The global species extinction crisis has provided the impetus for elaborate translocation, captive breeding, and cloning programs, but more extreme actions may be necessary. We used mitochondrial DNA, Y-chromosome, and nuclear lactoferrin-encoding gene sequencing to identify a wild population of a pure-strain endangered bovid (Bos javanicus) introduced into northern Australia over 150 years ago. This places the Australian population in a different conservation category relative to its domesticated conspecific in Indonesia (i. e., Bali cattle) that has varying degrees of introgression from other domesticated Bos spp. The success of this endangered non-native species demonstrates that although risky, the deliberate introduction of threatened exotic species into non-native habitat may provide, under some circumstances, a biologically feasible option for conserving large herbivores otherwise imperiled in their native range. ©2006 Society for Conservation Biology.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Biological Sciences
Research Group:	Other biological sciences
Research Field:	Global change biology
Objective Division:	Environmental Policy, Climate Change and Natural Hazards
Objective Group:	Adaptation to climate change
Objective Field:	Social impacts of climate change and variability
UTAS Author:	Bowman, DMJS (Professor David Bowman)
ID Code:	47605
Year Published:	2006
Web of Science® Times Cited:	32
Deposited By:	Plant Science
Deposited On:	2007-09-19
Last Modified:	2007-09-19
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