Recently, the first population estimation exercise of the Indian Gaur (Bison) was carried out in the Nilgiris Forest Division, Tamil Nadu.
World Wide Fund for Nature India assisted the exercise and highlighted that there are an estimated 2,000 Indian gaurs across the division.
The Indian Gaur or Bison (Bos gaurus) is the world’s largest and tallest wild bovines, with 85% of their current population found in India. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
Gaurs are found on the forested hills and grassy areas of the south to south-east Asia.
They are found in India, China, Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal.
The Western Ghats in southern India constitute one of the most extensive extant strongholds of gaur, in particular in the Wayanad – Nagarhole – Mudumalai – Bandipur complex.
The gaur is the State Animal of Goa and Bihar.
The Indian Gaur is listed as a Schedule I species under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
It is tagged as ‘vulnerable’ on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List. Hence, statement 3 is incorrect.
It is listed in CITES Appendix I.
Gaurs are largely confined to evergreen forests or semi-evergreen and moist deciduous forests, but also occur in deciduous forest areas at the periphery of their range.
Gaur is highly threatened by poaching for trade to supply international markets.