The members of the Bovine section or Oxen are to be distinguished from other hollow-horned Ruminants by their stouter build and by the fact that the horns stand out from the sides of the skull and are simply curved, not twisted; and smooth, not annulate like those of other Ruminants. The muffle is naked, broad, and moist. The Oxen are widely distributed; but are entirely absent from the Australian region and from South America and Madagascar.
The true Oxen are perhaps best considered to form but a single genus, Bos. They have, however, been divided into a number of genera. Even the supposed aberrant Anoa depressicornis of Celebes hardly differs sufficiently to warrant its separation. In favour of this view, too, is the extraordinary ease with which different "genera" will cross with each other and produce fertile offspring. The following is the pedigree of an animal lately living in the Zoological Society's Gardens. The female offspring of a male Zebu and a female Gayal was mated with a male Bison. The female calf was again mated with a Bison and produced a calf, also a female, which contained therefore the three species, Bos indicus, Bibos frontalis, and Bison americanus. It is clearly unwise in view of this fact to insist too much upon generic distinctions in any of those types.[1]
Of this genus the Oriental Gaur (Bos gaurus), the Gayal (B. frontalis), and the Banteng (B. sondaicus) form a well-marked section, characterised by their dark coloration and by the somewhat flattened horns.
The Gaur, Bos gaurus, has a more concave forehead than its allies; the horns are less curved than those of the Banteng, and less so than the horns of the Gayal (Bos frontalis). It inhabits the Indian Peninsula; and extends through Burmah to the extremity of the Malay Peninsula. The Malay name of this animal is Sakiutan, which simply means wild cattle. It chiefly frequents wooded hills and is an excellent mountain climber.
Bos frontalis, the Indian Gayal, has a white caudal disc like the last species, but the forehead is flat and the horns curve but little. It is chiefly known as a tame animal, and its occurrence in the wild state has been doubted. It has furthermore been suggested that it is merely a tame race of the Gaur altered
- ↑ A. D. Bartlett, "On some Hybrid Bovine Animals bred in the Society's Gardens," Proc. Zool. Soc. 1884, p. 399.
