Nilgai

Description

Measuring over 300 kg and more than 2 metres long, the nilgai is the largest of the Asian antelopes and is characterised by a pronounced sexual dimorphism: the females, who do not have horns, are cream in colour, while the males, much stockier and with small straight horns of up to 25 cm long, usually have a bluish grey hide, a characteristic that gives the animal the name of "blue bull antelope" by which it is also known.
Its area of distribution covers a large part of India, the lowlands of Nepal and small areas of northeast Pakistan, where it is a very scarce species. Although this antelope is now extinct in Bangladesh, it is worth noting a sizeable population introduced into the state of Texas, in the USA.
It is of daytime and solitary habits, except during the mating season when it usually forms herds of up to 10 individuals, although this can occasionally get up to groups of around fifty members .
Its habitat is dry woods and brush areas in rather arid regions, but it is not found in deserts or in humid forests. Its diet is strictly vegetarian, eating mainly grass, although it can also eat seeds, fruit, leaves and tender bark of woody plants.
Regarded in India as a sacred animal due to its resemblance to cows, it is respected by the population and is still quite a common animal in many parts of its area of distribution. In some agricultural areas of India, it is even seen as a major scourge for crop fields.