Understanding the visiting nilgais of Bangladesh
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Splash
    • Videos
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Sunday
July 03, 2022

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Splash
    • Videos
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
SUNDAY, JULY 03, 2022
Understanding the visiting nilgais of Bangladesh

Earth

TBS Report
01 September, 2021, 12:10 pm
Last modified: 01 September, 2021, 01:45 pm

Related News

  • Feed price hike, extortion on highway to increase sacrificial animal prices
  • Livestock in Bangladesh increased more than donkeys in Pakistan
  • New Zealand to price sheep and cow burps to cut greenhouse gases
  • No sacrificial animal import this year: Minister
  • Local people kill Nilgai in Thakurgaon in front of the BGB 

Understanding the visiting nilgais of Bangladesh

It has been years Bangladesh lost wild nilgais. However, in the last couple of years, about eight nilgais wandered into the country. Where did they come from? What do their presence indicate?

TBS Report
01 September, 2021, 12:10 pm
Last modified: 01 September, 2021, 01:45 pm
Nilgai in a wheat field in Central India. Photo: Mathew Joseph
Nilgai in a wheat field in Central India. Photo: Mathew Joseph

Nilgai is the largest of all Asian antelope, equaling any native cow with ease.  It comes with a pair of fixed, short, pointy, non-branching horns. 

Placed in the sole genus Boselaphus, nilgais have many unique features, and they stand out from other antelopes.  Veteran zoologist and expeditor Peter Simon Pallas described nilgais scientifically. 

The term 'nilgai' comes from Bangla, meaning 'nil goru' (blue bull). The queer antelope stands around 1.5 m at the shoulder, males can weigh up to 250 kg. 

Is nilgai really blue?

On one fine day, more than a decade ago, I bunked college and visited the National Zoo alone – a thing I often did those days. I observed some nilgais really closely and found the answer to this question. 

I recall the pen had five nilgais: Two males, two females, and probably a sub-adult female. Probably, it was a rutting season. One male, noticeably larger than the others, appeared more active. 

It was chasing the weaker male in a short, controlled, cantering rhythm. Its coat colour had a grayish base, but clinging to a blue tone. More surprisingly, a quick navy-blue sheen was radiating off its body each time the light fell at a right angle. 

The regality I witnessed in the blue bull, as nilgais are commonly referred to in English, left me speechless. A few days later, I read in the newspaper about the death of a nilgai at the zoo. The enclosure had all but that alpha male on my next visit. 

In a similar fashion, the nilgai disappeared from Bangladesh. 

In the past

Nilgais are antelope of grassy plains and sparsely forested areas. Nilgais were a sure thing wherever there were scrubland-grassland mosaics. 

They were found all over the Indian Subcontinent, from the peninsular tip to drier Central India, the Himalayan foothills, and all the way up to Central Bangladesh beyond the Ganges-Brahmputra barrier.

Nilgais were popular game animals. The Mughal emperors were extremely fond of hunting nilgais. Jahangir, the fourth of the Mughal kings is credited with hunting nearly 900 nilgais. 

There are accounts of nilgai from as late as the 1970s and from places like Panchagarh, Thakurgaon, and the Madhupur tract, a forest that has lost 98% of its area and is now shattered into pieces.

Nilgai. photo/ Paul Jones
Nilgai. photo/ Paul Jones

Global range of nilgais have also shrunken as grasslands, savanna, and plains—nilgai habitat—are among the fastest disappearing wilderness. Pakistan is also on the verge of losing its nilgai population. 

No nilgai around 100 km radius

Like Bangladesh, the state of West Bengal, India does not have nilgais anymore. The range of the nearest wild population begins at the westernmost border of Purnea division, Bihar, India.

Nilgais are not found within a 100-kilometer radius of northwestern Bangladesh, where recent nilgai activity has been reported.

Recent records

A nilgai was spotted at Ranisankail Upazilla, Thakurgaon on September 04, 2018.  Later five more nilgai were found from four more districts: Thakurgaon, Naogaon, Panchagarh, and Chapai Nawabganj. In 2021, within the last three months, two fresh incidents occurred. 

There have also been reports of wandering nilgai in West Bengal near the West Bengal-Bihar border. Are these nilgais on their way to re-establish their lost homes? Are these being trafficked out? The last question is especially important because Bangladesh is a well-known transit point for wildlife traffickers.

Ill-fated wanderers

The nilgais are not treated well in Bangladesh. Some were chased to the last breath. At least one was rescued from right under the butcher's knife. Many of the others died in captivity.

