DENR, FEU and WWF Launch Tamaraw Month with Campaign to Double Tamaraw Numbers by 2020

Ten thousand tamaraw (Bubalus mindorensis) once grazed and bred throughout the island of Mindoro. Sadly, the population has taken severe blows – from a crippling outbreak of cattle-killing Rinderpest in the 1930s to incessant land clearing and poaching. It is thought that only a few hundred hold out atop the grassy slopes and forest patches of Mts. Iglit, Baco, Aruyan, Bongabong, Calavite and Halcon in Mindoro. 

Differentiated from the larger and more docile carabao (Bubalus bubalis carabanesis), the stocky tamaraw bears distinctive V-shaped horns, a shorter tail and a shaggy coat of chocolate to ebony fur. Adults stand four feet tall and average 300 kilograms.