The Critically Endangered tamaraw Bubalus mindorensis is endemic to Mindoro Island, Philippines, and little is known of its ecology. During 2006-2011 we used community-based monitoring to examine the population status and ecology of tamaraw in the species' core habitat of Mount Iglit-Baco National Park. Each year, for 5 consecutive days at the end of the dry season, trained local volunteers and rangers or project staff were allocated to 18 vantage points in the study area (c. 160 km 2 ). Tamaraw were categorized as adult (. 5 years), juvenile (2-5 years) or calf (, 2 years), and sexed when possible. During the study period the population was 239-314 (mean 271), with no significant fluctuations in age structure (percentage of adults, juveniles and calves: 57.8, 21.0 and 21.3%) or estimated adult female reproductive rates (29.1%). In adults, but not in juveniles, the sex ratio was biased towards females (1 : 1.86, P , 0.01). Bulls were often solitary (32.2% of sightings), whereas the majority of cows (94.7%) formed small groups of 2-12 individuals of different ages, with or without bulls (53.4 and 46.6%, respectively). These results demonstrate that the population remained relatively stable, maintaining a constant age structure and reproductive rate, and that long-term community-based monitoring was effective for quantitative characterization of the tamaraw's social behaviour, which is critical for conservation and management of the species.
Fecal DNA analysis is a useful tool for the investigation of endangered species. Tamaraw (Bubalus mindorensis) is endemic to the Philippine island of Mindoro but knowledge of its genetic and ecological information is limited. In this study, we developed a species identification method for tamaraw by fecal DNA analysis. Eighteen feces presumed to be from tamaraw were collected in Mount Iglit-Baco National Park and species-known feces from domestic buffaloes and cattle were obtained from a farm. Additionally, one species-unknown fecal sample was obtained in Mount Aruyan Preserve, where the sighting of tamaraw has not been reported in recent years. Based on DNA sequence data previously reported, the genus Bubalus- and tamaraw-specific primers for PCR of cytochrome b gene were newly designed. The Bubalus-specific primer yielded a 976 bp fragment of cytochrome b for all fecal samples from tamaraw and domestic buffaloes, but not for cattle, whereas the tamaraw-specific primer yielded a 582 bp fragment for all tamaraw fecal samples and for one of the four domestic buffalo samples. PCR-RFLP (restriction fragment length polymorphism) analysis of the 976 bp PCR fragment with AvrII or BsaXI provided distinct differences between tamaraw and domestic buffalo. PCR-RFLP analysis also showed that the species-unknown sample obtained in Mount Aruyan Preserve, originates from tamaraw.
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