Chased down and beaten, wandering nilgais show our disconnection from nature. Photo: Collected
Chased down and beaten, wandering nilgais show our disconnection from nature. Photo: Collected

"It was chased more than 25 kilometers without a pause", Firoz Al Sabah, a photographer and a witness to the July incident this year, informed over the phone. 

We both tried to figure out how long the beast had to run in terror before it ran out of energy. Draining a horse-like beast needs unspeakable atrocity.

The future will determine whether nilgai will roam the Bengal plains again. However, a few things are obvious. Outside of protected areas, wildlife protection is in disarray. And the gap between people and nature is widening.

Features / Top News

Nilgai / blue bull / Nil goru / Cattle / animal / goat / wild life

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Something's rotten in small-cap scrip rally: Experts
    Something's rotten in small-cap scrip rally: Experts
  • Representational Image. Photo: Courtesy
    Mobile internet users hit hard by VAT hike
  • Photo: Mumit M
    Launch routes suffer over 50% passenger drop

MOST VIEWED

  • Large Indian civet is a common small carnivore in Bangladesh. Photo: Joel Sartore
    Civets: Nocturnal carnivores facing extinction
  • The Bactrian camel safari in the Nubra Valley, Ladakh. Photo: Jiaul Hoque
    The Bactrian Camels of Ladakh
  • Egg guarding in frogs is a common feat. Photo: Dante Fenolio
    Caring parents: An amphibian story
  • A second bear cub in captivity. Photo was taken this week from Menkiyangpara, Bandarban. Its mother was presumably poached. Its further fate is still unknown. Photo_  Khalid Mahmud
    Saving a black bear cub in the Hill Tracts
  • Their plumage is beaded with numerous eye-like spots, akin to its namesake, the peacock. Photo: eBird
    Of peacock-pheasant, jungle rules, and lucky strike: A birdwatching story
  • Clownfishes host anemone in the reef and raise babies there. Photo Collected
    Parental care in the fish world

Related News

  • Feed price hike, extortion on highway to increase sacrificial animal prices
  • Livestock in Bangladesh increased more than donkeys in Pakistan
  • New Zealand to price sheep and cow burps to cut greenhouse gases
  • No sacrificial animal import this year: Minister
  • Local people kill Nilgai in Thakurgaon in front of the BGB 

Features

The eye-catching commuter: Suzuki Gixxer SF 155

The eye-catching commuter: Suzuki Gixxer SF 155

15h | Wheels
Photo: Collected

Sapiens – A Graphic History 

1d | Book Review
Black-naped Monarch male  Photo: Enam Ul Haque

Black-naped Monarch: A sovereign who never abandoned the Indian subcontinent

1d | Panorama
The 136-year-old company on its last legs

The 136-year-old company on its last legs

1d | Features

More Videos from TBS

Bangabandhu Tunnel to change lives of million

Bangabandhu Tunnel to change lives of million

2h | Videos
Sowari Ghat's fresh fish market

Sowari Ghat's fresh fish market

2h | Videos
Ukraine changes war strategy under Russian pressure

Ukraine changes war strategy under Russian pressure

3h | Videos
Rajshahi Metropolitan Police observes 30th founding anniversary

Rajshahi Metropolitan Police observes 30th founding anniversary

5h | Videos

Most Read

1
Padma Bridge from satellite. Photo: Screengrab
Bangladesh

Padma Bridge from satellite 

2
Meet the man behind 'Azke amar mon balo nei'
Splash

Meet the man behind 'Azke amar mon balo nei'

3
TBS Illustration
Education

Universities may launch online classes again after Eid

4
Photo: TBS
Bangladesh

Motorcycles banned on Padma Bridge 

5
Photo: Collected
Economy

Tech startup ShopUp bags $65m in Series B4 funding

6
World Bank to give Bangladesh $18b IDA loans in next five years
Economy

World Bank to give Bangladesh $18b IDA loans in next five years

EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2022
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab
BENEATH THE SURFACE
The Dazzling Fake Flowers: Is there any alternative to artificial flowers while decorating homes, showrooms, offices and business establishments? Fresh flowers are undoubtedly beautiful, but they dry out quickly. Hence, the demand for plastic flowers is rising day by day. Traders said these lifelike silk flowers usually come from China and Thailand. The photo was taken from the 29th International Trade Fair of the Chattogram Chamber on Friday. PHOTO: Mohammad Minhaj Uddin

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net