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Word of the Week (198): KOUPREY (probability 24854), by David Sutton

A KOUPREY is a kind of wild ox from Southeast Asia. It has the distinction of being the latest really massive land animal to be found, having been identified only in 1937. It has had the misfortune to occupy a range made up of Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia, and to have suffered accordingly in the wars that have swept over that region, with the result that it is now considered to be the rarest large land mammal in the world.

The KOUPREY is believed to be a close relative of the AUROCHS, the extinct wild ox also known as the URE (or URUS) or BONASUS (or BONASSUS), and of the GAUR or Indian bison, which is also known as the SELADANG (or SALADANG or SLADANG). Another rare and endangered BOVID from that part of the world is the SAOLA, while Java gives us a kind of wild ox known as a BANTENG.

While on the subject of bovines, let's give a mention to the ZAMOUSE, which is not as you might think a rodent with a fondness for pizza but is a kind of short-horned buffalo. Other buffaloes include the TIMARAU (or TAMARAO or TAMARAU) of the Philippines, the ARNA, or Indian water-buffalo, and the CARABAO, another water-buffalo.

Exotic cattle include the SAHIWAL, a breed of humped dairy cattle from the Punjab, and also from the Punjab the HARIANA.

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