Nilgai
Nilgai | |
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Male at Jamtra, Madhya Pradesh, India | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Artiodactyla |
Family: | Bovidae |
Subfamily: | Bovinae |
Genus: | Boselaphus |
Species: | B. tragocamelus
|
Binomial name | |
Boselaphus tragocamelus (Pallas, 1766)
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Natural range of the nilgai | |
Synonyms[2] | |
|
The nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus) (
The nilgai is
The nilgai prefers areas with short bushes and scattered trees in
Etymology
The vernacular name "nilgai"
Taxonomy
The
The generic name Boselaphus comes from the combination of the Latin bos ("cow" or "ox") and the Greek elaphos ("deer").[12] The specific name tragocamelus comes from the join of the two Greek words tragos ("he-goat") and kamelos ("camel"). The binomial combination was first used by English zoologist Philip Sclater in 1883.[2] Boselaphus has often been misspelled as Buselaphus (first used by Ludwig Reichenbach in 1845 for the red hartebeest)[13] and Bosephalus (first used by Thomas Horsfield in 1851, when he mistook a nilgai specimen for a hartebeest in a museum catalogue of the East India Company).[2]
Evolution
A 1992
Though the tribe Boselaphini has no African representation today,
Remains of the nilgai dating back to the
Description
A sturdy thin-legged antelope, the nilgai is characterised by a sloping back, a deep neck with a white patch on the throat, a short mane of hair behind and along the back ending behind the shoulder, and around two white spots each on its face, ears, cheeks, lips and chin.[7] The ears, tipped with black, are 15–18 cm (5.9–7.1 in) long.[2] A column of coarse hair, known as the "pendant" and around 13 cm (5.1 in) long in males, can be observed along the dewlap ridge below the white throat patch.[29] The tufted tail, up to 54 cm (21 in),[30] has a few white spots and is tipped with black.[7] The forelegs are generally longer,[30] and the legs are often marked with white "socks".[2] While females and juveniles are orange to tawny, males are much darker – their
The nilgai is the largest antelope in Asia.[7][37] It stands 1–1.5 m (3 ft 3 in – 4 ft 11 in) at the shoulder;[29] the head-and-body length is typically between 1.7–2.1 m (5 ft 7 in – 6 ft 11 in).[7] Males weigh 109–288 kg (240–635 lb); the maximum weight recorded is 308 kg (679 lb). Females are lighter, weighing 100–213 kg (220–470 lb).[29] Sexual dimorphism is prominent; the males are larger than females and differ in colouration.[2]
The maximum recorded length of the skull is 376 mm (14.8 in). The
Distribution and habitat
The nilgai is
The Indian population was estimated at one million in 2001.[1] The nilgai were first introduced to Texas in the 1920s and the 1930s in a 6,000 acres (2,400 ha) large ranch near the Norias Division of the King Ranch, one of the largest ranches in the world. The feral population saw a spurt toward the latter part of the 1940s, and gradually spread out to adjoining ranches.[44]
Population densities show great geographical variation across India. Density can be as low as 0.23 to 0.34 individuals per km2 in Indravati National Park.[45] and 0.4 individuals per km2 in the Pench Tiger Reserve,[46] or as high as 6.6 to 11.36 individuals per km2 in Ranthambhore National Park, and seven individuals per km2 in Keoladeo National Park.[47] Seasonal variations were noted in Bardiya National Park in a 1980 study; the density 3.2 individuals per km2 during the dry season and 5 per km2 in April, the start of the dry season.[48] In southern Texas, densities were found to be nearly 3–5 individuals per km2 in 1976.[2]
Historic notes mention nilgai in southern India, but these may have been feral:[49]
I believe that the Coimbatore and Salem collectorates are almost the only places in Southern India, in which nil-gai are to be found. It is difficult to account for the animals being thus so widely divided from their usual haunts unless as has been generally supposed, these Southern specimens are the progeny of a semi-domesticated herd, which, at some by-gone period, had escaped from the preserve of a native potentate.
