Can Bantang breed with scrub/domestic cattle and produce fertile offspring?

Yes, anything Bos Indicus/Taurus can reproduce with anyone of the wild bovids.

Sometimes in the case of North American and European Bison the dam must be the bison. If the domestic is the dam the fetus causes a cyst that can kill the cow.

Sorry if your not a farmer

Sire Father
Dam Mother

Heredity. 2003 Jan;90(1):10-6.

Hybridization of banteng (Bos javanicus) and zebu (Bos indicus) revealed by mitochondrial DNA, satellite DNA, AFLP and microsatellites.
Nijman IJ, Otsen M, Verkaar EL, de Ruijter C, Hanekamp E, Ochieng JW, Shamshad S, Rege JE, Hanotte O, Barwegen MW, Sulawati T, Lenstra JA.

Institute of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, The Netherlands. I.Nijman@vet.uu.nl

Abstract
Hybridization between wild and domestic bovine species occurs worldwide either spontaneously or by organized crossing. We have analysed hybridization of banteng (Bos javanicus) and zebu (Bos indicus) in south-east Asian cattle using mitochondrial DNA (PCR-RFLP and sequencing), AFLP, satellite fragment length polymorphisms (SFLP or PCR-RFLP of satellite DNA) and microsatellite genotyping. The Indonesian Madura zebu breed is reputed to be of hybrid zebu-banteng origin, but this has never been documented and Bali cattle are considered to be a domesticated form of banteng. The banteng mitochondrial type was found in all animals sampled on the isle of Bali, Indonesia, but only in 35% of the animals from a Malaysian Bali-cattle population. The Madura animals also carried mitochondrial DNA of either zebu and banteng origin. In both populations, zebu introgression was confirmed by AFLP and SFLP. Microsatellite analysis of the Malaysian Bali population revealed for 12 out of 15 loci screened, Bali-cattle-specific alleles, several of which were also found in wild banteng animals. The tools we have described are suitable for the detection of species in introgression studies, which are essential for the genetic description of local breeds and the preservation of their economic and cultural value.

PMID: 12522420 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]Free Article
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I'm not Matt, either, but glad to take a shot at the question.

Thanks gents, very interesting. I was just thinking the other day why we don't hear of crosses out in the NT. With the amount of scrub bulls out there and all. Now can a water buff cross with cattle?

Theoretically--No, different numbers of chromosomes and no history of a viable cross. But who had the picture here of the odd-looking buffalo several years ago that surely looked like a cross?
Once in a blue moon, a hybrid of different genus will survive--like the very rare cross between a sheep (54 chromosomes) and a goat (60).

Swamp buffalo (bubalus) have 24 pairs of chromosomes, domestic bovines (Bos) have 29 pairs, and the chromosomes themselves have assumed somewhat different forms/shapes that make survival of a cross unlikely.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2892297/


"Cytogenetic studies show that river buffalo have 25 chromosome pairs while swamp buffalo have 24 pairs. These subspecies differ by one chromosome; a fusion between river buffalo (BBU) chromosome 4 and 9 is comparable to swamp buffalo chromosome 1 5, and all chromosomes and chromosome arms are preserved between these two subspecies. Crosses between the two subspecies are fertile but hybrids possess 49 chromosomes, which is thought to lead to lower reproductive values in subsequent matings. River buffalo have 5 biarmed chromosome pairs and all others, including the sex chromosomes are acrocentric. Several studies have shown that river buffalo and domestic cattle, both members of the Bovidae family, are closely related. Indeed, both share chromosome banding and gene order homology, and have been cytogenetically characterized 12. At the cytogenetic level, cattle and river buffalo chromosomes can be matched arm for arm (see examples in Figure ​Figure1).1). For reference, the cattle genome consists of 29 acrocentric chromosome pairs and a pair of XY sex chromosomes, while the river buffalo genome has 5 biarmed and 19 acrocentric chromosome pairs plus the XY sex chromosomes. The 5 biarmed chromosome pairs correspond to the fusion of two cattle acrocentrics, such as BBU 1 for BTA1 and BTA27, BBU2 for BTA2 and BTA23, BBU 3 for BTA8 and BTA19, BBU4 for BTA5 and BTA28, and BBU5 for BTA16 and BTA29, respectively. Each of the acrocentric river buffalo chromosomes corresponds to one of the remaining cattle chromosomes 12.
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Donkeys, Zebras, and Horses have different numbers of chromosomes, and are able to produce viable crosses, but they are of the same genus and more closely related than buffalo and cattle are.

There are 10 different genera (including Bos) of the bovine sub-family. A few can produce crosses, but not all.
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Picture of a sheep-goat (different genera) hybrid


Wiki on Bovines:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovinae

and on classification of living things:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B...gical_classification

So can a Cape buffalo cross with a Water buffalo?........it would have interesting horns!

Yes a Cape Buff can , I read in a Mag where a guy was culling out a herd of Cape/Water Buff cross in Australia some where , he had a Cape Buff bull he put over Water Buff cows , smashed out of his place I think it said !

quote:

Originally posted by Sarg:
Yes a Cape Buff can , I read in a Mag where a guy was culling out a herd of Cape/Water Buff cross in Australia some where , he had a Cape Buff bull he put over Water Buff cows , smashed out of his place I think it said !

You shouldnt believe everything you read Sarg!!

Bakes questions... Can they produce offspring - YES. Are the offspring viable?? Not 100% sure - my understanding is that they can/will interbreed freely and that is backed up by the abstract reproduced above.

Not really sure it is correct to say that ALL bovids can freely hybridise either. I dont think there is sufficient research to make that conclusion.