Nilgai

A very common wild animal in India. Some locals say that it has got its name: Nil or Neel means blue and Gai means cow, because of its bluish looking skin. The nilgai is the biggest Asian antelope. Nilgai have thin legs and a robust body that slopes down from the shoulder. They show marked sexual dimorphism, with only the males having horns. Adult males have a grey to bluish-grey coat, with white spots on the cheeks and white colouring on the edges of the lips. They also have a white throat bib and a narrow white stripe along the underside of the body that widens at the rear. The tips of the long tufted tail and of the ears are black. They also possess a tubular shaped "pennant" of long, coarse, hair on the midsection of the throat. The males have two black conical horns, arising close together just behind the eyes. The horns are project upwards, but are slightly curved forward. Although the horns are usually smooth, in some older males they may develop ring-shaped ridges near the base. In contrast, females and young are tawny brown in colour, although otherwise with similar markings to the male; they have no horns and only a very small "pennant". Both sexes have an erectile mane on the back of the neck, terminating in a bristly "hog-tuft" just above the shoulders. Nilgai are diurnal, and tend to form single sex herds outside of the breeding season. Female herds typically contain three to six adults, together with their calves, whereas bulls form herds of anything from two to eighteen individuals.It has been declared as vermin in northern India, and they may be legally hunted after obtaining a permit. Nevertheless the local belief, that nilgai are a cow and hence sacred, has protected it against hunting.