Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

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

• Biogeographic Regions
• oriental
  • native

Habi­tat

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

• Terrestrial Biomes
• rainforest

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

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).

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• homoiothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• male larger
• ornamentation

• Range mass

  650 to 1000 kg

  1431.72 to 2202.64 lb

• Range length

  2.5 to 3.3 m

  8.20 to 10.83 ft

Re­pro­duc­tion

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).

• Key Reproductive Features
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual

• Range number of offspring

  1 to 2

• Average number of offspring

  1

• Average number of offspring

  1

  AnAge

• 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 age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
  Sex: female

  590 days

  AnAge

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
  Sex: male

  550 days

  AnAge

• Parental Investment
• altricial

Lifes­pan/Longevity

• Average lifespan
  Status: captivity

  26.2 years

  AnAge

Be­hav­ior

Herds of B. frontalis typ­i­cally con­tain eight to eleven in­di­vid­u­als, but can reach 40 in­di­vid­u­als. Home range size av­er­ages 78 square kilo­me­ters (Nowak 1999). Herds usu­ally con­tain one adult bull and sev­eral cows and ju­ve­niles. Other bulls may form bach­e­lor herds, or if ad­vanced in age, be­come soli­tary. A hi­er­ar­chy is es­tab­lished in all herds, with a dom­i­nant bull at the top and size de­ter­min­ing the order there­after.

Rit­u­al­ized ag­gres­sive be­hav­ior is used by both sexes to main­tain the dom­i­nance hi­er­ar­chy. Ag­gres­sive be­hav­ior is char­ac­ter­ized by broad­side charges and move­ment of the head hor­i­zon­tally and ver­ti­cally. The de­gree of vigor and height of the head ex­press vary­ing lev­els of ag­gres­sion.

Vo­cal­iza­tions in­clude an alarm call, which con­sists of a high-pitched snort and a growl­ing "moo." Bulls have two ad­di­tional calls. The first is the herd call, which halts the herd and brings it to­gether. The sec­ond is a roar­ing that can last for hours dur­ing mat­ing pe­ri­ods. Lick­ing is also used in com­mu­ni­ca­tion. Fe­males lick their calves to form stronger re­la­tion­ships with them. Lower-rank­ing in­di­vid­u­als lick higher-rank­ing in­di­vid­u­als. Also, mat­ing pairs lick each other dur­ing breed­ing.

The daily be­hav­ior of B. frontalis be­gins with the herd ex­it­ing the forests into grassy areas to feed in the morn­ing. The af­ter­noon is spent rest­ing and ru­mi­nat­ing. More feed­ing en­sues in the evening, and at night the herd reen­ters the for­est for rest­ing and sleep­ing.

Shy­ness causes aver­sion to hu­mans, and in largely dis­turbed areas, B. frontalis can be­come en­tirely noc­tur­nal (Buch­holtz 1989). There have been re­ported cases, though, of B. frontalis at­tack­ing and killing human pur­suers that get too close (Nowak 1999). Preda­tors of B. frontalis in­clude tigers and hu­mans (Buch­holtz 1989).

• Key Behaviors
• motile
• social
• dominance hierarchies

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

• Perception Channels
• tactile
• chemical

Food Habits

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).

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

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

• Positive Impacts
• food

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

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).

• IUCN Red List

  Vulnerable

• US Federal List

  Endangered

• CITES

  Appendix I No special status

Con­trib­u­tors

Bar­bara Lun­dri­gan (au­thor), Michi­gan State Uni­ver­sity, Trevor Zachariah (au­thor), Michi­gan State Uni­ver­sity.

Ref­er­ences

Buch­holtz, C. 1989. Cat­tle. Pp. 360-417 in S Parker, ed. Grz­imek's En­cy­clo­pe­dia of Mam­mals. Vol 5. New York: Mc­Graw-Hill.

Nowak, R. 1999. Walker's Mam­mals of the World. Vol II. Bal­ti­more: Johns Hop­kins Uni­ver­sity Press.