Field? 



mlNews 



Published Monthly by Field MtLseum of Natural History, Chicago 



Vol. 4 



MAY, 1933 



No. 5 



GREAT GAUR OX OF ASIA 

 SHOWN IN NEW GROUP 



By Wilfred H. Osgood 

 Curator, Department of Zoology 



An important addition to the habitat 

 groups of Asiatic mammals in William V. 

 Kelley Hall (Hall 17) is a group of the great 

 bovine known as the gaur or seladang (also 

 spelled sladang). This group makes the 

 fourth in the Museum representing the 

 principal wild oxen of present times, the 

 others being the African or Cape buffalo, 

 the Indian or water buffalo and the American 

 bison. Although less 

 generally known, the 

 gaur is perhaps the 

 finest of all, since it is 

 the equal of any in 

 size and strength, 

 while its rich colora- 

 tion and striking 

 markings give it a high 

 degree of distinction. 



The gaur is mainly 

 a forest animal and 

 prefers hilly or moun- 

 tainous country. 

 Formerly it was to be 

 found in practically 

 all the wooded hills of 

 India south of the 

 Himalayas and thence 

 it extended into 

 Burma, Siam and 

 Indo-China. Like 

 most forest-dwellers, 

 however, it is shy and 

 wary, and in recent 

 years it has retired 

 before man until now ^ew group placed on 



it IS found only in the and handsomest members 



more remote and less 



frequented parts of its original range. The 

 establishment of large reserves has con- 

 tributed to its preservation and, although 

 it is reduced in numbers, it is probably in 

 no immediate danger of extinction. 



As an object of the chase, the gaur stands 

 high in the regard of sportsmen. The 

 magnificent head with its massive, polished 

 horns furnishes a trophy of unusual quality 

 and one which cannot be obtained easily. 

 Opinions diflfer in regard to the dangers of 

 hunting this animal. Some go so far as 

 to consider it the most dangerous of all wild 

 game, but the evidence is not convincing. 

 Under sufficient provocation it will undoubt- 

 edly charge furiously and carry through with 

 extreme vindictiveness. On the other hand, 

 it is known to be exceedingly alert and 

 inclined to flee precipitately at the slightest 

 alarm. It feeds morning and evening about 

 the edges of grassy openings and spends the 

 day quietly in the forest depths. It requires 

 very careful stalking with much attention 

 to the wind, for it is very keen of scent, and 

 its heavy body does not succumb readily 

 to a bullet inaccurately placed. In thick 

 cover, therefore, hunting it may well be 

 difficult and hazardous. 



In spite of its size and weight this ox has 

 extraordinary speed and agility in traversing 

 rough country, leaping over fallen timber 

 and scaling rocky ascents with an apparent 



ease which has excited much comment. So 

 far as known it has never been domesticated, 

 and attempts to rear captured young calves 

 have always resulted in failure. Under 

 exceptional circumstances it may form fairly 

 large herds, but it is commonly found in 

 small parties of five or six to ten or fifteen. 

 The specimens in the Museum's group 

 are from three sources, having been carefully 

 selected from the results of several expedi- 

 tions. The large bull fell to the rifle of 

 Colonel Theodore Roosevelt while a member 

 of the William V. Kelley-Roosevelts Expedi- 

 tion to Eastern Asia for Meld Museum. 



Gaur Ox or Seladang 



exhibition in William V. Kelley Hall. These animals rank among the largest, strongest 

 of the bovine family. 



The cow was presented by Charles Rydell 

 of San Francisco, and the young calf was 

 especially collected and presented for the 

 group by George F. Ryan and George G. 

 Carey, Jr., of Baltimore. 



The taxidermy is by Julius Friesser and 

 Arthur G. Rueckert of the Museum staff. 

 The background, representing a scene in 

 southern Indo-China, is by Staff Artist 

 Charles A. Corwin. 



Rare Flowers Received 



A recent shipment of plants and woods 

 received at the Museum from the plantation 

 of the Companhia Ford Industrial do Brasil 

 includes specimens of flowers seldom seen in 

 botanical collections — those of the Brazil nut 

 tree. While the fruits of this tree are readily 

 enough obtained, since they fall when ripe, 

 the flowers are inaccessible on account of 

 the height of the trees, which often have 

 their lowest branches sixty to seventy feet 

 above the ground. It is said that the famous 

 naturalists Humboldt and Bonpland, on 

 their historic South American expedition 

 which began in 1799, offered without success 

 an ounce of gold for a specimen of these 

 flowers. In general appearance the flowers 

 resemble those of the cannon-ball tree 

 exhibited in the Hall of Plant Life (Hall 29), 

 but are much smaller. 



MIGRATION OF LIMESTONE 

 TO TROPICAL REGIONS 



By Henry W. Nichols 

 Associate Curator of Geology 



A strange consequence of changes in the 

 world's climate since Paleozoic time is the 

 slow migration of the limestones of tem- 

 perate and arctic zones to the tropics. This 

 phenomenon, pointed out years ago by Sir 

 John Murray, results from a curious chain 

 of circumstances. Although millions of tons 

 of limestone are transported by natural 

 forces to the tropics annually, this quantity 

 is so small in com- 

 parison with the entire 

 body of limestone that 

 a geological age must 

 elapse before the 

 change in distribution 

 becomes apparent. 



Limestone is slightly 

 soluble in surface and 

 circulating under- 

 ground waters. This 

 is the reason for the 

 hardness of the water 

 of streams and ponds 

 in limestone regions, 

 and for the existence 

 of great caverns such 

 as the Mammoth Cave 

 of Kentucky. Much 

 water loaded thus with 

 dissolved limestone 

 eventually finds its 

 way to the sea where 

 currents distribute it 

 through the ocean. 

 The dissolved lime- 

 stone is then extracted 

 from the water by 

 corals, shellfish, and 

 other marine animals, which make their 

 skeletons or shells of it. From accumula- 

 tions of these skeletons and shells most 

 limestones are formed. As these animals 

 are more numerous and active in the warm 

 air and water of the equatorial regions than 

 in the cooler water of the temperate zones, 

 the greater part of the dissolved limestone 

 is thus withdrawn from the sea water in 

 the tropics. 



This redistribution of the limestone is 

 due to the present cool climate of the tem- 

 perate zones. In Paleozoic time when 

 climates were more equable it did not occur. 

 Limestones dissolved from the land were as 

 likely to be deposited in one part of the 

 sea as another. 



The exhibits of Paleozoic fossils in Ernest 

 R. Graham Hall (Hall 38) show large 

 numbers of corals, crinoids, and other lime- 

 absorbing forms which lived in the Chicago 

 climatic zone about 400,000,000 years ago. 

 In the zoological exhibits which illustrate 

 present life, however, such forms occur 

 only as specimens from the tropics and 

 semi-tropics. 



A fruit cluster of the Malayan betel palm, 

 source of the betel nut habitually chewed 

 by many peoples of the Oriental tropics, is 

 on exhibition in the Hall of Plant Life. 



