Nilgai

The Indian Nilgai or Blue Bull or Blue Buck is the biggest

Asian antelope with the scientific name Boselaphus tragocamelus falling under the Family Bovidae. It is the most commonly seen animal in Central and Northern India and Pakistan. It looks more or less as an ox with the below classification,

Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum	Chordata
Class	Mammalia
Order	Artiodactyla
Family	Bovidae
Subfamily	Bovinae
Genus	Boselaphus

Physical Structure

This antelope is covered with the yellow-brown or orangish colored skin for female and blue-gray or brownish-gray in males. Both have thin and medium length legs. They have a long and narrow head with two small and smooth horns both making a U shape. They have white spots on the cheeks, edges of the lips and the ventral side of the body. They have long and heavy hair on the back part of neck and on the mid of the throat.

They have a small tail which moves to and fro when the bull is excited. The strong shoulders and thick neck helps them to intensify on sloping profile. Nilgai is 4-5 feet (120-150 cm) tall and 6-6.6 feet (180-200 cm) long.

The length of the tail ranges from 40 to 45 cm. They weigh around 264 to 529 pounds (120-240 kg). The horns are 8-10 inches (20-25 cm) long.

Their life span can be 20-30 years. Nilgai herds comprise about 10 animals; occasionally 20-100 numbers could be seen in a group. A blue bull can survive for long days without water, but they closely live near water holes. This antelope usually gather together in order to deposit their droppings.

Distribution and Habitat

Nilgai are found in the north Indian plains from the bottom of Northern Himalayas to Karnataka in the South. They are also distributed in Gir forest of Gujarat and across the border of Rajasthan to Assam and West Bengal in East. The population density of these antelopes in Central India is 0.07 per square kilometer. It is also noted that there are some feral populations in southern parts of India. Their distribution was also seen in Thar Desert earlier but with very limited numbers.

Since Nilgai are diurnal, they are active during the day time rather than in the night hours. Their habitat includes grasslands, woodlands, and dense forest, plain and low hills with shrubs. It can be scattered across cultivated areas, semi-urban areas, water holes, defecation areas and scrubs jungle.

Places Found

Sariska Tiger Reserve: The Sariska Tiger Reserve is a national park in India located in the Alwar district of Rajasthan. The park is situated at a distance of 107 km from Jaipur and 200 km from Delhi. This area was a hunting reserve and it was declared a wildlife reserve in 1955. The current area of the park is 866 kms. Most commonly spotted carnivores here are leopard, Bengal tiger, wild jackal, wild dog, sambhar, chital, hyena, wild cat, nilgai, wild boar, etc.

Bandhavgarh National Park: Bandhavgarh National Park is located at Madhya Pradesh, India with an area of about 450 square kilometers. The thick forest of Bandhavgarh National Park sits in between the cliffs of the Vindhyan Mountains.

The forest has the wild attraction like Indian leopard, Elephants, Tiger, Nilgai, Chausingha, Chital, Chinkara,

Indian Muntjac Chital, Sambar, Wild Boar and Fox or Golden Jackal. Elephant safari and Jeep safari are conducted in order to view all the wildlife of Bandhavgarh National park.

Gir National Park: The Gir National Park is situated in Gujarat with an area of 120 square-miles with rich flora and habitat. The wildlife here includes Nilgai (Blue bull), Sambar deer, Chital, Jackal, Hyena, leopard, lion and Langur Monkeys. Jeep safari is conducted in order to view all the wildlife at Gir National park.

Ranthambore Tiger Reserve : It is located in Rajasthan and is one of the largest national parks in Northern India with an area of 392 kms. This is one of India's Project Tiger reserves with the officials highly monitoring against the poachers. The other national parks may include Rampara Wildlife Sanctuary, Wild Ass Sanctuary and many of the semi-urban areas.

Food habits

Indian Nilgai are herbivores and hence feed on the vegetarian foods like grass, flowers, seeds, fruits, buds, leaves, stem, scrubs, shrubs, desert succulents, forbs, cultivation crops and other woody plants.

Mating behavior

The courtship starts when the male and female attains maturity. The male and female is sexually mature at the age of 3 years. The adult males are dark grey in color whereas the females are pale brown colored. The territory of the male and female are unknown and they occupy a space around themselves while mating. During the breeding season the bulls and cow seem to be segregated from others.

The breeding takes place round the year. A dominant male and one among the several females takes part and the gestation period lasts for about 8-9 months. They give birth to two off springs at a time. Occasionally, 1 or 3 young can be born. The cows wean their off springs until 10 months and after which they move out independently.

Population of Indian Nilgai The population of Indian Nilgai in India is estimated to be approximately around 100,000.

IUCN has classified Indian Nilgai as 'Least concern'. They are abundant in agricultural lands in the states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat.

Threats to Indian Nilgai

The various threats to Indian Nilgai are habitat loss, conflict among the same species, hunting, predators. Habitat loss may include the increase in human population and extension of bare grasslands to agricultural lands and human settlements. They are being hunted for their meat and skin.

The major threat is that it is the victim for many of the road accidents since they are seen roaming everywhere. The main predators of the blue bulls comprises of tigers and lions. Leopards can kill calves rather than a fully grown nilgai unlike the lion.

Conservation effort in India

Since they are at low risk for extinction, minimizing the hunting of these species will make the population increasing. There is a ban for hunting Nilgai in Haryana and hence could note some recent increase in population which in turn has become a major concern for farmers since their crops are being destroyed by this large antelope.

Nilgai behind Indian Mythology

Nilgai are considered as a sacred animal by Hindus because of their resemblance to cow, which is the god of money and hence protected against hunting.

• Blue bull can thrive for a long period of time without a sip of water.



• Nilgai are the largest Asian antelope.
• Nilgai can run at a speed of 48 kmph.
• Males compete amongst themselves by performing various forms like neck kneeling, wrestling, and lunging at each other using their horns.
• They are silent antelopes but roar at times.
• Blue bull rendezvous happens during the deposit of their droppings.
• The disease named "Foot-and-mouth" and malignant catarrhal fever is spread from Nilgai.

Blue Bucks