514 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



Indian Gaur; Indian Bison 



BIBOS GAURUS GAURUS (Hamilton Smith) 



Bios] Gaums Hamilton Smith, Griffith's Animal Kingdom, vol. 4, p. 399, 



1827. (Based upon the "Gaour" of Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire, Mem. Mus. 



Hist. Nat. [Paris], vol. 9, p. 71, 1822; type locality, Mainpat, in the 



Sarguja Tributary States, India, at approximately lat. 23 N., long. 83 E. 



C/. Harper, 1940, p. 324.) 

 FIGS.: Lydekker, 1898c, pi. 1; Lydekker, 1900, pi. 2, figs. 1, la, p. 41, fig. 3, 



p. 45, fig. 4; Lydekker, 1912, pi. 21, fig. 1; Lydekker, 1913c, vol. 1, pp. 



14, 16, figs. 8, 9; Van der Byl, 1915, pi. 31; Jour. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 



vol. 36, no. 4, suppl., pis. 1, 5, 1933. 



The Indian Gaur has declined seriously in numbers and has 

 lost considerable ground in parts of its range. 



Adult bulls reach a shoulder height of 6 feet 4 inches; the build 

 is massive, with deep body and relatively short limbs; dorsal ridge 

 pronounced, ending suddenly behind the withers; horns flattened 

 at base, strongly curved, with inwardly inclined black tips, else- 

 where pale greenish; tail reaching hocks; generally little or no 

 dewlap; hair short, olive-brown to black, paler on under parts; 

 upper part of forehead to nape ashy gray to dirty white; lower 

 part of legs whitish; cows and immature bulls less dark in color. 

 (Blanford, 1891, pp. 484-485; Lydekker, 1913c, vol. 1, pp. 15-17.) 

 The horns attain a length, on the outside curve, of about 34 inches 

 (Ward, 1935, p. 315). 



According to Blanford (1891, pp. 485-486), this animal inhabits 

 "all the great hilly forest-tracts of the Indian Peninsula." There 

 are some uncertain former records from Ceylon. "In India at 

 present its extreme north-western habitat is probably the Rajpipla 

 hills, near Broach; and west of long. 80 East the river Nerbudda 

 forms approximately, though not absolutely, the northern bound- 

 ary of its range. It does not inhabit the grass- jungles of the 

 Gangetic plain, except close to the Himalayas; but it is found in 

 the forests at the foot of thdse mountains as far west as Nepal. 

 South of the Ganges it exists in suitable tracts in Chutia Nagpur, 

 Orissa, and the northern Circars, the Central Provinces, Hy- 

 derabad territories, Mysore, and throughout the Western Ghats, 

 wherever it has not been exterminated or driven away." The 

 eastern limits of the subspecies, where it presumably intergrades 

 with the Burmese Gaur, have not been exactly defined. 



Richmond writes (1935, pp. 221-223) concerning the Madras 

 Presidency: "In the Godavari . . . the gaur is probably on the 

 increase .... The Javadi and Salem hills contain gaur which 

 are closely protected and which do some damage to forest works." 

 In the Madura district a well-protected herd has persisted. Gaur 

 are to be found on the "Grassy Hills" in the forest area of South 



