Nilgai
Nilgai in India
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Bovidae
Subfamily:	Bovinae
Genus:	Boselaphus Blainville, 1816
Species:	B. tragocamelus
Binomial name
Boselaphus tragocamelus (Pallas, 1766)

The nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus), sometimes called nilgau, is an antelope, and is one of the most commonly seen wild animals of central and northern India and eastern Pakistan; it is also present in parts of southern Nepal. The species has become extinct in Bangladesh. The mature males appear ox-like and are also known as blue bulls. The nilgai is the biggest Asian antelope.

A blue bull is called a nil gai or nilgai in India, from nil meaning blue and gai meaning a bovine animal (literally 'cow'). In fact nilgai were known as the Nilghor (nil = blue, ghor = horse) during the rule of Aurangzeb (Mughal Era).^[2]

Description[link]

Nilgai stand 1.1 to 1.4 metres (3 ft 7 in to 4 ft 7 in) at the shoulder and measure 1.7 to 2.1 metres (5 ft 7 in to 6 ft 10 in) in head-body length, with a 45 to 50 centimetres (18 to 20 in) tail. Males are larger than females, weighing around 240 kilograms (530 lb), compared with the adult female weight of around 110 kilograms (240 lb).^[3]

Nilgai have thin legs and a robust body that slopes down from the shoulder. They show marked sexual dimorphism, with only the males having horns. Adult males have a grey to bluish-grey coat, with white spots on the cheeks and white colouring on the edges of the lips. They also have a white throat bib and a narrow white stripe along the underside of the body that widens at the rear. The tips of the long tufted tail and of the ears are black. They also possess a tubular shaped "pennant" of long, coarse, hair on the midsection of the throat.^[3]

The males have two black conical horns, arising close together just behind the eyes. The horns are project upwards, but are slightly curved forward; they measure between 15 and 24 centimetres (5.9 and 9.4 in) in a fully grown adult. Although the horns are usually smooth, in some older males they may develop ring-shaped ridges near the base.^[3]

In contrast, females and young are tawny brown in colour, although otherwise with similar markings to the male; they have no horns and only a very small "pennant". Both sexes have an erectile mane on the back of the neck, terminating in a bristly "hog-tuft" just above the shoulders.^[3]

Distribution[link]

Nilgai antelopes are found throughout most of India, from the base of the Himalayas in the north, down to the state of Karnataka in the South, being absent only in eastern Bengal, Assam, the Malabar Coast, and regions close to the Bay of Bengal. They are found in small numbers along the Indian borders with Pakistan and Nepal.^[1]

They inhabit the Gir forest and from all along the entire eastern length of Pakistan and over across the border of Rajasthan in the West to the states of Assam and West Bengal in the East.^{[citation needed]} In Nepal, they occur patchily in the southern lowlands.

Historic notes mention the nilgai in southern parts of India but there have also been suggestions that they may be a feral population:

I believe that the Coimbatore and Salem collectorates are almost the only places in Southern India, in which nil-gai are to be found. It is difficult to account for the animals being thus so widely divided from their usual haunts unless as has been generally supposed, these Southern specimens are the progeny of a semi-domesticated herd, which, at some by-gone period, had escaped from the preserve of a native potentate.

—A. C. McMaster (1871)^[4]

The population density of nilgai in central India is 0.07 per square kilometre (0.18 /sq mi).^{[citation needed]}

Nilgai pursued by dholes, as drawn by Robert Armitage Sterndale in Denizens of the Jungles, 1886

Nilgai have existed north of Bangalore and probably still do.^{[citation needed]}

Nilgai were introduced in the US state of Texas in the 1920s by the King Ranch for recreational purposes. Over the years some escaped and they are now free ranging in various southern portions of the state.

