CHAPTER FOUR BOS GAURUS, THE GAUR 4.1 The Living Animal 4.1.1 Zoology The gaur or Indian bison is a really impressive bovid, much larger than the zebu. It is the largest of all wild bovids living today with a shoulder height of 1.65 to 2.2 m and a maximum body weight of a ton; females are only about one-fi fth smaller (fi g. 66). As all bovids, gaurs are even- toed ruminants and thus lack incisors in the upper jaw. Gaurs have a huge head, a deep massive body and sturdy limbs. Mature bulls have a large muscular ridge or hump over the shoulders till the middle of the back. This high dorsal ridge gives especially the bull its impos- ing stature. The horns of the bull are massive, curved and relatively short—between 0.6 and 1.15 m—compared to the size of the animal; cows have smaller and less sturdy horns. The gaur is black or reddish black with white lower limbs; the tuft of the tail is white as well. The gaur is a shy animal. When startled, it crashes off through the jungle at high speed, though occasionally they ambush and kill per- sons that pursue it.1 They live in small herds of usually about eight to eleven and at most forty individuals. During the mating season males compete and spar with one another, but serious fi ghting is not observed; dominance seems to be based primarily on size. The gaur requires water for drinking and bathing but seems not to wallow. Its only natural enemy is the tiger. The gaur occurs all over the Indian subcontinent in forested hills and associated grassy clearings up to elevations of 1.8 km. Nowadays it is an endangered species due to hunting, habitat alteration and exposure to the diseases of domestic cattle. As a result, it is found only in scattered 1 B. Lekagul and J. McNeely, Mammals of Thailand (Bangkok: Darnsutha Press, 1988). 84 BOS GAURUS areas and some protected areas in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Nepal.2 4.1.2 Related Species A possibly semi-domestic form of the gaur is known as gayal or mithan (methne).3 The gayal is very similar to the gaur, but smaller in every aspect and more docile in behaviour. The horns are less strongly curved. Gayals are found only in Bhutan, Assam, Nepal and the Chittagong Hills. 4.1.3 Role of Gaurs in Society The gaur cannot be domesticated; its only contribution to the domestic stock is sporadic interbreeding with domestic zebus of the hill tribes of Assam and the Chittagong Hills. Gaurs are primarily hunted for their meat, but not by Hindus, who consider it equal to the zebu, Bos indicus. This taboo, however, might be relatively recent, because in the epic Mahabharata,4 a gaur (gavayas) is offered for breakfast. The setting of this part of the epic is the forest, and thus most likely a wild gaur was intended; the only other option is a gayal (mithan) but also that animal falls nowadays under the same taboo. In the hills of Assam, gayals are lured to the village by keeping salt and water supplies at fi xed places.5 They are not eaten nor milked, but kept for sacrifi cial purposes only. The gayals are sacrifi ced on all sorts of occasions: weddings, burials, to please the gods and as a thanksgiving. Gayals are also used in trade between villages and as part of a bride price. Hybrids between gayals and zebus are used as draught animals in Bhutan; their meat is eaten only in sacrifi ce, and their horns are used as 2 Bandipur Reserve, Mudumalai Reserve, Kanha National Park, and Chitwan Park, respectively. 3 The gayal is considered by some authorities as a distinct species, B. frontalis, e.g. R. Nowak in Walker’s Mammals of the World (1999). The exact relation between the gaur and the gayal is, however, not clear. Interbreeding occurs as well as between gayal or gaur bulls and zebu cows, but there is no documentary evidence for the fertility of their offsprings. 4 Mbh. 3.251.12 (Aranyakaparvan). 5 J. Simmoons, A ceremonial ox of India. The mithan in nature, culture, and history (Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 1968). The following information about the use of the gayal in eastern India is summarised from his work..