Female Nilgai grazing on dry grassland of Panna National Park

A group of female Nilgai walking through dry forest of Panna National Park in Madhya Pradesh, India.

The nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus), sometimes called nilgau, is the largest Asian antelope. It is one of the most commonly seen wild animals of central and northern India, often seen in farmland or scrub forest. The mature male appears ox-like and is also known as the blue bull. A blue bull is called a nil gai or nilgai in India, from nil meaning blue and gai meaning a bovine animal. It is also present in parts of southern Nepal and eastern Pakistan. The species has become extinct in Bangladesh. It was known as the nilghor during the rule of Aurangzeb in the Mughal era. It is the only member of genus Boselaphus.

Nilgai stand 1.1 to 1.5 m (3 ft 7 in to 4 ft 11 in) at the shoulder and measure 1.7 to 2.1 m (5 ft 7 in to 6 ft 11 in) in head-body length, with a 45- to 50-cm (18- to 20-in) tail. Males are larger than females, weighing 109 to 288 kg (240 to 635 lb), with a maximum of 308 kg (679 lb), compared with the adult female weight of around 100 to 213 kg (220 to 470 lb).

The nilgai has 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 project upwards, but are slightly curved forward; they measure between 15 and 24 centimetres (5.9 and 9.4 in) in a fully grown adult. 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 erect mane on the back of the neck, terminating in a bristly "hog-tuft" just above the shoulders.

Panna National Park is a national park located in Panna and Chhatarpur districts of Madhya Pradesh in India. It has an area of 542.67 km2 (209.53 sq mi). It was declared in 1994 as the twenty second Tiger reserve of India and the fifth in Madhya Pradesh, Panna was given the Award of Excellence in 2007 as the best maintained national park of India by the Ministry of Tourism of India. It is notable that by 2009, the entire tiger population had been eliminated by poaching with the collusion of forest department officials.

Panna National Park and the surrounding territorial forest area of North and South Panna forest division is the only large chunk of wildlife habitat remaining in North Madhya Pradesh in the otherwise fragmented forest landscape of the region.

The National Park is situated at a point where the continuity of the Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests belt, which starts from Cape Comorin in South India, is broken and beyond this the Upper Gangetic Plains moist deciduous forests of the great Indo-Gangetic Plain begins. This area is the northernmost tip of the natural teak forests and the easternmost tip of the natural 'Kardhai' Anogeissus pendula forests.

The forests of Panna National Park along with Ken Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary and adjoining territorial divisions form a significant part of the catchment area of the 406 km (252 mi) Ken River which runs northeast for about 72 km (45 mi) through the park.

Source : Wikipedia

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