Talk:Gaur

A gaur can weigh 1.7 tons
That's according to animal planet. Here's the video:

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 138.130.141.70 (talk) 06:56, 16 April 2007 (UTC).

All the information on websites about gaur size is bullshit!!! Gaur bull 600 - 1000 kg, cow 450 - 800 kg. Give me a break!!! No water buffalo 1.7m tall weighs less than 1000 kg, and they lack the muscular and deep massive body of the gaur. These sites are more than willing to say a gaur can weigh "up to" a ton, and water buffalo: 1200 kg, and they call themselves wild cattle experts. It's an insult to the gaur. All of those sites have serious problems, never do their homework. Men, even a banteng bull 1.6m already weighs 800 kg, and they expect people to believe a 1.9m gaur weighed the same???

Removing a section
I'm removing the addition "The gaur is the third largest of all wild cattle, after the Yak, and the Cape Buffalo; however, it is bigger even than the Wild Asiatic Water Buffalo and Bison." As far as I know the Water Buffalo & the Gaur are the only two wild cattle to average at a weight in excess of 1,500 lb. (Unsigned comment by User:Sandhillcrane)

Existence in Borneo
I was born in Sabah, North Borneo and i grew up hearing stories from my dad and grandpa telling me of this beast that is bigger and more aggressive than a water buffalo but looks like a cow that every now and then someone shoots one on a hunting trip (My family are native of Borneo and it is tradition to hunt deer and wild boar). I had never seen one and i never knew what its name in english is. But i have only known it as "Tambadau". If this is the same animal then it definately does exist. For i have seen with my own eyes its fresh tracks and huge droppings that are definately not water buffallo tracks.

One story from a friend was when he went hunting in the jungle by himself he came across a whole pack/herd of these animals known to us as Tambadau and he was undetected by the pack. Because he was unexperienced and young he aimed with his shotgun loaded with a buck shot and shot one of the Tambadau that was laying on the ground directly in the face (he should have aimed for the breast/armpit area under the leg). The Tambadau got up and charged towards him, then started bashing its head into nearby hill-wall trying to get the buck shot pellets out. My friend dropped his gun and ran and never saw the beast again.

I really wonder if this is the animal we call Tambadau. It meets all the descriptions.

--Jandela 16:27, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

There are no gaurs in Borneo, but banteng does exist there. Belsavis 6 Apr 2009 —Preceding undated comment added 10:44, 6 April 2009 (UTC).

Scientific Name
Can a biologist please have a look at this article? -- JeLuF 10:45 Oct 6, 2002 (UTC)
 * AFAIK (and I'm only an undergrad biologist) the gaur is Bos gaurus. The Irish Cattle Breeding Federation agrees, and indicates that Bos frontalis is actually the gayal. So I'm changing this article now; if I'm wrong, please change it back. Thanks. -- Gaurav 12:52, 30 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * The Irish Cattle Breeding Federation is not the authority to decide, but you are correct. In 2003, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) "conserved the usage of 17 specific names based on wild species, which are pre-dated by or contemporary with those based on domestic forms", confirming Bos gaurus for the Gaur. Because otherwise it need to be Bos frontalis according to ICZN rules, because that name is older.

I gather that Bos Gavaeus is another obsolete name? I created a redirect, but don't dare to mention the name here. dab (&#5839;) 08:19, 17 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Anthropophagy?!
Okay, I can believe that gaur have eaten chickens.

And I can believe that gaur have killed farmers.

But I refuse to believe that gaur have eaten humans. DS 22:21, 26 October 2005 (UTC)

Can a Gaur Moo?
I'm doing a high school research report on what people consider being a "cow.” Many people in my interview said that a "cow" has horns, are big and moo. I know a Gaur has horns, are big and looks like what most North Americans consider a "cow" but does it make a "mooing" noise? Yes, they do make a mooing noise. I live in a town called Masenagudi where you see gaur in numbers of 20 or more at all times. They make a moo like noise, loud snorting noise which is blaring and another yelp like noise calling out to the herd or a mating partner. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 61.3.122.251 (talk) 07:32, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

How do you pronounce Gaur?
Can someone who knows add it to the page?


