I am currently reading a book entitled The Heart of the Hunter by Edison Marshall and he relates his experience hunting this creature. I gather it is a large buffalo type animal. Does anyone have information or a photo of such animal? Thanks for your assistance, Mackenzie Hunt

I believe this is the vietnamese (possibly montanard) word for the Gaur, a huge wild oxen, indigenous to souteast asia with a disposition similar to the cape buffalo.I have only seen them at the zoo and they are as high at the shoulder as a moose, and very dark in color. That's about all I know.

This site has info on the Gaur not sure if it helps but here it is http://www.csew.com/cattletag/Cattle%20Website/Fact_Sheets/African_Buffalo/Afric an_Buffalo.htm

[ 03-11-2003, 10:42: Message edited by: Texican ]

The word is "SADLANG" it is a sub species of the water buffalo...

Ray, I'm not sure on the spelling part but I can assure you that this animal, a gaur, is no water buffalo. It is entirely different. You may be thinking of the banteng. Also the word "Saladang" is a Thai word, not Vietnamese, as I originally guessed.
I'm editing this reply some. The correct spelling is "Sladang"(prefered) or "Seladang" which is the gaur. MLMS...just look up "Gaur" on the web search engines and you'll find pictures of the gaur.

[ 03-11-2003, 02:20: Message edited by: Pathfinder ]

Gentlemen,

Seladang is the Malaysian name for the Gaur.

GAUR, the native name of the wild ox, Bos (Bibos) gaurus, of India, miscalled bison by sportsmen. The gaur, which extends into Burma and the Malay Peninsula, where it is known as seladang, is the typical representative of an Indo-Malay group of wild cattle characterized by the presence of a ridge on the withers, the compressed horns, and the white legs. The gaur, which reaches a height of nearly 6 ft. at the shoulder, is specially characterized by the forward curve and great elevation of the ridge between the horns. The general colour is blackish-grey.

Regards,

Terry

[ 03-11-2003, 04:44: Message edited by: T.Carr ]

Yep Terry is right

A Seladang and Gaur are the same species. Banteung is a related species and I believe Gaur were considered much more dangerous. All are wild cattle. Gaur I believe is the name for the beast from India while Seladang I have seen used by British writers for Burma, Thailand and the Malay peninsula ( and it sounds like a Malay word as well).

Water Buffalo are a different species all together and usually in Asia are domesticated.

Its a sad thing these beasts can not be hunted today.

Good to read that several of you agree with me. As I said, I've never seen one of these critters outside of a zoo but they are very impressive. Hunting them in the thick jungle foilage and glades of elephant grass must have been something. It is too bad it's over. At least for now.

Thank you all for the assistance. The book I am reading makes the hunt sound extremely challenging and fun. Mackenzie Hunt, Roswell, New Mexico.

Found this while surfingq