The range of Bos frontalis is Nepal, India to Indochina, and the Malay Peninsula (Nowak 1999).

Biogeographic Regions: oriental (Native )

Typical length of the body and head is 2.5 to 3.3 meters; tail length ranges from 0.7 to 1.05 meters. Shoulder height is 1.65 to 2.2 meters. A pair of horns is present in both sexes; horn length ranges from 0.6 to 1.15 meters. The hair of B. frontalis is dark reddish brown to blackish brown, with white stockings. Adult males are about 25% larger and heavier than females (Nowak 1999). A characteristic hump of raised muscle can be seen over the shoulders; this is the result of elongated spinal processes on the vertebrae (Buchholtz 1989).

Range mass: 650 to 1000 kg.

Range length: 2.5 to 3.3 m.

Other Physical Features: endothermic ; homoiothermic; bilateral symmetry

Sexual Dimorphism: male larger; ornamentation

Inhabits forested hills and nearby grassy clearings. Can be found at elevations up to 1800 meters (Nowak 1999).

Terrestrial Biomes: rainforest

Classified as an herbivore, B. frontalis is both a browser and a grazer. It prefers green grass, but otherwise will consume coarse, dry grasses, forbs, and leaves (Nowak 1999).

Average lifespan

Status: captivity: 26.2 years.

Maximum longevity: 26.2 years (captivity) Observations: One animal lived 26.2 years in captivity.

Breeding can take place at any time throughout the year, though females have an interval of 12 to 15 months between births. The estrous cycle is three weeks long, and estrus lasts one to four days. Gestating females leave the herd during parturition. Usually one 23 kg young is born after 270 to 280 days of gestation. Calves are nursed for up to nine months. Females become sexually mature at two to three years of age. Though lifespan has not been studied in the wild, one captive B. frontalis lived to be 26 years of age (Nowak 1999).

Range number of offspring: 1 to 2.

Average number of offspring: 1.

Range gestation period: 9.77 to 10.03 months.

Average gestation period: 9.94 months.

Range weaning age: 4.5 (low) months.

Average weaning age: 4.5 months.

Average birth mass: 23000 g.

Average number of offspring: 1.

Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

Sex: male: 550 days.

Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

Sex: female: 590 days.

Parental Investment: altricial

Secretion repels mosquitoes: gaur
 

The skin of the gaur deters landing and feeding by mosquitoes by secreting an oily substance, a novel 18-carbon acid.

   
  "Gaur acid (...) was recently isolated from the oily secretion of the gaur (B. frontalis), a wild ox in Asia, by Oliver et al.[9, 10] This 18-carbon acid is thought to serve as a landing and feeding deterrent for the yellow-fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti)." (Evans 2004)
  Learn more about this functional adaptation.

The population of B. frontalis is in decline due to hunting and habitat alteration and destruction. It has been estimated that there are only 1000 individuals left in the wild (Nowak 1999). This species is also very susceptible to domestic cattle diseases, such as hoof and mouth disease and rinderpest. Diseases are spread by domestic cattle that are driven into the habitat of B. frontalis to graze (Buchholtz 1989).

US Federal List: endangered

CITES: appendix i; no special status

Humans use B. frontalis as a species for sport hunting (Buchholtz 1989).

Positive Impacts: food