 * Good question. Most readers don't read IPA well.  Let's add "Rhymes with "shower"" or some such after the IPA pronunciation.  Anyone object? Chrisrus (talk) 18:40, 18 August 2010 (UTC)

Banteng picture
The 2nd picture added to the end of the page is not a guar, but a banteng bull. A gaur is not that small, and lacks the white patches on its rumps. True, the image labels gaur, but many people can tell that it's a banteng bull. So, any idea?
 * Fixed. Rmhermen 13:02, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

Weight
The article had made claims of average weights to 1500 kg and a record weight of 1700 kg from Vietnam in 2003. I was not able to find sources for these extremes and added sourced average weights that are somewhat lower. Can anyone find references for the previous claims? Rmhermen 13:14, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

Good questions. Some china website has information on the weight of 1500 kg. About the 1700kg, that inf was written on this web site: www.vnexpress.net. But unluckily, this inf is in Vietnamese, so I'm quite unsure if it's worthwhile mentioning the site at all. But the 1500kg inf is in English, quite a relief. just type in google: gaur + 1500 kg, and u will get to the site. One more thing: 1500kg is not an average, but rather a quite heavy weight for the gaur.

KATTUPOTHU?
Is there any backing for this "name"? Is it just me, or does this scream "vandal!" Very sorry if it really is a local name. 66.42.173.205 22:28, 10 October 2006 (UTC) It is a local name for wild bison in tamil. Another name is Kattuerumu.

The biggest bovines in the world shun otters?
Can someone please check to see if gaurs actually shun otters, as stated in the Ecology and Behavior section, or if that needs to be corrected?

Actually shun here only means the gaur, on seeing an otter underwater, just moves elsewhere( gaur sometimes goes into river to bath), perhaps it doesn't like the presence of the otter nearby, the same for elephant on seeing a water buffalo in the vicinity. Nothing sensational here, but the word.

A thoughtful moment
This is truly a once-in-a-lifetime moment. Tiger and gaur face to face, contemplating each other. What are they thinking? What will they do?

http://www.indianaturewatch.net/displayimage.php?id=5352 // —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 203.88.245.41 (talk) 08:45, 16 December 2006 (UTC).

Southeast asian gaur
Southeast asian gaur is larger than indian gaur, which is already very large.


 * From where do you have this info? As far as i know, the indian gaur is the largest, but I am not shure about this.--Altaileopard 11:42, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

I seriously doubt this information about Indian gaur being smaller than the south east asian gaur. Normally for all large mammals (eg. tigers, elephants, sambars etc) the Indian subspecies are larger than their south east asian counterparts. It seems unlikely that gaurs would be any different. Please submit proof about this claim
 * As there is still now answer here about this question, I will delete this info from the article. --Altaileopard 12:01, 24 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Oh, I already did that.--Altaileopard 12:03, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

Gaur and Chianina
The largest of all wild cattles and the largest of all domestic cattles, which one is larger? Anyone knows?

There is NO EVIDENCE of tiger killing a fully grown Gaur!

A huge bull Gaur outweights a huge bull holsen fresian.

Tiger's can kill a fully grown bull if they manage to grab a hold of the neck, but the chances of being able to is remote. A lioness can kill a fully grown bull cape buffalo if it manages to block its windpipe.
 * Actually the gaur seems to be the major component of the diet of the Bengal tiger, especially those living in Nepal. In fact, scientists think that gaur abundance have contributed to this tiger's exceptional bulk, males average 520 pounds. Check out this website, since your asked for 'evidence' — http://www.lairweb.org.nz/tiger/hunting6.html

Actually, Bubalus arnee can defend iteself from tigers more effectively than Gaurs can. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.109.77.55 (talk) 00:27, 6 March 2008 (UTC) Based on what kind of info and source of info have you arrived at this conclusion??

Subspecies
Does anyone know the sources for the subspecies in this article? I would like to include them in the german wiki.--Altaileopard 17:13, 21 May 2007 (UTC) There are a lot of sites talking about gaur subspecies, you just use the keywords to search. But about their size, none of them mention, save for a printed journal published by the Bombay national history society of India, which states that southeast asian gaur > indian gaur > seladang.

