and they both have bright white patches on their butts with white stockings. These traits may help herds stay together in the dark forests. Tropical forests and their ability, nocturnal lifestyle when needed, may have helped them persist alongside humans longer than their wild aurochs cousins. Their safety is disappearing. In just the last two decades, the wild banteng population has dropped more than 80%, leading to them getting added to the critically endangered list in 2024. In Cambodia, for example, habitat fragmentation. An important keystone, but the population is in danger of a silent collapse. The kind that happens when populations are too fragmented from each other, occupying isolated forest patches alongside poachers. But a conservation group called Rising Phoenix is doing something about it. And in 2024, a small breeding population living in a forest that had at one time been a wildlife corridor and then it was deforested. They found a small population. Unfortunately, evidence at the site made it clear poachers had found them first, but this allowed them to try that had never been done in Cambodia before. The location of this herd was around 30 kilometers or 18 miles south of Siem Pang, which is a wildlife sanctuary. Been working to add animals back to. Use drones to monitor and a helicopter to funnel them truck. And within four, 16 banteng were then taken to the wildlife sanctuary, a region that had been missing their keystone ungulates. Save the population. 2 calves have been born since. This is how species go extinct, left behind and taken over by deforestation and poaching. The work of Rising Phoenix proves we can save these populations. But helicopters, personnel and months of monitoring and planning, that's not cheap. Effective conservation takes plan. It takes funding. And that's where the Colossal Foundation comes in. The Colossal Foundation's Species Reintroduction Fund puts $250,000 behind the most critical reintroduction projects on the planet, every year. Launched in 2025, in partnership with Re:wild, the fund commits $250,000 annually to supporting reintroduction projects around the world, partnering with local groups to help supercharge their reintroduction efforts. This year, that funding is supporting seven species across seven completely different ecosystems and conservation challenges. From banteng in Cambodia's forest to sea stars in the Pacific Northwest. If you want to learn more, check my Colossal playlist. Stay up to date with all of this stuff as it is announced. Let me know if there is a specific animal from the reintroduction me to cover and make sure to go follow Colossal's page so you can stay up to date with all of this stuff as it is announced.