The Buru was an aquatic reptile said to have lived in Jiro (also spelled and pronounced as Ziro) valley, a small town in the state of Arunachal Pradesh, India, at some undefined time in the past. In 1947, Professor Christopher von Furer-Haimendorf was the first westerner to be told about the Buru. By that time, the animals had reportedly already become extinct in the valley.

According to the Apatani elders, when their forefathers migrated to Jiro valley, the valley was primarily a marsh which was populated by Burus. The Apatani people decided to settle in the valley because of its fertility and good climate. But every now and then they would have confrontations with burus. So they decided to drain the marsh of its water and thus eliminate the Burus. Most of the Burus died because of the drainage, and many supposedly went underground into the 'soo<script type="text/javascript" src="http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=MediaWiki:Gadget-revisionjumper.js&action=raw&ctype=text/javascript"></script>' (springs).

Buru (formally spelt Boeroe) is the third largest island within Maluku Islands of Indonesia. It lies between the Banda Sea to the south and Seram Sea to the north, west of Ambon and Seram islands. The island belongs to Maluku province (Indonesian: Provinsi Maluku) and includes the Buru (Indonesian: Kabupaten Buru) and South Buru (Indonesian: Kabupaten Buru Selatan) regencies. Their administrative centers, Namlea and Nampole, respectively, have ports and the largest towns of the island. There is a military airport at Namlea which supports civilian cargo transportation.

About a third of the population is indigenous, mostly Buru, but also Lisela, Ambelau and Kayeli people. The rest of population are immigrants from Java and nearby Maluku Islands. The religious affiliation is evenly split between Christianity and Sunni Islam, with some remnants of traditional beliefs. While local languages and dialects are spoken within individual communities, the national Indonesian language is used among the communities and by the administration. Most of the island is covered with forests rich in tropical flora and fauna. From the present 179 bird and 25 mammal species, about 14 are found either on Buru only or also on a few nearby islands, the most notable being the wild pig Buru babirusa. There is little industry on the island, and most population is engaged in growing rice, maize, sweet potato, beans, coconuts, cocoa, coffee, clove and nutmeg. Other significant activities are animal farming and fishing.