212 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



THE GAYAL 



The doubt whether this animal 

 is found in a wild state has recently 

 been considerably increased. It is 

 well known in a semi-domesticated 

 condition, in which it is kept by 

 the tribes in and around the Assam 

 Valley, where the wild gaur is also 

 found. These herds roam during the 

 day freely in the jungle, and return 

 to be fed at the villages. It has 

 been stated that wild gayal are 

 enticed to join the tame herds by 



INDIAN HUMPED BULL 



The hump and dewlap mark the Oriental cattle. The ears are often more drooping 

 than In this specimen 



mens may be only those which have 

 belonged to or have descended from 

 the domesticated herd. Gayal have 

 been kept in England not only in 

 the Zoological Gardens but in some 

 parks, and crossed with English cattle. 

 The offspring furnished excellent beef, but were rather wild and intractable. The horns of the 

 gayal are thicker and flatter than those of the gaur, and placed lower on the skull and farther 

 apart. The domesticated gayal stands lower than the gaur, but is a very massive animal. 



THE BANTING 



The common wild ox of the Malay countries of Borneo, Java, Eastern Burma, and 

 northwards, in Manipur resembles the European oxen rather more than does the gaur. In 

 size the bulls sometimes reach 5 feet G>\ inches. The old bulls are black, the younger bulls 

 chocolate red, and the cows a bright reddish brown. The rump is marked with a large white 

 patch, and all have white stockings from above the knees and hocks down to the hoofs. The 

 tail is considerably longer than in the gaur, coming well below the hocks. As might be 

 expected from its distribution, the size of this animal and the shape of the horns vary 

 considerably in the different districts which it inhabits. In Borneo the horns often curve 

 forwards ; in Java they spread outwards. In the latter island large herds of this species are 

 kept in a state of domestication. When wild, banting live in small herds, and in Burma 

 feed from early morning until ten o'clock, when they retire into the jungle for shelter. The 

 Manipur race is smaller than that of Burma (of which the males are not black), and the bulls 

 have not the white rump. 



THE YAK 



THE YAK is naturally an inhabitant of the very high plateaux and mountains of Tibet, 

 where the climate is cold and the air excessively dry. Lower down on the Indian side of the 

 Himalaya a smaller race is found domesticated, which is the only one able to stand the 

 climate of India, or of Europe, where it is now kept in some parks as a curiosity. The tamed 

 yaks are usually much smaller than the wild ; these sometimes reach a weight of between 

 1,100 and 1,200 Ibs. In form they are long and low, very massive, and with hair almost 

 entirely black ; this falls off along the sides into a long sweeping fringe. The tail is thickly 

 tasselled with fine hair, and is employed by Indian princes for fly-flaps. The wild yak has 

 large, massive black horns, curved upwards and forwards in the male. In Ladak and Chinese 

 Tibet the yaks inhabit a desolate and barren country, in which their main food is a dry, 