— Andrew Cooke McMaster (Notes on Jerdon's Mammals of India, 1871)
Behavior and ecology
The nilgai is
Typically tame, the nilgai may appear timid and cautious if harassed or alarmed; instead of seeking cover like duikers it would flee up to 300 m (980 ft)-or even 700 m (2,300 ft) on galloping-away from the danger.[43] Though generally quiet, nilgai have been reported to make short guttural grunts when alarmed, and females to make clicking noises when nursing young.[52][53] Alarmed individuals, mainly juveniles below five months, give out a coughing roar (whose pitch is highest in case of the juveniles) that lasts half a second, but can be heard by herds less than 500 m (1,600 ft) away and responded to similarly.[2]
Fights take place in both sexes and involve pushing their necks against each other or ramming into one another using horns. Fights can be gory; despite the protective skin deep, lacerated wounds and even deaths might occur.[2] Display behaviour focuses on the throat patch and the beard, and threatening opponents by pointing the horns toward them. A young male was observed making a submissive display in the Sariska Reserve by kneeling before an adult male, who stood erect.[52] The nilgai mark their territories by forming dung piles as much as 50 cm (20 in) in radius. The defecation process is elaborate-the antelope stands with his legs about a metre apart, with the rump lowered and the tail held almost vertical; it stays in the same posture for at least ten seconds after relieving itself. The process is not as elaborate in the females as it is in the males.[43]
In India, the nilgai shares its habitat with the four-horned antelope,
Diet
The nilgai is a browser[48] or mixed feeder,[57] but primarily a grazer in Texas.[43] It prefers grasses and herbs, but also feeds on woody plants in the dry tropical forests of India. Diets generally suffice in protein and fats.[58] The protein content of the nilgai's should be at least seven percent.[59] The nilgai can survive for long periods without water and does not drink regularly even in summer.[2][60]
In Sariska Reserve, it prefers herbs and grasses; grasses become more important in the rainy season, while during winter and summer it feeds additionally on
Reproduction
Observations of females in southern Texas revealed that
Gestation lasts eight to nine months, following which a single calf or twins (even triplets at times) are born. In a 2004 study in the Sariska reserve, twins accounted for as high as 80 percent of the total calf population.[52] Births peak from June to October in the Bharatpur National Park, and from April to August in southern Texas. Calves are precocial; they are able to stand within 40 minutes of birth, and forage by the fourth week.[7] Pregnant females isolate themselves before giving birth. As typical of several bovid species, nilgai calves are kept in hiding for the first few weeks of their lives. This period of concealment can last as long as a month in Texas.[43] Calves, mainly males, bicker playfully by neck-fighting.[50] Young males would leave their mothers at ten months to join bachelor groups.[30] The lifespan of the nilgai is typically ten years in Texas.[29]
Threats and conservation
The nilgai is categorised as of
In India, the nilgai is protected under Schedule III of the
Cultural significance
Remains of nilgai have been excavated at
Prajapati desired his own daughter ... Having become a nilgai bull he approached her who had become a nilgai cow ... The gods saw him and said: "Prajapati is doing a deed that is not done".
Nilgai are extensively featured in paintings, dagger hilts and texts from the Mughal era (16th to 19th centuries);[74][75] their representation, however, is less frequent than that of horses and camels.[76] On being disturbed while hunting nilgai, the Mughal emperor Jahangir recorded his ire:[77]
Suddenly a groom and two bearers appeared, and the nilgai escaped. In a great rage, I ordered them to kill the groom on the spot and hamstring the bearers and mount them on asses and parade them through the camp.
For centuries Indian villagers have associated the nilgai with the
Culling and conservation
The populations of nilgai in India are so large that farmers in the states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh have pleaded to the government to cull them. Nilgai herds raid and trample crop fields across these states,[83] often causing food shortages.[84][85] Farmers use live electric wires to guard their farms, which kills other animals as well.[86] Farmers in Neemuch (Madhya Pradesh) went on a hunger strike in 2015 demanding compensation for the damage caused by nilgai.[87] Although blackbuck cause a similar problem, the damage caused by them is significantly lower as they merely break off young shoots.[88][89] A 1990 study suggested culling, building enclosures for the antelopes and fencing off agricultural areas as remedies.[88]
The governments of Bihar,[84] Maharashtra[90] and Uttarakhand[91] have urged the Government of India to declare the nilgai as vermin; the proposal has been implemented in Bihar, where nilgai can now be hunted to minimise the damages incurred by locals.[84] The Uttar Pradesh government has given farmers and firearm licence holders the right to cull the animals.[92] However, animal rights activists in various parts of India were unhappy with the decision.[93] Shivanshu K. Srivastava, a columnist and social activist, wrote that "The culling of nilgais (blue bulls) in Bihar in July 2016 was so deplorable that it doesn't need any justification. The excuse given for this slew by the State government, the then environment minister Prakash Javadekar and the judiciary is so illogical that it mocks all the solutions available to stop the nilgais from destroying the farms. We live in the 21st century and culling is only the very last option we have. The farmers can either opt for fencing around the farmlands or if it's unaffordable, then the government can give ordinances to relocate them to the forests."[94][95] The state governments have attempted other initiatives to curb the nilgai: in November 2015, the Government of Rajasthan came up with a proposal to allow shooting nilgai with non-lethal darts to inhibit fertilisation in their bodies, so as to regulate their increasing populations.[96] As the name "nilgai" appeals to the religious sentiments of Hindus, the Government of Madhya Pradesh has sought to officially rename it rojad (Hindi for "forest antelope") and the Government of Haryana to rename it as roze in a bid to make their culling acceptable.[97][98][99]
A 1994 study drew attention to the ecological value provided by the nilgai in
In September 2019, a video surfaced of a nilgai being buried alive with an excavator in Bihar as part of the culling. The state forest department has claimed to have begun an investigation to find those responsible.[101]
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Notes
External links
- Media related to Boselaphus tragocamelus at Wikimedia Commons
- Data related to Boselaphus tragocamelus at Wikispecies