What is the National Animal of Cambodia?
Kouprey is the official national animal of Cambodia. Kouprey was entitled to the official Cambodia national animal. Bos sauveli is the scientific name of Kouprey, which is also known as Cambodian forest ox, grey ox, Indo-Chinese forest ox, spiral-horned ox, Boeuf Gris Cambodgien (French), Toro Cuprey (Spanish). It is commonly found in the range from Kampuchea to the Dongrak Mountains of eastern Thailand, southern Laos, and western Vietnam.
Presently it may believe that it is likely to be extinct, which can only survive individually in small a portion of eastern Cambodia. Cambodia’s national animal Kouprey is the well accepted by the people of Cambodia for its multiple values and that is the reason to designate as the official national animal of the country.
National Animal of Cambodia Facts—
- Common Name: Cambodian forest ox, grey ox, Indo-Chinese forest ox, spiral-horned ox, Boeuf Gris Cambodgien (French), Toro Cuprey (Spanish)
- Scientific Name: Bos sauveli
- Color: Males are dark brown to black while females are greyer in color, and juvenile starts their life with reddish color, which turns to grayish-brown by five to six months. Its lower legs are white or grayish.
- Length: 210 – 223 cm in length.
- Height: 170 – 190 cm in height at the shoulder.
- Weight: weight range between 680 kg – 910 kg, depending on the species.
- Diet: It is an herbivore animal. Kouprey grazes on grasses, leaves, roots, tubers including bamboo, along and room. They recurrent salt licks and water holes.
- Cubs: Babies of the Kouprey called calf. Kouprey mate in the spring; females (cow) produce a single progeny in winter after a gestation of eight to nine month.
- Behavior: Kouprey has adopted a nocturnal lifestyle, which apparently avoids humans. Kouprey moves away to the forest to escape the hot sun and appear into the fields in the evening.
- Lifespan: Up to 22 years.
The national animal of Cambodia, Kouprey has a different color for male and female. Males are dark brown to black while females are greyer in color, and juvenile starts their life with reddish color, which turns to grayish-brown by five to six months. Its lower legs are white or grayish. Kouprey is very big ox, which is a little bit smaller than water buffalo. It has a long and bushy tail, which can be in between 3 and 3.5 feet in length and also has a narrow body, long legs with a hump on its back. Kouprey’s body is coated with brown to black fur for males, while grey for females.
Males can be distinguished by their dewlap, hanging from their neck, which is unique amongst wild cattle. Both males and females have horns. Males have wider and longer horns that are arched upwards and forward while the female’s horns are Lyra-shaped like antelope. Shape and size of horns are being used to identify their gender. Cambodia’s national animal the Kouprey has separate names of both male and female. They are identified as; the females are called “cow.” The males are known as a bull and the babies name calf.
Kouprey means ‘forest bull’ in Khmer and its long and wide-reaching horns certainly create an imposing animal. The Kouprey form a herd with the below 20 individuals, which led by a single female and travel up to 15 km in a night as they graze on grasses, visit saltlicks and drink from waterholes. They can break the herd and also known how to rejoin as they travel. They may also be mixed herds with banteng or wild buffalo. They are more alert when compared to banteng and also run more gracefully.
The national animal of Cambodia, Kouprey inhabit low, rolling hills, preferring open deciduous forests and savannas, but also can be found in grasslands, wooded grasslands and closed monsoon forest. They tend to be found near saltlicks in areas of high rainfall. This kind of habitat is created by natural forest disturbance and slash-and-burn agriculture. They have become nocturnal to circumvent contact with humans, the kouprey moves into the lowest point of the forest during the day, emerging at night into nearby grassland to graze. The kouprey was last seen in 1988, making this bovid one of the most endangered and mysterious large mammals in the world.
Reference:
www.softschools.com › Facts › Animal Facts
https://www.arkive.org/kouprey/bos-sauveli/
www.theanimalfiles.com › Mammals › Hoofed Mammals
animaldiversity.org/accounts/Bos_sauveli/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kouprey