Habitat and diet[link]

Nilgai are habitat generalists, living in grasslands and woodlands where they eat grasses, leaves, buds, and fruit. They avoid dense forest and prefer the plains and low hills with shrubs, but may also be found in cultivated areas.^[3]

Blue bulls are usually found in their favoured areas of scrub jungle (acacia forests) grazing upon succulent kader grass. They are not averse to crossing marshlands.^{[citation needed]}

Nilgai (blue bull): Leaf from the Shah Jahan Album, Mughal, Jahangir period (1605–27), ca. 1620

Habits[link]

Nilgai are diurnal, and tend to form single sex herds outside of the breeding season. Herds are not of fixed composition, with individuals joining and re-joining through the year. Female herds typically contain three to six adults, together with their calves, whereas bulls form herds of anything from two to eighteen individuals.^[3] In winter, male blue bulls form herds of 30 to 100 animals in northern India.^{[citation needed]}

Female nilgai

Nilgai herds in Texas have been reported to have an average home range of 4.3 square kilometres (1.7 sq mi). Both males and females mark their territory by defecating in fixed locations on open ground, with piles building up to reach at least 3 metres (9.8 ft) in diameter.^[3] They also possess scent glands on the legs and close to the feet, which they may use to scent mark their daily resting places. They are generally quiet animals, but have been reported to make short guttural grunts when alarmed, and for females to make clicking noises when nursing young.^[5]

Nilgai can be seen with black buck in the open plains, and in the lower Terai regions they may be seen together with chital and hog deer. The chital and hog deer, being comparatively smaller in size, usually keep a respectful distance from the much larger nilgai. Sambar frequent hills and dense forests and are rarely found in the same habitat as nilgai.

Predators of nilgai include tigers and leopards, although the latter are only capable of capturing calves, and not fully grown adults. scat analysis has shown that lions, although present in some parts of the nilgai's range, generally do not prey on the animals, with nilgai comprising less than 3% of their diet.^[3] Other predators include wolves^[6] and striped hyenas.

A blue bull can survive for days without water, but they live close to waterholes. The deserts earlier limited their range, but the extension of irrigation canals and proliferation of tube-wells in the Thar desert have helped them colonise the desert districts of Jodhpur, Barmer, Jaisalmer, Bikaner and Ganganagar.^{[citation needed]}

Nilgai female and calves

Reproduction[link]

Male fighting

Breeding occurs in late autumn to early winter. Prior to the rut, males compete to establish dominance. Males display to each other by holding their head erect and presenting the white patch and tassel on their throats. They may also rush towards one another, holding their heads down so that their horns project forwards. Such displays often escalate to direct conflict, including head-butting and neck-fighting. Although bulls have thick skin on their heads and necks, which helps protect them in such fights, serious injury can nonetheless occur. Females also compete to establish dominance around the time of the rut, including neck-fighting, and butting rivals on their shoulders or flanks.^[3]

Males mate with several females over the course of the breeding season, but do not establish clear harems, instead wandering between different all-female groups. Courtship lasts about 45 minutes, with the male adopting a stiff gait with tail held erect, and the female responding with a flehmen gesture and raised tail before permitting mounting.^[3]

Gestation lasts 243 to 247 days, resulting in the birth of twins in about 50% of cases, although births of one or three do occur. Females become solitary towards the end of their pregnancy, and hide their young from other nilgai for the first month of their life. The calves are precocious, being able to stand within forty minutes of birth, and they begin to forage during their fourth week of life.^[5] Calves usually weigh 14 to 16 kilograms (31 to 35 lb) at birth.^{[citation needed]}

Females reach sexual maturity at around two years of age, and males by their third year, although the most reproductively active bulls are typically at least four or five years old. They live for around twelve or thirteen years in the wild, but have survived for up to 21 years in captivity.^[3]

Status[link]

Tamed nilgai, male, Lakeshwari, Gwalior district

The estimated population of nilgai in India is approximately 100,000. Wild populations also exist in the US states of Alabama and Texas and the Mexican state of Tamaulipas where they have escaped from private exotic ranches. The population around the Texas-Mexico border is estimated to be around 30,000^[7] and the King Ranch where Nilgai were first released now has around 10,000 of them.^[8]

