Genus Gavæus
Massive head with large concave frontals, surmounted in G. gaurus by a ridge or crest of bone; horns flattened on the outer surface, corrugated at the base, and smooth for the rest of the two-thirds, or a little more; wide-spreading and recurved at the tips, forming a crescent; greenish grey for the basal half, darker towards the tips, which are black; muffle small; dewlap small or absent; the spinous processes of the dorsal vertebræ are greatly developed down to about half the length of the back; legs small under the knee, and white in colour; hoofs small and pointed, leaving a deer-like print in the soil, very different to the splay foot of the buffalo.
No. 464. GAVÆUS GAURUS.
The Gaur, popularly called Bison (Jerdon’s No. 238).
Native Names.—Gaor or Gaori-gai, Bun-boda, Hindi; Boda and Bunparra in the Seonee and Mandla districts; Pera-maoo of Southern Gonds; Gaoiya, Mahrathi; Karkona, Canarese; Katuyeni, Tamil; Jangli-kulgha in Southern India; Pyoung in Burmah; Salandang in the Malay countries. Horsfield gives the following names under his Bibos asseel: As’l Gayal, Hindi; Seloi, Kuki; P’hanj of the Mughs and Burmese, and some others which he considers doubtful.
Habitat.—Regarding this, I quote at length from Jerdon, whose inquiries were carefully made. He says: “The gaur is an inhabitant of all the large forests of India, from near Cape Comorin to the foot of the Himalayas. On the west coast of India it is abundant all along the Syhadr range on Western Ghâts, both in the forests at the foot of the hills, but more especially in the upland forests and the wooded country beyond the crest of the Ghâts. The Animally hills, the Neilgherries, Wynaad, Coorg, the Bababooden hills, the Mahableshwar hills, are all favourite haunts of this fine animal. North of this, it occurs to my own knowledge in the jungles on the Taptee river and the neighbourhood, and north of the Nerbudda; a few on the deeper recesses of the Vindhian mountains. On the eastern side of the peninsula it is found in the Pulney and Dindigul hills, the Shandamungalum range, the Shervaroys, and some of the hill ranges near Vellore and the borders of Mysore. North of this, the forest being too scanty, it does not occur till the Kistna and Godavery rivers; and hence it is to be found in suitable spots all along the range of Eastern Ghâts to near Cuttack and Midnapore, extending west far into Central India, and northwards towards the edge of the great plateau which terminates south of the Gangetic valley. According to Hodgson it also occurs in the Himalayan Terai, probably however only towards the eastern portion, and here it is rare, for I have spoken to many sportsmen who have hunted in various parts of the Terai, from Sikhim to Rohilkund, and none have ever come across the gaur at the foot of the Himalayas.”—‘Mam. of Ind.,’ p. 303. (See also Appendix C.)
In the Central provinces the gaur is found in several parts of the bamboo-clad spurs of the Satpura range. My experience of the animal is limited to the Seonee district, where it is restricted to the now closely preserved forests of Sonawani in the south-east bend of the range, and a few are to be seen across occasionally, near the old fort of Amodagarh, on the Hirri river.
It is also more abundant on the Pachmari and Mahadeo hills. On the east of the Bay of Bengal it is found from Chittagong through Burmah to the Malayan peninsula. It was considered that the gaur of the eastern countries was a distinct species, and is so noted in Horsfield’s Catalogue, and described at some length under the name of Bibos asseel; but it appears that all this distinction was founded on the single skull of a female gaur, and is an instance of the proneness of naturalists to create new species on insufficient data. He himself remarks that when the skin was removed it was evident that the animal was nearly related to Gavæus gaurus, or, as he calls it, Bibos cavifrons. Mr. G. P. Sanderson shot a fine old male of what he supposed to be the wild gayal, and he says: “I can state that there was not one single point of difference in appearance or size between it and the bison of Southern India, except that the horns were somewhat smaller than what would have been looked for in a bull of its age in Southern India;” and this point was doubtless an individual peculiarity, for Blyth, in his ‘Catalogue of the Mammals of Burmah,’ says: “Nowhere does this grand species attain a finer development than in Burmah, and the horns are mostly short and thick, and very massive as compared with those of the Indian gaurs, though the distinction is not constant on either side of the Bay of Bengal.”
Jerdon supposes it to have existed in Ceylon till within the present century, but I do not know on what data he founds his assertion.
Description.—I cannot improve on Jerdon’s description, taken as it is from the writings of Hodgson, Elliot, and Fisher, so I give it as it stands, adding a few observations of my own on points not alluded to by them:—
“The skull is massive; the frontals large, deeply concave, surmounted by a large semi-cylindric crest rising above the base of the horns. There are thirteen pairs of ribs.[40] The head is square, proportionately smaller than in the ox; the bony frontal ridge is five inches above the frontal plane; the muzzle is large and full, the eyes small, with a full pupil (? iris) of a pale blue colour. The whole of the head in front of the eyes is covered with a coat of close short hair, of a light greyish-brown colour, which below the eyes is darker, approaching almost to black; the muzzle is greyish and the hair is thick and short; the ears are broad and fan-shaped; the neck is sunk between the head and back, is short, thick, and heavy. Behind the neck and immediately above the shoulder rises a gibbosity or hump of the same height as the dorsal ridge. This ridge rises gradually as it goes back, and terminates suddenly about the middle of the back; the chest is broad; the shoulder deep and muscular; the fore-legs short, with the joints very short and strong, and the arm exceedingly large and muscular; the hair on the neck and breast and beneath is longer than on the body, and the skin of the throat is somewhat loose, giving the appearance of a slight dewlap; the fore-legs have a rufous tint behind and laterally above the white. The hind-quarters are lighter and lower than the fore, falling suddenly from the termination of the dorsal ridge; the skin of the neck, shoulders, and thigh is very thick, being about two inches and more.
