Response of a monsoon forest-savanna boundary to fire protection, Weipa, northern Australia

The habitat preference and impact of banteng (Bos javanicus) and pigs (Sus scrofa) in Gurig National Park, on Cobourg Peninsula, Northern Territory, was investigated by systematically sampling twelve habitats. Animal signs (banteng and pig scats) and impacts (area of rooted, trampled or pugged ground and number of rubbed tree trunks) were recorded in 696 quadrats, each 5 × 20 m. Significant differences among habitats in sign and impact were detected. Pig rooting was concentrated on wetland communities, particularly sedgelands. Banteng sign focused on monsoon forest and coastal plains, where they caused less obvious damage than pigs. There was little evidence of either ungulate in the eucalypt communities, which are the most widespread of all habitats on the peninsula. In monsoon forests, banteng densities were approximately 70 per km-2, Banteng, unlike pigs and buffalo, have remained near their point of introduction over the last 140 years, possibly because of the unique habitat mosaic consisting of grasslands abutting monsoon forest.