Day 274#: Gaur
Today's animal of the day is the Gaur (Bos gaurus)!
Photo credit: Håvard Rosenlund
Also known as the Indian bison (despite not actually being a type of bison), the gaur is a species of bovine that can be found throughout the Indian subcontinent and in a handful of other places in Southeast Asia. They are the largest living member of the bovid family, with adult males being able to reach sizes of 7.2 ft tall at the shoulder, 10 ft 10 in long, and weighing over 3,300 pounds! For context, male American plains bison (which I covered on day 20#) only weigh around 2,000 pounds, and the average adult Holstein (which is the classic breed of black and white dairy cow) weighs somewhere between 1,500 and 1,700 pounds.
Photo credit: Sohail Madan
I mean, just look at this gaur compared to a juvenile Asian elephant! I know the elephant is still growing but HOLY COW!
Photo credit: Animalkingdomvideos
Gaurs have a distinctive ridge on their shoulders, and like the large humps of bison, these ridges provide a sort of anchor point for the powerful muscles in their forequarters to attach to. This not only helps them support the weight of their own heads and horns, but also allows them to do things like almost flipping over entire cars! There's actually a relatively viral video of a gaur doing just that, which is incredibly terrifying in my opinion. However, gaur aren't usually all that aggressive, and bulls don't even seem to fight much amongst themselves during the breeding season. At least, there hasn't been any serious dominance battles observed. They'll still spar a little bit, and will sometimes randomly charge people during the breeding season.
Photo credit: WildeLense_India on Twitter
These bovids used to be widespread across the southern portion of mainland Asia, but due to human activities, their range has shrunk drastically and become very fragmentary. They've even gone regionally extinct in many places where they used to be common, such as Sri Lanka and parts of the Malaysian Peninsula. Today, they are mostly found in hilly evergreen or moist deciduous forests with lots of plants, such as bamboo, grass, shrubs, etc, for them to graze on. Interestingly, human activities not only affect where gaur live, but also their behavior. Historically, gaur have been most active during the day, and this is still the case in the more remote parts of their range. However, in places that have been disturbed by humans, the gaur are becoming more active at night in order to avoid interactions with humans. This seems to be a common trend amongst larger animals, and the same thing has been documented with wolves in North America.
Photo credit: Suraj Bhagat
Gaur tend to live in small herds of around 11 individuals, mostly consisting of females, their calves, and typically just one bull, though more might join the herd from April to May for the breeding season. These herds are usually led by the oldest female, called the matriarch. Occasionally, several herds will join together and create a mega-herd with up to 50 members! But these usually disperse around the arrival of the rainy season. Most males live solitary lives for the majority of the year, but as I said, they will often join up with females in order to breed. They will attract the attention of a herd by making a loud mating call, which can be heard from over a mile away. In addition to this call, gaur will also make a sort of whistling snort to warn other gaur of nearby predators. They also moo like domestic cows do, though it sounds a lot lower.
Photo credit: Roelof van der Breggen
Because of their large size, adult gaur have few natural predators. Occasionally, leopards, dholes, and even mugger crocodiles will take down a calf or a sick/injured adult, but for the most part, these large bovids only have one natural predator: tigers. Ok, saltwater crocodiles have also been known to ambush adult gaur and drag them into the water, but tigers are still the only terrestrial predator known to be capable of taking down healthy adults. One tiger was even reported taking down an adult bull weighing over 2,200 pounds! But the gaur aren't totally defenseless. When confronted by a tiger, the herd will form a circle around the youngest and weakest members of their group and will stomp and wave their horned heads around in a threat display. Since tigers usually hunt using the element of surprise, this usually works in keeping them at bay. There was even one instance in Malaysia where a herd of gaur successfully chased away a tiger from a calf it had already killed, and prevented it from eating the carcass.
Photo credit: Darrell Parsons
Gaur are sadly considered to be a Vulnerable species, mostly due to habitat loss but also because of poaching. In places like Vietnam and Thailand, they are especially sought out by poachers for both their meat and as trophies. Human-gaur conflicts are also becoming more and more common, especially in highly populated areas. Not only are gaur places with lots of humans becoming more active at night, but they also seem to be getting more aggressive than normal. Gaur are normally skittish and usually flee when they encounter a human in the wild. However, in some places where there are more people, the gaur are becoming more and more aggressive towards humans and are much more likely to charge. They've even been documented breaking into pastures and getting into fights with and killing domestic cows!
