Gaur
The gaur (Bos gaurus), also known as the Indian bison or Indian gaur and called seladang in Malaysia, is the largest wild bovine on Earth and one of the most impressive mammals in Asia. Despite its common name it is not a bison but a species of wild cattle, in the same genus as domestic cattle and the yak. Found across South and Southeast Asia, it lives in evergreen forests, moist deciduous woodlands and grassy hills, from sea level up to 2,800 meters. Adult bulls stand up to 220 cm at the shoulder and usually weigh 1,000 to 1,500 kg, heavier than any domestic bull. The coat of bulls is glossy black to very dark brown, cows are more reddish brown, and all of them have pale lower legs that look like white socks. A tall, muscular ridge formed by long spines on the back vertebrae runs over the shoulders and gives the animal its powerful profile. Both sexes carry thick, curved horns with yellowish bases and black tips. Gaurs graze mostly on grass, and also eat bamboo shoots, leaves and fruit, often feeding at forest edges in the early morning and evening. They live in small herds, often around a dozen animals, led by an older female, while adult bulls roam alone for much of the year. Hunting for meat and horns, forest loss and diseases caught from domestic cattle have pushed the species to Vulnerable status on the IUCN Red List.
What is a gaur? The Indian bison explained
The gaur (Bos gaurus) is a species of wild cattle that lives in the forests of South and Southeast Asia. It belongs to the same genus as domestic cattle, the yak and the banteng, and it is the tallest and heaviest of all of them. In English it is often called the Indian bison or the Indian gaur, names that come from its huge size and the high ridge over its shoulders, although it is not a bison at all. In Malaysia it is known as the seladang, and in India it is the state animal of Goa and Bihar. Scientists usually recognize two main forms: the Indian gaur of South Asia, and the Southeast Asian gaur, found from Myanmar to Vietnam and Peninsular Malaysia. The gayal or mithun, a semi domestic animal kept by hill communities in northeast India, Myanmar and Bhutan, descends from the gaur. Unlike most cattle, the gaur is a shy forest animal that grazes at the edges of the trees and slips back into cover at the first sign of danger. Its range has shrunk a lot over the last century: it is now extinct in Sri Lanka and probably gone from Bangladesh, and in much of Southeast Asia only small, wary herds remain.
How big is a gaur? Size, weight and horns
The gaur is the largest wild bovine on Earth, ahead of the American bison, the wild water buffalo and the African buffalo. Bulls usually weigh between 1,000 and 1,500 kilograms (2,200 to 3,300 pounds), and the biggest males, especially in Southeast Asia, can go beyond that. Cows are clearly smaller, at about 700 to 1,000 kilograms. A large bull stands up to 220 centimeters (7.2 feet) at the shoulder and measures 2.5 to 3.3 meters from nose to rump, with a tail of about a meter on top of that. The most striking feature is the high ridge over the shoulders and along the front half of the back. It is not fat: it is formed by very long spines on the vertebrae, covered by thick muscle, and it makes the gaur look even taller than it is. Adult bulls are glossy black or very dark brown, while cows and young animals are more reddish brown. All of them have white or cream lower legs that look like socks, and a pale, ashy patch on the forehead between the horns. Both sexes grow thick horns that curve out, up and slightly inward, yellowish at the base and black at the tips. Old bulls also carry a fold of loose skin, called a dewlap, under the throat and between the front legs.
Is a gaur a bison? Gaur vs American bison
No. The name Indian bison is old and still very common in India, but the gaur belongs to the genus Bos, together with cattle and yaks, while the American bison and the European bison belong to the genus Bison. The two groups are related, since all of them are wild cattle, but they split long ago and look and live very differently. The gaur has a short, smooth and shiny coat suited to hot tropical forests, while the American bison wears a thick shaggy coat, a beard and a heavy mane for cold prairie winters. Both have a raised back, but the bison's hump sits forward over the shoulders and looks bigger because of its long hair, while the gaur's ridge runs from the shoulders along the back and shows clearly under its short coat. The gaur holds its head fairly high and carries tall, upward curving horns, while the bison keeps its huge head low, with short horns that curve up from the sides. In size the gaur wins: a big bull is taller at the shoulder and usually heavier than an American bison bull, which reaches about 900 to 1,000 kilograms. The gaur is an animal of the forests of India and Southeast Asia, and the American bison an animal of the open plains of North America.
Where do gaurs live?
