All about Gaur (Bos gaurus)

[Roflcopters]

Scientific name: Bos gaurus
Species Authority: C.H. Smith, 1827

Taxonomic Notes:

The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (2003) ruled that the name for this wild species is not invalid by virtue of being antedated by the name based on the domestic form. Therefore, IUCN considers the wild species of Gaur under Bos gaurus, while referring to the domestic form (Mythun, Mithan or Gayal) as Bos frontalis Lambert, 1804 (see Gentry et al. 2004).

Traditionally, three subspecies of Gaur have been recognized: Bos gaurus gaurus in India, Nepal, and Bhutan; B. g. readei in Myanmar (Burma), southern China, Lao PDR, Viet Nam, Cambodia, and Thailand north of the Isthmus of Kra (Lydekker 1903); and B. g. hubbacki in Thailand south of the Isthmus of Kra and in West Malaysia (Lydekker 1907). (In addition, Hubback (1937) thought that there may be two subspecies of Gaur in Malaysia, one with a well developed dewlap and one without.) However, this trifid arrangement, based largely on differences in coloration and size, is no longer widely recognized (Grzimek 1990, Corbet and Hill 1992).

Groves and Grubb (cited in National Research Council 1983) concluded that there were only two subspecies: Bos gaurus gaurus in India and Nepal and Bos gaurus laosiensis in Myanmar (Burma), Lao PDR, Viet Nam, Cambodia, Thailand, and West Malaysia (and presumably southern China). More recent work by Groves and colleagues (e.g., Groves 2003) also supports this division into two subspecies. Analysis of skull and horn measurements revealed little multivariate overlap between Indian and Southeast Asian specimens: Southeast Asian specimens are much bigger, with relatively shorter nasal bones, a less wide horn span and a narrower occiput; and in South-east Asian specimens the ascending branch of the premaxilla generally does not reach the nasal, whereas in Indian specimens it usually does. Specimens from Bhutan, Chittagong (Bangladesh), Upper Chindwin (north Myanmar), and Mogok (north Myanmar) were intermediate, but tended more towards the South-east Asian type. The locations of these specimens suggest that the Gaur in north-east India are also likely to be intermediate but more similar to southeast Asian animals than to the Gaur in the rest of India (C. Groves pers. comm. 1995). In recognition of these phenotypic differences, B. g. gaurus and B. g. laosiensis are provisionally accepted here pending further morphometric and genetic study.

The extinct subspecies B. g. sinhaleyus survived on Sri Lanka into historic times (Grubb 2005).

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