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Nilgai
From LoveToKnow 1911
NILGAI, or Nylghau ("blue bull"), the largest antelope (Boselaphus tragocamelus) found in India, where it represents the kudu and eland group of Agrica.
Nilgai typically herd in small groups of about 10 animals although larger groups of 20-70 are occasionally seen. Males and females remain segregated for most of the year, with bulls joining the cow-calf groups only for breeding.
Nilgai
Related Category: Vertebrate Zoology
see antelope.
More on Nilgai
Antelope - name applied to a large number of hoofed, ruminant mammals of the cattle family which also includes the sheep and goats.
Nilgai
Taxonomy Boselaphus tragocamelus [Pallas, 1766]. Citation: Misc. Zool., p. 5. Type locality: India, no exact locality ("Plains of Peninsular India").
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Nilgai are the largest Asian antelope.
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There is debate as to the origin of the name "nilgai." Literally translated, it means blue cow. Some feel this indicates the reverence in which the Tharu residents held the animal.
Nilgai antelope are among the largest of the asian antelopes. They stand about 120-150cm at the shoulder and have a body length of 180-200cm. They have a short coat which is yellow-brown in females and turns blue-grey in adult males.
In India, Dholes prey on Sambar, Chital, swamp deer, nilgai, blackbuck, gaur, wild pigs, ground dwelling birds and rodents. Chital make up the majority of their diet.
Native to India are the nilgai or blue bull, the four horned antelope and black buck, the saiga lives on the other steppes of South Russia and in the Central and West Asia, and the chiru in Tibet .
Bengal tigers hunt medium-sized and large-sized animals, such as wild boar (an omnivorous mammal), sambar (a kind of deer), barasingha (a kind of deer), chital (a spotted deer), nilgai (an antelope), gaur (a large ox of South Asia) and water buffalo.
In India, cheetahs took primarily blackbuck antelopes and chinkara gazelles, but were also known to attack nilgai antelope and domestic goats and sheep.
Ruminating mammals include cattle, goats, sheep, giraffes, bison, yaks, water buffalo, deer, camels, alpacas, llamas, wildebeest, antelope, pronghorn, and nilgai.
 See also: Antelope, Cattle, Deer, Buffalo, Wildebeest
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