nilgai, blue bull (Boselaphus tragocamelus) Ranthambore NP, Rajasthan, INDIA. Scanned Slide from February 1994
Date 1 August 2015, 00:00
Source Nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus) bull
Author Bernard DUPONT https://www.flickr.com/people/65695019@N07 from FRANCE
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nilgai_(Boselaphus_tragocamelus)_bull_(19725141044).jpg
The nilgai or blue bull (Boselaphus tragocamelus) is the largest Asian antelope and is endemic to India, Nepal and Pakistan. The nilgai is the sole member of the genus Boselaphus and placed in the family Bovidae. A sturdy thin-legged antelope, the nilgai is characterised by a sloping back, a deep neck with a white patch on the throat, a short crest of hair along the neck terminating in a tuft, and white facial spots. A column of pendant coarse hair hangs from the dewlap ridge below the white patch. Sexual dimorphism is prominent – while females and juveniles are orange to tawny, adult males have a bluish-grey coat. Only males possess horns.
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Bovidae
Subfamily: Bovinae
Genus: Boselaphus
Species: Boselaphus tragocamelus (Pallas, 1766)
Synonyms:
Antilope tragocamelus (Pallas, 1766)
Antilope albipes (Erxleben, 1777)
Antilope leucopus (Zimmermann, 1777)
Antilope picta (Pallas, 1776)
Boselaphus picta (de Blainville, 1816)
Boselaphus albipes (Desmarest, 1816)
Cemas tragocamelus (Oken, 1816)
Cemas picta (Oken, 1816)
Damalis risia (C. H. Smith, 1827)
Damalis picta (Brookes, 1828)
Portax risia (C. H. Smith, 1827)
Portax tragelaphus (Sundevall, 1846)
Tragelaphus hippelaphus (Ogilby, 1838)