Gaur

About this species

Size

Head and body 2.5–3.3m; tail 70–105cm; shoulder 1.4–2.2m

Weight

Females 440–1,000kg, males 588–1,500kg

The gaur, or Indian bison, is the largest wild cattle species in the world. It is massively built, with a high ridge on the back behind the shoulders, a deep dewlap and a bony ridge between the horns that gives the head a dished profile. Adult bulls are dark brown, becoming almost black with age, while cows and young are paler and sometimes reddish. Both sexes have an ash-grey or dirty-white forehead, a pale muzzle and white or tan 'stockings' on the lower legs. The horns are pale green or yellow with black tips and curve upwards and inwards (Wikipedia, general species account).

Gaur live in herds led by an old female, usually of about eight to eleven animals with a single bull, though herds sometimes merge into groups of 50 or more. Bulls wander between herds in the breeding season, when their resonant mating call carries more than 1.6 km, and otherwise live alone or in bachelor groups. Herds walk a few kilometres a day, gather near water in the dry season and disperse into the hills with the monsoon. Where they are disturbed, as in parts of central India, gaur become largely nocturnal and are rarely in the open after early morning (Wikipedia, general species account).

At Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve the last 30 or so gaur left in 1995. In 2011, 19 animals (14 females and 5 males) were moved there from Kanha, 12 of them with radio collars, and after they settled, 31 more were released to build a viable population of about 50 (Sankar et al. 2013, as reported by Mongabay 2013).

Description: Wildlife of India guide, Wildlife of Everywhere (wildlifeofeverywhere.com); general species information paraphrased from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)