Mithun is a domestic gaur?
Altaileopard, I don't see why you remove the externernal link articles. they are very reliable sources. Therefore, if no one disagrees, I'll put it back.
 * This two sites are not detailed enough for such a statement. If you write that the Mithun is not a domestic gaur, you need very good sources... papers ect... --Altaileopard 07:31, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

Please check for a RAR(Rapid action Report) called "Dog and Bull". It is about the mithun in Arunchal Pradesh(Eastern most province in india) and Dhole(wild dogs). It talks about the Human-Dhole conflict in Arunachal Pradesh. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 61.3.122.251 (talk) 07:39, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Giraffe vs. Gaur
Recently, this article was edited to list the giraffe as one of the few land animals larger than the gaur. But if this is correct, this chart also must be edited : Largest_living_things, so let's get to the bottom of this, because we can't contradict ourselves. Chrisrus (talk) 04:50, 17 August 2010 (UTC)


 * The table (actually Largest organisms) is ordered by the average weights, not the maximums.  It does also give maximum weights, but that for gaur is listed as "unknown".  In this article we have a maximum for the gaur given as 2,000 kg, but with a citation needed.  So the average weight of the giraffe is less, and the maximum is also a bit less, or at best unknown, and either way roughly the same.


 * The exact maximum weight is anyway of very limited value, as individuals vary during their lives, captive animals are often overweight, and of course there may be individuals larger than those that happen to have been weighed (it's not that easy to weigh a giraffe!). This can apply to whole species: the kouprey (if still extant) may have populations averaging 1,700 kg, bigger than either gaur or giraffe.


 * It seems rather a pointless discussion to me anyway: there is some interest in what is the heaviest land animal, but what does it matter exactly what order the next few come in, especially when there is a lot of overlap? Richard New Forest (talk) 09:43, 17 August 2010 (UTC)


 * Perhaps the best approach is to remove the partial list from this article, and say something like 'one of the largest' with a wikilink to the table of heaviest terrestrial animals? MurfleMan (talk) 00:34, 18 August 2010 (UTC)


 * It would be unfortunate if we couldn't give the reader some kind of frame of reference as to just how big this animal is. Also, pictures with a better sense of scale would be nice. Nevertheless, a wikilink in the text is a good idea, as well as looking to ways to improve that table so that a curious reader could see how these two animals size up. Chrisrus ([[User

talk:Chrisrus|talk]]) 01:00, 18 August 2010 (UTC)


 * I see MurfleMan has removed the word "giraffe" from the article. I see the point; we don't seem to have enough evidence to confidently list it among the animals that grow larger than a gaur.  I can't say that I'm not disappointed, however.  I was really hoping we could get to the bottom of this issue for readers of not only this article but also for Largest_living_things and maybe some other places on Wikipedia.  If we could say something about how big a gaur is in comparison to an average adult male giraffe, it'd be an excellent way of helping readers know about how heavy the average male gaur is, readers would have an excellent frame of reference because the giraffe is a very common zoo animal, so most people probably have a pretty good idea how big a giraffe is, whereas a gaur is a popular zoo animal too, but, compared to a giraffe, not really all that common a zoo animal, actually, so most people probably have never seen one up close.  This would be expecially helpful for this article given the fact that the gaurs in the pictures aren't standing next to a human or a car or some such, so it's hard for readers to get a feel for their size.  Chrisrus (talk) 05:05, 2 February 2011 (UTC)
 * I like the latest wording from Chrisrus "the weight of gaur may equal or even surpass that of a giraffe" - qualified but clear. MurfleMan (talk) 05:10, 7 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks! I like it too.  Let's make sure that Largest_living_things is as good as it can be, too, as there're a few things there about the Gaur.  Many readers of this article link here from there because people interested in the biggest animals are often curious to find out about the only one that's not famous all over the world, the amazing badass tiger-fighting gaur! Chrisrus (talk) 04:03, 13 June 2011 (UTC)

Hello, my name is Prudhvi,i am currently working at keystone foundation(NGO based in kotagiri)on Gaur-Human conflict. A part of my job is to take photographs of gaur in an urban environment(Kotagiri is a town in the NILGIRIS). Though i cannot share all of my findings at the moment as it is an ongoing project, i would be able to share some pictures and as soon as our findings can go public,Wikipedia will be informed. I forgot to mention that i work for the conservation group in keystone. So, our info and pictures and news are all primary as i personally gather them and verify them. So, how can i help??

