Indian Gaur●Indian gaur (Bos gaurus) falls in the group of wild oxen, which include bison, true cattle, African Buffalo and Asiatic Buffalo.
●Gaur is the state animal of Goa and Bihar.
●The ancestors of gaur have been traced back from 20 million years ago, and are largely confined to India, Nepal, Bhutan, China, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
●Gaur can be found in tropical to semi-wet evergreen forest, bamboo forest and tropical moist to dry deciduous forest.
● India has three main detached pockets where this massive herbivore thrives, these include Central Indian Highlands, Eastern Ghats (Odisha) up till North-East and Western Ghats to the Nilgiris plateau.
● It is categorized as vulnerable in the IUCN Red list of threatened species, 2009 and listed in schedule-1 of Indian wildlife (protection) act, 1972
