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The gaur bull is a beautiful, strong animal. Representative of the genus True bulls (Bos). The species belongs to the family Bovidae (bovids). It unites artiodactyls, ruminants, and includes about 140 species. Gauras are considered the largest representatives of this family. The distribution area of the rare animal is the wild nature of South and Southeast Asia.
Description of the gauras
Wild bulls have impressive dimensions. The height of the withers of an adult gaura (male) is 2.2 m, which is very impressive. The body length of the largest individuals reaches 3.3 m.The horns are huge, their length is 0.9 m, the distance between their ends is 1.2 m.The weight of a male gaura is more than 1 ton (0.9-1.5 tonnes) ... The length of the skull of an adult is 68-70 cm. Females are smaller than males.
The bull has a powerful constitution. Despite their great weight, gauras do not look like clumsy animals. They are more like athletes. They have slender, strong legs, a powerful neck, and high withers. The head is massive, broad-forehead, but it is compensated by the muscular body.
The horns are crescent-shaped. They are rounded in cross-section; there are no thickenings on the sides. Their ends are black, but most of them are light. The wool of wild bulls is not uniform in color. The main color is brown, light brown. The upper part of the legs, neck, as well as the muzzle and head are darker. Females differ from males in size and thickness of horns, they are thinner.
Spread
Wild Asian bulls can be found in the mountainous part of the Malacca and Indochina peninsulas. They live in forests. Quite recently, this was not possible, in these regions the gauras were on the verge of extinction. It was possible to see a beautiful bull only on the territory of reserves, national parks.
Many Asian bulls live in India, where the number of livestock goes in the thousands. There is a small amount in Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Nepal. You can find them in the forests of Cambodia. Bulls can graze in the mountains at an altitude of 2 thousand meters above sea level. They prefer to live in a hilly forest area with a sparse forest stand, do not like impenetrable thickets, prefer sparse copses.
Lifestyle and behavior
In nature, gaurs form family groups. The size of the herd is small, it is 10-12 individuals, in rare cases - 30 bulls. The male is most often one, sometimes two, all other members of the family are females and young calves. For the right to lead the herd, the male bull fights, participates in fierce fights.
Older males live alone. Young males who have not gained strength Gaura group together, creating small, isolated herds. Quite often, the most experienced and adult female leads the herd.
The mating season begins in November. It ends at the end of April. During the period of active rutting, fights between bulls for a female are rare. Applicants are limited to demonstrating their strength, taking threatening poses. In this case, they direct one horn to the opponent.
The bulls express their readiness for mating with a loud roar. It is so loud that it can be heard from over 2 km away. Males roar at night or in the evening. During the rut, the roar of wild bulls is very similar to the sounds that stag deer make. During the mating season, lonely males join herds. At this time, fights take place between them.
The female bears a calf for 270-280 days. During this time, she becomes aggressive. Twins are rarely born, usually one cub is born. At the time of giving birth, the female gaura temporarily leaves the herd, returns back with the offspring.
Calving falls in August-September.The female Gaura calf feeds with milk for 7-12 months. If the herd's habitat has a good forage base, then the cows give birth annually. In nature, there are cases of combining a herd of gaurs with herds of other wild ungulates (sambars).
Gaura males become sexually mature at the age of 2-3 years, females at 2 years of age. The life span of a wild bull is 30 years. Calves have a high mortality rate. Almost 50% of Gauras do not live up to a year. Calves become victims of the tiger - the main enemy of the gauras. From 9-10 months, they begin to feed on their own.
In the herd, the calves keep together, the "kindergarten" is guarded by the females. Old males do not protect the herd. A piercing snort is considered a danger signal by the Gauras. When the source of the threat is identified, the closest individual makes a special sound - a hum, reminiscent of a rumble. At his sounds, the herd line up in battle formation.
The Gauras have a special attacking style. They don't attack with their foreheads. They strike with one horn to the side. At this time, the animal squats slightly on its hind legs, and lowers its head. For this reason, one of the horns wears off more than the other.
The food supply for gauras of plant origin:
- bark of trees;
- green bush branches;
- bamboo shoots;
- grass;
- leaves of shrubs and trees.
Gauras are active during the day; they sleep at night. Eat in the morning or late afternoon. They do not make large transitions. Bulls need a lot of water. At the watering hole, they not only quench their thirst. The gaurs swim with pleasure. Water cools and temporarily relieves the attacks of the gnat.
According to the observations of zoologists, a herd living near a settlement changes its way of life. They are active at night. A herd of Asian bulls cannot be found in man-made fields. They graze in sparse copses near clearings, wander into bamboo thickets, go out onto plains overgrown with bushes.
Meaning for a person
The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature has adopted two names for the wild and domesticated gaura:
- Bos gaurus - wild
- Bos frontalis is domesticated.
In total, 5 wild species of bulls were domesticated by man, the gaur is one of them. The domesticated gaura bull is called mitan or gayal. They are bred in the countries of Southeast Asia, Myanmar and the northeastern states of India - Manipur, Nagaland.
The dimensions and horns of the Guyals are smaller than those of their wild relatives, they are calmer than the gauras. The domesticated form is used as a monetary equivalent, more often as a draft labor force or a source of meat. Cow's milk is rich in fats. In India, Guyals are crossed with domestic cows and get rich offspring.
Guyals are more phlegmatic than their wild relatives. They are kept differently from ordinary domestic cows. Guyals graze in freedom. Lure them in with rock salt.
Vulnerability
The number of wild bulls is decreasing every year. In India, their number is relatively constant, and in regions of Southeast Asia, they are on the verge of extinction. According to rough estimates, the total number of wild Gauras is 13-30 thousand heads. Most of the wild bulls live in different regions of India.
Reasons for population decline:
- hunting;
- reduction of the food supply;
- deforestation, human development of land;
- epidemics caused by diseases of livestock.
Local residents and foreigners are engaged in poaching. Hides and horns cost a lot of money abroad. And the locals hunt bulls for their meat. Leopards, crocodiles and tigers are among the predatory animals.
Only a tiger can kill a wild bull. They rarely attack adults. Calves under the age of 1 year become their victims. After entering the species into the Red Book, there was a turning point for the better. A strict ban on hunting, the introduction of quarantine supervision led to a slight increase in the number.
Conclusion
The wild bull gaur may disappear. The decline in the number of these beautiful animals is caused by the reduction of territories suitable for their habitat, hunting and epidemics. Now a beautiful powerful bull can be seen in reserves and national parks.