“The cow differs from the bull in having a slighter and more graceful head, a slender neck, no hump; and the points of the horns do not turn towards each other at the tip, but bend slightly backwards, and they are much smaller; the legs too are of a purer white. The very young bull has the forehead narrower than the cow, and the bony frontal ridge scarcely perceptible. The horns too turn more upwards. In old individuals the hair on the upper parts is often worn off. The skin of the under parts when uncovered is deep ochrey-yellow.”—‘Mammals of India,’ p. 302.
40 The true bison has fourteen pairs of ribs.—R. A. S.
The fineness of the leg below the knee is another noticeable feature, and also the well-formed pointed hoof, which leaves an imprint like that of a large deer. Mr. Sanderson states in his book that the bison, after a sharp hunt, gives out an oily sweat, and in this peculiarity he says it differs from domestic cattle, which never sweat under any exertion. This I have not noticed.
The period of gestation seems to be about the same as that of the domestic cow, and the greatest number of calves are born in the summer.
Size.—I cannot speak personally, for I regret now that I took no measurements in the days when I was acquainted with these magnificent animals, but the experiences of others I give as follows:—
Sir Walter Elliot gives—
| Ft. | In. | |
| Nose to root of tail | 9 | 6½ |
| Height at shoulder (over 18 hands!) | 6 | 1½ |
| Height at rump | 5 | 3 |
| Tail | 2 | 10½ |
| Length of dorsal ridge | 3 | 4 |
| Height of dorsal ridge | 0 | 4½ |
| Head from muzzle to top of frontal ridge | 2 | 1¾ |
| Breadth of forehead | 1 | 3½ |
| Ear | 0 | 10½ |
| Circumference of horn at base | 1 | 7½ |
| Distance between the points of the horns | 2 | 1 |
I give the measurements of two fine heads:—
| Ft. | In. | Ft. | In. | |
| From tip to tip round the outer edge and across the forehead | 6 | 2 | 6 | 11 |
| Across the sweep | 2 | 9 | 3 | 2½ |
| Circumference at base | 1 | 7 | 1 | 5 |
| Between tips | 1 | 7 | 1 | 10½ |
The following careful measurements are recorded by Mr. Blyth (‘J. A. S. B.,’ vol. xi., 1842, p. 588), and were furnished to him by Lieut. Tickell from the recently-killed animal, in order to assist in the setting up of the specimen in the Asiatic Museum:—
| Ft. | In. | |
| A string passed along the back to root of tail | 8 | 8½ |
| From frontal ridge to tip of muzzle | 2 | 0 |
| Horns apart anteriorly at base | 1 | 0½ |
| Tip to tip of horns | 2 | 3¼ |
| From nose to centre of eye | 1 | 0¾ |
| Eye to root of horn | 0 | 4¼ |
| Eye to base of ears | 0 | 6 |
| Humerus, &c. | 1 | 11¼ |
| Radius | 2 | 8 |
| Metacarpus | 0 | 9¾ |
| Pastern, &c., and hoof | 0 | 7¼ |
| Pelvis | 1 | 4½ |
| Femur | 1 | 7¼ |
| Tibia and fibula | 1 | 10 |
| Metatarsus | 1 | 4 |
| Pastern to end of hoof | 0 | 7½ |
| Height perpendicularly, about | 5 | 9 |
| Length of dorsal ridge | 2 | 5½ |
| Tail, root to tip of hairs | 3 | 1¾ |
| Circumference of head behind horns | 3 | 11 |
| Circumference of neck behind ears | 4 | 0½ |
| Circumference of chest | 8 | 8 |
| Circumference of muzzle | 1 | 9¼ |
| Circumference of forearm close to axilla | 1 | 11¼ |
| Circumference of thigh close to body | 3 | 0¾ |
| Circumference of thigh close above hock | 1 | 6 |
I feel tempted to let my pen run away with me into descriptions of the exciting scenes of the past in the chase of this splendid creature—the noblest quarry that the sportsman can have, and the one that calls forth all his cunning and endurance. As I lately remarked in another publication, I know of no other animal of which the quest calls forth the combined characteristics of the ibex, the stag and the tiger-hunter. Some of my own experiences I have described in ‘Seonee;’ but let those who wish to learn the poetry of the thing read the glowing, yet not less true pages of Colonel Walter Campbell’s ‘Old Forest Ranger;’ and for clear practical information, combined also with graphic description, the works of Captain J. Forsyth and Mr. G. P. Sanderson (‘The Highlands of Central India’ and ‘Thirteen years among the Wild Beasts’).
The gaur prefers hilly ground, though it is sometimes found on low levels. It is extremely shy and retiring in its habits, and so quick of hearing that extreme care has to be taken in stalking to avoid treading on a dry leaf or stick. I know to my cost that the labour of hours may be thrown away by a moment of impatience. In spite of all the wondrous tales of its ferocity, it is as a rule a timid, inoffensive animal. Solitary bulls are sometimes dangerous if suddenly come upon. I once did so, and the bull turned and dashed up-hill before I could get a shot, whereas a friend of mine, to whom a similar thing occurred a few weeks before, was suddenly charged, and his gun-bearer was knocked over. The gaur seldom leaves its jungles, but I have known it do so on the borders of the Sonawani forest, in order to visit a small tank at Untra near Ashta, and the cultivation in the vicinity suffered accordingly.
Hitherto most attempts to rear this animal when young have failed. It is said not to live over the third year. Though I offered rewards for calves for my collection, I never succeeded in getting one. I have successfully reared most of the wild animals of the Central provinces, but had not a chance of trying the bison.
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