Haleem Abdul, Ilyas Orus
Department of Wildlife Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, UP. 202001 India.
Zoolog Sci. 2018 Feb;35(1):57-67. doi: 10.2108/zs170097.
Indian gaur (Bos gaurus) is one of nine species of wild oxen found in the world. They are largely confined to evergreen, semi-evergreen, and moist deciduous forests, but also occur in dry deciduous forest areas at the periphery of their range. According to the IUCN Red List ( 2017 ), the estimated population of gaur in India is between 15,000 and 35,000 individuals, and probably due to this, despite the gaur's vast range of distribution, they are listed as a vulnerable species by IUCN and listed as schedule-I of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act ( 1972 ) as well as in appendix-I in CITES ( 2003 ). Gaur is not a well studied species, and baseline data are thus needed to support conservation efforts. We studied the feeding habits of gaur in Pench Tiger Reserve. Pench Tiger Reserve is the 19th tiger reserve in India, situated in the Seoni and Chhindwara districts of MP, India (21°41'35″N 79°14'54″E). Diet composition of gaur was studied by micro-histological examination of 32 dung piles collected from different sampling plots in different seasons. For this purpose, 169 sampling plots were established at an interval of 200 m. To locate gaur faecal matter, a circular plot of 10 m radius was laid within each sampling plot. Eighty-eight permanent reference slides of available plants were prepared and used for plant fragment identification from the dung piles. A total of 29 plant species were identified from dung piles of gaur. On average, 44.51% of grass-fragments were detected in the diet of gaur, suggesting that gaurs are primarily grazers in the Pench Tiger Reserve.
印度野牛（Bos gaurus）是世界上发现的九种野生牛类之一。它们主要栖息在常绿、半常绿和湿润的落叶林中，但在其分布范围边缘的干燥落叶林区也有出现。根据世界自然保护联盟（IUCN）红色名录（2017年），印度野牛在印度的估计数量在15000至35000头之间，可能正因如此，尽管印度野牛分布范围广阔，但它们被IUCN列为易危物种，被列入《印度野生动物保护法》（1972年）附表一以及《濒危野生动植物种国际贸易公约》（2003年）附录一。印度野牛是一个研究较少的物种，因此需要基线数据来支持保护工作。我们研究了彭奇老虎保护区内印度野牛的食性。彭奇老虎保护区是印度第19个老虎保护区，位于印度中央邦的塞奥尼和钦德瓦拉区（北纬21°41'35″，东经79°14'54″）。通过对不同季节从不同采样区收集的32堆粪便进行微观组织学检查，研究了印度野牛的饮食组成。为此，每隔200米设立了169个采样区。为了找到印度野牛的粪便，在每个采样区内设置了一个半径为10米的圆形区域。制备了88张现有植物的永久参考玻片，并用于从粪便堆中识别植物碎片。从印度野牛的粪便堆中总共鉴定出29种植物。平均而言，在印度野牛的饮食中检测到44.51%的草类碎片，这表明在彭奇老虎保护区，印度野牛主要是食草动物。
