YOUNG GAUR.
The largest and handsomest of the wild oxen.
WILD OXEN.
This group consists of the Gaur of India; the Gayal of Assam, which is possibly a domesticated form of the gaur, but rather smaller in size, with skull and horns different in character; and the Banting, a lighter and more slender wild ox, of which different varieties are found in Burma, in Java (where it is kept in a half-domesticated condition), and in Manipur.
The Gaur.
The Gaur, the so-called Indian Bison, is probably the largest of all the wild bovine animals. It is found at the foot of the North-eastern Himalaya, in the Central Provinces of India, the forests of Madras and Mysore, and in parts of Burma and the Malay Peninsula, but not in Ceylon. Its range eastward is not accurately known. In habits the gaur is mainly a forest animal, retiring always at daybreak into the depths of the jungle. It sometimes attains a height of over 6 feet at the shoulder, and a length of 9 feet 6 inches from the nose to the tail. The colour of the full-grown gaur is dark brown, turning to black; the legs from above the knees and hocks to the hoofs are white, the hair being short and fine. Its horns are upturned, and tipped with black, with white hair covering the junction on the top of the skull. The cows are much smaller than the bulls, standing about 5 feet high at the shoulder. This species feeds both on grass and on the young shoots of trees and of bamboos. The calves are dropped in August and September. The pure-bred animal does not appear capable of domestication.
Photo by York & Son] [Notting Hill.
COW GAYAL.
This animal is not at all dissimilar to the gaur. Its chief points of difference are in the horns and in the colour of its skin.