Ecology and behaviour: wallowing
Cite your source:


 * This is perhaps due to their increased ability to sweat through sweat glands that are better-distributed than those of modern cattle (Humphrey 1990) Incidentally this sweat may cover the animals with an possibly effective but odiferous natural parasite repellent in addition to providing thermal relief. Unlike bos taurus, bos frontalis digests rainforest plants other than grass effectively and, as a result, may offer a viable alternative to slash/burn agriculture in these regions.

BhagyaMani (talk) 19:35, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

Hey BhagyaMani

"Endangered animals of Thailand," by Humphrey, 1990, states the relevant sweat gland distribution information.

The rest was from (http://www.integratedconservationresearch.org/ICRIFiles/rainforestbeef.htm) and may not be correct since it cites no articles. However, the sweat gland stuff is true, and as a graduate student in Biology I wouldn't be surprised if they digest native plants quite well in comparison to European cows. We should probably (and unfortunately) take out "may offer a viable alternative to slash/burn agriculture in these regions" since that's an opinion. Though use of slash/burn agriculture and human-intiated annual burning during dry season are both common throughout much of Southeast Asia to create grassland for cows (and of course open space for the cultivation of common agricultural annuals). Also the current domesticated version, the Gayal, is mostly restricted to use by the Lhoba culture and prob. represents a cross between the two species, thus likely not displaying the same characteristics.

Also I think when I clicked the "talk" next to your name Wikipedia might have signed me in briefly AS YOU, though I can't be sure. Successfully Edited the page "USER:BhagyaMani" so.... Jgreeter (talk) 01:27, 27 April 2011 (UTC)

Weight varies between subspecies ??
Checked the ref'ed source for the following statement:
 * Weight varies between subspecies. Among the three subspecies, the southeast Asian gaur is the largest, and the Malayan gaur, or seladang, is the smallest. Male Malayan and Indian gaurs only exceed 1000 kg and 1140 kg in exceptionally heavy specimens, respectively, while these weight would rank as average in male gaurs from southeast Asia.

But did not find this claimed source text. Therefore, moved this paragraph here for the time being, the more so as the subspecies classification, based largely on differences in coloration and size, is no longer widely recognized -- see Gaur. -- BhagyaMani (talk) 21:14, 22 September 2011 (UTC)

Cloned Gaur Death
The linked reference clearly states that Noah, the cloned gaur, died of common dysentery "likely unrelated to cloning." However, the page states the dysentery was "most likely related to cloning," in conflict with the linked source. I have updated the page to correct this. --Kdice (talk) 20:03, 24 January 2012 (UTC)

Proposal to merge
Ujjwal234goel proposed to merge articles about two different species. Why? Does he perhaps know about taxonomic findings that previous authors overlooked ? -- BhagyaMani (talk) 17:13, 10 October 2013 (UTC)


 * I agree. Unless some reason for the proposed merge is given by someone, it's a very short discussion!  Can't see myself what such reason there might be.  Richard New Forest (talk) 18:28, 12 October 2013 (UTC)

I oppose because gaur and gayal are two discrete species and have been recognised as distinct for more than 100 years, corroborated by genetic analysis carried out in 2007. Hence, they warrant their own articles, in which case merging should be avoided even though articles might be short. See Wikipedia:Merging should be avoided if: 3. The topics are discrete subjects -- BhagyaMani (talk) 09:47, 13 October 2013 (UTC)

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Is 1500kg records reliable?
Are those Chinese records of 1500kg credible enough?

Several sources I found say 1225kg is the weight of a record bull (see list below).

The third one (The Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society) even questions this; "The question of weight is discussed at pages 10 and 11. In view of the ascertained weight of the largest-ever bull seen by Morris in his South India area having seen 2,071 lb. (J.B.N.H.S., 47: 153) It would seem that the 'weight-clean 2,700 lb.' for a Cochin China bull can be reasonably questioned?"

Ideazend (talk) 08:01, 2 November 2022 (UTC)
 * Ghosh, A.K., 2002. Lesser Known Animal Resources of India, p.4
 * National Research Council. 1983. Little-Known Asian Animals With a Promising Economic Future, "Part II : Wild Bovine Species"
 * The Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, Vol. 51, 1954, p480