Like many Indian animals, nilgai are often victim to vehicular accidents, and their carcasses are often seen on major highways in northern India. The main threat to this species is the loss of habitat due to human population growth. However, nilgai are a crop menace, causing large-scale damages especially along the Gangetic belt, especially in the Rohilkhand division of Uttar Pradesh. It has been declared as vermin in northern India, and they may be legally hunted after obtaining a permit. Nevertheless the local belief, that nilgai are a cow and hence sacred, has protected it against hunting.

Some Texas "exotic ranches" offer nilgai hunting. Nilgai meat is said to resemble beef, but with lower fat content and less flavour; one study showed that tasting panels preferred wieners made from 30% nilgai meat mixed with beef to those with higher nilgai meat content.^[9]

Distinctive white marks are clearly seen on the feet of this male nilgai

References[link]

• Menon, Vivek. A Field Guide to Indian Mammals. Dorling Kindersley, Delhi, 2003.
• Sheffield, William J., et al. The Nilgai Antelope in Texas (College Station: Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, Texas A&M University System, 1983).

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Boselaphus tragocamelus

• The Mammals of Texas - Online Edition
• Ultimate Ungulates Page
• Pictures of Nilgai
• Nilgai in Haryana

lez:Нилгау

Blue
— Spectral coordinates —
Wavelength		450–490 nm
Frequency		~670–610 THz
— Common connotations —
Ice, water, sky, sadness, winter, police, royalty, Hanukkah, boys, cold, calm, magic, trueness, conservatism (universally), liberalism (US), and capitalism
— Colour coordinates —
Hex triplet		#0000FF
sRGBB	(r, g, b)	(0, 0, 255)
HSV	(h, s, v)	(240°, 100%, 100%)
Source		HTML/CSS[1]
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

The sky and water often appear blue.

Blue Turkish Tiles

Blue is a colour, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 450–490 nm. It is considered one of the additive primary colours. On the HSV Colour Wheel, the complement of blue is yellow; that is, a colour corresponding to an equal mixture of red and green light. On a colour wheel based on traditional colour theory (RYB) where blue was considered a primary colour, its complementary colour is considered to be orange (based on the Munsell colour wheel).^[2]

In Modern English, "blue" is one of the basic colour terms, and one of the seven spectral colours, intermediate between violet (purple) and cyan. It comprises a considerable number of identifiable subcategories that can be identified with descriptive terms like navy blue (a dark blue), cyan blue (or "blue-green", on the boundary to the green range), or sky blue (azure).

The word itself was loaned into Middle English from the Old French word bleu, blo "pale, pallid, discoloured; blue, blue-grey", itself from an Old Frankish *blao.

Etymology[link]

The modern English word blue comes from Middle English bleu or blewe, from Old French bleu, bleve, blöe, a word of Germanic origin (Frankish or possibly Old High German blāo, "pale, wan, blue-grey").

Bleu replaced Old English blāw "blue" and blǣwen "light blue". The root of all these variations is Proto-Germanic blǣwaz, from Proto-Indo-European *bhlāw-, *bhlēw- "light-coloured, yellow, grey, blue", from *bhel- "to shine, be light or bright", also the root of Old Norse blār and the modern Icelandic blár, and the Scandinavian word blå, which can also refer to other non blue colours. A Scots and Scottish English word for "blue-grey" is blae, from the Middle English bla ("dark blue", from Old Norse blār). Also related is the English word blee meaning "colour, complexion".

The same Indo-European root also underlies the English words black, blond, and also Latin flavus ("yellow"; see flavescent and flavine), Greek phalos (white), French blanc (white, blank) (borrowed from Old Frankish), Russian белый, belyi ("white," see beluga), and Welsh blawr (grey).

Many languages do not have separate terms for blue and or green, instead using a cover term for both (when the issue is discussed in linguistics, this cover term is sometimes called grue in English).

