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HUAI KHA KHAENG, Thailand — “Five years ago, we’d never have been able to see this,” says Boonlert Tianchang, raising a pair of binoculars to his beaming eyes. “To see just one banteng, we would have had to go deep into the forest. Now, they’re right here.” We’re standing on a wildlife-viewing platform overlooking a […]

However, like many of the world’s 12 species of wild cattle, banteng have disappeared from much of their historical range. Decades of deforestation, agricultural expansion, and hunting for their meat, horns and hides decimated their numbers. Globally, the latest IUCN Red List assessment puts their worldwide population at no more than 4,900 individuals. And in 2024, their conservation status worsened from endangered to critically endangered, with experts citing their precipitous population declines in previous strongholds like Cambodia and Malaysian Borneo.

In Thailand, banteng numbers ebbed as low as a few hundred individuals at the turn of the century, but they’re now showing steady signs of recovery in well-protected areas.