Gayal
| Gayal | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Bovidae |
| Subfamily: | Bovinae |
| Genus: | Bos |
| Species: | B. frontalis |
| Binomial name | |
| Bos frontalis Lambert, 1804 |
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Gayal or mithun (Bos frontalis) is the domestic gaur, probably a gaur-cattle hybrid breed.
[edit] Taxonomy
In his first description of 1804, Aylmer Bourke Lambert applied the binomial Bos frontalis to a domestic specimen probably from Chittagong.[1]
In 2003, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature has fixed the first available specific name based on a wild population that the name for this wild species is valid by virtue of its being antedated by a name based on a domestic form. Most authors have adopted the binomial Bos frontalis for the domestic species as valid for the taxon.[2]
[edit] In culture
To the Adi people (Bangni-Bokar Lhobas), the possession of gaur is the traditional measure of a family's wealth. In the Adi language, gaur are called tadok and in Apatani and Nishi called subu often referred to as mithun. Gaur are not milked or put to work but given supplementary care while grazing in the woods, until they are slaughtered in ritual or for the local consumption.
The gaur, or mithun as it is commonly known in the northeast region of India, is the state animal of Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.
[edit] References
- ^ Ellerman, J. R., Morrison-Scott, T. C. S. (1966) Checklist of Palaearctic and Indian mammals 1758 to 1946. Second edition. London: British Museum of Natural History. Page 380
- ^ Gentry, A. Clutton-Brock, J., Groves, C. P. (2004) The naming of wild animal species and their domestic derivatives. Journal of Archaeological Science 31: 645–651
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