Wild Gaur

Herbivorous megafauna are typically imagined as a group that includes elephants, rhinoceros, and giraffes. However, one of the most spectacular examples of megafauna is a bovine from India. At 3 meters (10 ft) tall, the gaur is a truly gargantuan beast, and the world’s largest wild cow species. This massive creature with truly formidable horns crashes through Indian forests and fields, and sometimes invades gardens. While it’s a threatened species due to poaching and habitat loss, it’s a match for most threats and weighs up to 1,600 kilograms(3,500 lbs). Among the megafauna that crash and devour their way through tropical vegetation, only the elephants, rhinoceros, and giraffes are bigger or taller. The gaur is more docile than African buffalo, but human fatalities do occur now and then. In one case, a gaur was attacked by a tiger. The gaur responded by literally snapping the tiger in half.