In science[link]

Pigments and dyes[link]

Traditionally, blue has been considered a primary colour in painting, with the secondary colour orange as its complement.

Blue pigments include azurite (Cu₃(CO₃)₂(OH)₂), ultramarine (Na_8-10Al₆Si₆O₂₄S_2-4), cerulean blue (primarily cobalt (II) stanate: Co₂SnO₄), cobalt blue (cobalt(II) aluminate: CoAl₂O₄), and Prussian blue (milori blue: primarily Fe₇(CN)₁₈).

Traditionally natural dyes such as woad and true indigo were used to produce indigo dye used to colour fabrics blue or indigo. These have now largely been replaced by synthetic dyes.

Scientific natural standards for blue[link]

• Emission spectrum of Cu²⁺
• Electronic spectrum of aqua-ions Cu(H₂O)2+
  6

Animals[link]

• When an animal's coat is described as "blue", it usually refers to a shade of grey that takes on a bluish tint, a diluted variant of a pure black coat.^{[citation needed]} This designation is used for a variety of animals, including dog coats, some rat coats, cat coats, some chicken breeds, some horse coat colours and rabbit coat colours. Some animals, such as giraffes and lizards, also have blue tongues.

Lasers[link]

Lasers emitting in the blue region of the spectrum became widely available to the public in 2010 with the release of inexpensive high-powered 445-447 nm Laser diode technology.^[3] Previously the blue wavelengths were accessible only through DPSS which are comparatively expensive and inefficient, however these technologies are still widely used by the scientific community for applications including Optogenetics, Raman spectroscopy, and Particle image velocimetry, due to their superior beam quality.^[4] Blue Gas lasers are also still commonly used for Holography, DNA sequencing, Optical pumping, and other scientific and medical applications.

• 

  Blueberries

• 

  Lactarius indigo is one of only a few blue-coloured mushrooms.

• 

  Dendrobates azureus

• 

  Blue Jay

In culture[link]

Symbolic language[link]

• In the English language, blue often represents the human emotion of sadness, for example, "He was feeling blue". In German, on the other hand, to be "blue" (blau sein) is to be drunk. This derives from the ancient use of urine (which is produced copiously by the human body after drinking alcohol) in dyeing cloth blue with woad or indigo.^[5] It may also be in relation to rain, which is usually regarded as a trigger of depressive emotions.^[6]
• Conversely blue, a very popular colour^[7] can represent happiness and optimism^[8] as days with clearer, blue skies tend to be considered times where these emotions are more easily expressed. Many artistic contributions have been made referencing clear days with blue skies as part of the happiness or as a symbolism of the happiness the artist felt, such as Tony Bennett's Put on a Happy Face.^[9]
• Blue is commonly used in the Western hemisphere to symbolize the male gender in contrast to pink used for females, although in the early 1900s, blue was the colour for girls (as it had traditionally been the colour of the Virgin Mary in Western Art) and pink was for boys (as it was akin to the colour red, considered a masculine colour).^[10]

National colours[link]

Flag of Greece

Coat of Arms symbol of Israel

• Azzurro, a light blue, is the national colour of Italy (from the livery colour of the former reigning family, the House of Savoy).
• Blue is the national sports colour for India, as it denotes secularism.^{[citation needed]}
• Blue is the national colour used on flags of several countries surrounded by seas or oceans such as Australia and Europe, though not necessarily with this interpretation in mind.
• Blue and white are the national colours of Scotland, Argentina, El Salvador, Finland, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Micronesia, Nicaragua and Somalia, are the ancient national colours of Portugal and are the colours of the United Nations.
• Blue, white and yellow are the national colours of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Uruguay.
• Blue, white and green are the national colours of Sierra Leone.
• Blue, white and black are the national colours of Estonia.^[11]
• Blue and yellow are the national colours of Barbados, Kazakhstan, Palau, Sweden, and Ukraine.
• Blue, yellow and green are the national colours of Brazil, Gabon, and Rwanda.
• Blue, yellow and red are the national colours of Chad, Colombia, Ecuador, Moldova, Romania, and Venezuela.
• Blue and red are the national colours of Haiti and Liechtenstein.
• Blue, red and white are the national colours of Cambodia, Costa Rica, Chile, Croatia, Cuba, the Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, France, Iceland, North Korea, Laos, Liberia, Luxembourg, Nepal, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Russia, Samoa, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Mysticism[link]

