Male baby blue bull joins inhabitants at Songkhla Zoo
Songkhla Zoo recently welcomed its latest inhabitant, a male nilgai born in the facility, said director Chalermwut Kasetsomboon on Friday (December 20).
“The newcomer, now one-month old, is in good healthy” he added. "Yesterday, we announced another new member, the albino Indian muntjac".
Nilgai, or blue bull, is the largest Asian antelope, and also a ruminant in the spiral-horned animal family of Bovidae. Its appearance is a mix between a cow and a horse.
An outstanding feature of an adult male nilgai is its dark blue or dark grey hairs, matching its reference as a blue bull while a female nilgai displays reddish brown hairs. Female nilgai become sexually mature when two-year old as opposed to four or five years for males.
Nilgai breeds throughout the year with gestation period lasting around 240 to 258 days, giving births to one to two cubs each time.
The average lifespan of an nilgai is twenty-one years.
The antelope is a diurnal animal, which can be found in the lowland of Northern India and eastern Pakistan. It main diet is shrubs, grasses, leaves and fruits, and can live without water for many days.
Nilgai usually live near water sources in groups of fifteen to twenty each, but in winter the herbs could swell in numbers.
Video credit: Santipub Ramsuit