Gaurs live in ten countries today: India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, southern China and Peninsular Malaysia. They are extinct in Sri Lanka and possibly extinct in Bangladesh. India holds by far the largest share, often estimated at around 85 percent of all wild gaur. The biggest populations are in the Western Ghats, where Nagarhole and Bandipur national parks are each reported to hold around 2,000 animals, and there are also important herds in the forests of central India and the northeast. Gaurs prefer large blocks of evergreen, semi evergreen and moist deciduous forest with grassy clearings, bamboo and water close by. The IUCN records them from sea level up to 2,800 meters (about 9,200 feet), and in the hills of the Western Ghats they often come out to graze on open slopes at dawn and dusk. They avoid wide treeless plains and heavily farmed lowlands where people are always around, so most herds now live inside or near protected areas. Salt licks are important gathering points, and gaurs will walk long distances to reach them. Across Southeast Asia the range has broken into scattered patches separated by farms, plantations and roads, and in many forests that once had gaur, hunting has left only a few animals or none at all.
What do gaurs eat?
Gaurs are herbivores, and feeding takes up a large part of their day. Grass makes up the bulk of what they eat, both fresh green shoots and coarser, older grass, and they prefer to graze in forest clearings, along streams and on open hillsides close to the trees. They also browse on bamboo shoots, leaves, young twigs, bark and a wide variety of shrubs and herbs, and they eat fallen fruit when they find it. The mix changes with the seasons. In the wet months, when the grass is tall and green, gaurs graze for most of the day. In the dry season, when fresh grass is scarce, they rely more on leaves, bamboo and woody plants, and they may gather around river beds and the last green patches. Gaurs are most active in the early morning and late afternoon, and rest in the shade during the hottest hours, chewing the cud like domestic cattle. Where people disturb them often, they switch to feeding at night. They need to drink every day and are rarely found far from a reliable source of water. Minerals from the soil and from natural salt licks are also a regular part of their intake, and herds visit the same licks again and again.
Gaur behavior: herds, calls and calves
Gaurs live in small herds, often of around a dozen animals, though larger groups can gather for a while where grazing is good. A herd is made up of cows, calves and young animals and is usually led by an older female. Adult bulls spend much of the year alone or in loose bachelor groups and join the cows when they are ready to breed. During the rut a bull shows off by standing sideways to display his size and ridge, and he gives a deep, ringing call that can carry for more than a kilometer. Fights between bulls are rare, because the smaller animal usually backs off after these displays. When a gaur senses danger it gives a loud whistling snort that puts the whole herd on alert, and the group may bunch together with the calves in the middle. Breeding can take place at any time of the year. After a pregnancy of about 275 days, the cow gives birth to a single calf, rarely two, away from the herd. The calf hides in thick cover for its first days and then follows its mother, and it is weaned at seven to twelve months. In zoos gaurs can live about 30 years, but how long they live in the wild is not well known.
Can a tiger kill a gaur? Predators and danger to people
Yes, but a gaur is one of the hardest prey a tiger can take on. In many forests of India and Thailand gaur are an important part of the tiger's diet, mostly calves, young animals and weak or old adults. A study in western Thailand weighed the gaur killed by tigers and found they averaged about 400 kilograms, and almost half of them were adults, which shows how much these big cats depend on them. Healthy adult bulls are rarely attacked, and there are reports of gaur goring tigers to death. Leopards and packs of dholes also hunt calves. For people, the gaur is usually shy and moves away as soon as it notices someone. Most problems happen when a person surprises an animal at close range, blocks its path or meets an injured one, and then a charge from an animal of over a ton can be deadly. Conflict has grown where forests meet farms and towns. In the Nilgiris of Tamil Nadu, gaur walk through tea estates and into the streets of Kotagiri after dark, and in May 2023 gaur attacks killed three people in a single day in the Kerala districts of Kottayam and Kollam. Watching from a vehicle and keeping well back is the safe way to enjoy them.
Is the gaur endangered?
The IUCN lists the gaur as Vulnerable, one step below Endangered, and it has been in a threatened category since 1986. The latest assessment, from 2016, estimates 6,000 to 21,000 mature individuals, with numbers still going down. The picture is very uneven. In Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Malaysia, and perhaps also in Myanmar and China, numbers are thought to have fallen by well over 70 percent in the last three generations, about 24 to 30 years. In India and Nepal, well protected parks have kept herds stable or growing, which brings the overall decline to at least 30 percent. Hunting for wild meat and for horns and other body parts is the main threat, especially with snares in Southeast Asia, followed by the loss of forest to farms, plantations, roads and mines. Diseases caught from domestic cattle that graze near the forest are another danger: a rinderpest outbreak in 1968 killed a large part of the gaur in Bandipur and Mudumalai, and foot and mouth disease and anthrax still cause deaths. Good protection works. In Nepal's Chitwan National Park the count rose from 188 animals in 1997 to 368 in 2016, and Malaysia runs captive breeding centers for the seladang at Jenderak and Sungkai.