• In Hinduism, blue is used to symbolically represent the fifth, throat chakra (Vishuddha).^[12]

Politics[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

• The Blue House is the residence of the President of South Korea.^[13]
• Blue has been associated with a variety of political positions, often differentiated from communist red or anarchist black. During the revolt in the Vendée against the French Revolution, blues stood for the revolutionary forces, and white for the counter-revolutionaries. Later movements like the Breton blues used the colour to signify allegiance to the ideals of the revolution.
• The blueshirts was a quasi-fascist political organisation active in Ireland during the 1930s (the name comes from the fact that St. Patrick's Blue is one of the traditional colours of Ireland).
• Blue is the colour of the Conservative Party in Britain and Conservative Party of Canada. Television coverage in the United States since the 2000 presidential election has made it fashionable to link the Democratic Party to "blue" and the Republican Party to "red" (especially in reference to "red states and blue states").^[14] In Brazil, blue states are the ones in which the Social Democratic Party has the majority, in opposition to the Workers' Party, usually represented by red.
• A blue law is a type of law, typically found in the United States and Canada, designed to enforce religious standards, particularly the observance of Sunday as a day of worship or rest, and a restriction on Sunday shopping. The word blue was used in the 17th century as a disparaging reference to rigid moral codes and those who observed them, particularly in blue-stocking, a reference to Oliver Cromwell's supporters in the parliament of 1653.
• Blue is associated with numerous centre-right liberal political parties in Europe, Including the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (Netherlands), the Reformist Movement and Open VLD (Belgium), the Democratic Party (Luxembourg), Liberal Party (Denmark) and Liberal People's Party (Sweden).
• Blue is the colour of, and associated with, the New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico.

Religion[link]

Blue coloured Lapis lazuli semi-precious stones are prized among Muslim Cultures in the Caucasus, Central Asia and Mehrgarh.

Blue stripes on a traditional Jewish tallit.

• Blue is associated in Christianity generally and Catholicism in particular, with the Virgin Mary.^[15][16][17]
• Blue in Hinduism: Many of the gods are depicted as having blue-coloured skin, particularly those associated with Vishnu, who is said to be the Preserver of the world and thus intimately connected to water. Krishna and Ram, Vishnu's avatars, are usually blue. Shiva, the Destroyer, is also depicted in light blue tones and is called neela kantha, or blue-throated, for having swallowed poison in an attempt to turn the tide of a battle between the gods and demons in the gods' favour.
• Blue in Judaism: In the Torah,^[18] the Israelites were commanded to put fringes, tzitzit, on the corners of their garments, and to weave within these fringes a "twisted thread of blue (tekhelet)".^[19] In ancient days, this blue thread was made from a dye extracted from a Mediterranean snail called the hilazon. Maimonides claimed that this blue was the colour of "the clear noonday sky"; Rashi, the colour of the evening sky.^[20] According to several rabbinic sages, blue is the colour of God's Glory.^[21] Staring at this colour aids in mediation, bringing us a glimpse of the "pavement of sapphire, like the very sky for purity", which is a likeness of the Throne of God.^[22] (The Hebrew word for glory.) Many items in the Mishkan, the portable sanctuary in the wilderness, such as the menorah, many of the vessels, and the Ark of the Covenant, were covered with blue cloth when transported from place to place.^[23]
• Blue in Islam: the colour blue is mentioned in the Quran: In verse 20:102 and is represented by the word: زرق zurq (plural of azraq, "blue"). Blue amulets made of lapis lazuli are commonly utilised to symbolise luck in some Muslim cultures. The colour blue also represents the values of liberty among Bosniaks.

