The dwarf water buffalo is the largest indigenous mammal in the Philippines is living on borrowed time. The tamaraw, the nation's national animal, weighs about 300 kilograms, stands about 3 feet high at the shoulder and with a life span of around 25 years. It has a vicious streak and has been known to used its V-shaped horns on people.

It is rarer than the black rhinoceros of Africa and China's panda and the tiger with only 300 as of the latest count which made them on the critically endangered list. The tamaraws live within a 16,000-hectare section of a national park around Mount Iglit on the central island of Mindoro.

Habit loss from cattle ranching and farming, hunting and diseases are cited as major threats to the animal's survival according to the World Conservation Union. The conservation program also includes deer, wild hogs and other rare birds endemic to Mindoro, including the imperial pigeon, scops owl, black-hooded coucal, scarlet-collared flowerpecker and bleeding-heart pigeon, as well as the rare Jade vine.

Rodel Boyles, head of the government's Tamaraw Conservation Program said that the tamaraw's number has risen positively and that the park's carrying capacity appears to be nearing its limit and there are government proposals to expand the protected area of the park.