Tamaraw

Bubalus mindorensis

In the 19th century, the island of Mindoro, heavily forested and long avoided because of an especially virulent strain of malaria, was called "the dark island" by many outsiders. Although it is not far from Manila, it was poorly known in many respects, especially its fauna and flora. In 1888, the scientific community was startled by the announcement of the discovery on Mindoro of the largest mammal native to the Philippines—the dwarf water buffalo, now better known as the tamaraw (Bubalus mindorensis). The local people, who hunted them with spears and snares for centuries, feared them because of their inclination to turn and gore their attackers. Barrel-chested and only a little over ameter tall at the shoulder, these buffalo weigh roughly 200 kilograms—about 450 pounds of tough muscle, bone and sinew.
     At one time they lived throughout most of the island, from forest at sea level to near the mountaintops at 2,000 meters; there may have been as many as 10,000 of them at the turn of the century. They preferred places where there had been fires or landslides that promoted the growth of grass or other vegetation near the ground. Their small size and great strength enabled them to push through dense jungle and climb steep mountains.
      With the advent of anti-malarial medicines near the turn of the century, Mindoro became safer and more accessible. Loggers cut the prime trees from lowland rain forest, plantation owners brought in laborers and their families to clear the lowlands for sugar cane and other crops, and subsistence farmers from Luzon and other densely populated places moved to Mindoro in search of farmland. The local people, many of whom had traditionally kept small herds of cattle, burned the forest degraded to encourage the spread of the grass on which their cattle fed.
     As word of the tamaraw and their reported ferocity spread, hunters eager to prove their bravery shot them inincreasing numbers (the traditional spears were not favored by those who had guns—the odds shifted too much in favor of the tamaraw). A shipment of cattle in the 1930s brought rinderpest (an acutely infectious disease that causes inflammation of the intestines) that spread to the tamaraw and decimated its population. By the late 1940s, tamaraw numbers plummeted to about 1,000, and fell to roughly 175 by 1983. Several reserves were established beginning in 1936, but none was given much actual protection. The swelling population of landless plantation laborers, the indigenous people, and hunters from Manila and outside the country continued to prey on the tamaraw. Hunters with automatic weapons arrived from Manila in helicopters during the 1960s and 1970s, and reportedly in the early 1980s as well. A captive-breeding program, one of the best-funded wildlife programs in the countryduring the 1960s to 1980s, focused on capturing wild animals and putting them into holding pens of various sizes. The project was ended in the early 1990s when it became apparent that nearly all of the animals died soon after capture, and that little of the funding had reached the project site. No reliable estimate of the tamaraw population currently exists, but there is no reason to believe that the number has increased since the 175 counted in 1983. Controversy pervades discussions about what actions should be taken, with the result that little is being done.

Original URL: http://archive.fieldmuseum.org/vanishing_treasures/V_Tamaraw.htm