Symbolism[link]

• In Thailand, blue is associated with Friday on the Thai solar calendar. Anyone may wear blue on Fridays and anyone born on a Friday may adopt blue as their colour. The Thai language, however, is one that has had trouble distinguishing blue from green. The default word for Blue was recently สีน้ำเงิน literally, the colour of silver, a poetical reference to the silvery sheen of the deep blue sea. It now means navy blue, and the default word is now สีฟ้า literally, the colour of the sky.^[24]

Sports[link]

Many sporting teams make blue their official colour, or use it as detail on kit of a different colour. In addition, the colour is present on the logos of many sports associations.

Association football[link]

In international association football, blue is a common colour on kits, as a majority of nations wear the colours of their national flag. A notable exception is four-time FIFA World Cup winners Italy, who wear a blue kit based on the Azzuro Savoia (Savoy blue) of the royal House of Savoy which unified the Italian states.^[25] The team themselves are known as Gli Azzurri (the Blues). Another World Cup winning nation with a blue shirt is France, who are known as Les Bleus (the Blues). Two neighbouring countries with two World Cup victories each, Argentina and Uruguay wear a light blue shirt, the former with white stripes. Uruguay are known as the La Celeste, Spanish for 'the sky blue one', while Argentina are known as Los Albicelestes, Spanish for 'the sky blue and whites'.^[26]

Football clubs which have won the European Cup or Champions League and wear blue include FC Barcelona of Spain (red and blue stripes), FC Internazionale Milano of Italy (blue and black stripes) and FC Porto of Portugal (blue and white stripes). Another European Cup-winning club, Aston Villa of England, wear light blue detailing on a mostly claret shirt, often as the colour of the sleeves.^[27] Clubs which have won the Copa Libertadores, a tournament for South American clubs, and wear blue include six-time winners Boca Juniors of Buenos Aires, Argentina. They wear a blue shirt with a yellow band across.

Blue features on the logo of football's governing body FIFA, as well as featuring highly in the design of their website.^[28] The European governing body of football, UEFA, uses two tones of blue to create a map of Europe in the centre of their logo. The Asian Football Confederation, Oceania Football Confederation and CONCACAF (the governing body of football in North and Central America and the Caribbean) use blue text on their logos.

North American sporting leagues[link]

In Major League Baseball, the premier baseball league in the United States of America and Canada, blue is one of the three colours, along with white and red, on the league's official logo. A team from Toronto, Ontario, are the Blue Jays. The Los Angeles Dodgers use blue prominently on their uniforms and the phrase "Dodger Blue" is may be said to describe Dodger fans' "blood". The Texas Rangers also use Blue prominently on their uniforms and logo.

The National Basketball Association, the premier basketball league in the United States and Canada, also has blue as one of the colours on their logo, along with red and white also, as does its female equivalent, the WNBA. The Sacramento Monarchs of the WNBA wear blue. Former NBA player Theodore Edwards was nicknamed "Blue". The only NBA team to wear blue as first choice are the Charlotte Bobcats, however blue is a common away colour for many other franchises.

The National Football League, the premier American football league in the United States, also uses blue as one of three colours, along with white and red, on their official logo. The Seattle Seahawks, New York Giants, Buffalo Bills, and Detroit Lions feature blue prominently on their uniforms.

The National Hockey League, the premier Ice hockey league in Canada and the United States, does not use blue on its official logo. However, a club in the league from St. Louis, Missouri is named the Blues.

• Italia v Francia Mondiale 1978.jpg

  The Italian national football team wear blue in honour of the royal House of Savoy which unified the country.

• 

  The New Orleans Hornets, a National Basketball Association franchise from New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, wear blue as an away colour.