How many baby Nilgais are in a litter?
A Nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus) usually gives birth to around 1 babies.
Each of those little ones spend around 248 days as a fetus before they are released into the wild. Upon birth, they weight 5.88 kg (12.96 lbs) and measure 5.2 cm (0′ 3″). They are a member of the Bovidae family (genus: Boselaphus). An adult Nilgai grows up to a size of 2 meter (6′ 7″).
To have a reference: Humans obviously usually have a litter size of one ;). Their babies are in the womb of their mother for 280 days (40 weeks) and reach an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″). They weight in at 62 kg (137 lbs), which is obviously highly individual, and reach an average age of 75 years.
The nilgai or blue bull (; literally meaning “blue bull”; Boselaphus tragocamelus) is the largest Asian antelope and is ubiquitous across the northern Indian subcontinent. The sole member of the genus Boselaphus, the species was described and given its binomial name by German zoologist Peter Simon Pallas in 1766. The nilgai stands 1–1.5 metres (3.3–4.9 ft) at the shoulder; males weigh 109–288 kilograms (240–635 lb), and the lighter females 100–213 kilograms (220–470 lb). A sturdy thin-legged antelope, the nilgai is characterised by a sloping back, a deep neck with a white patch on the throat, a short crest of hair along the neck terminating in a tuft, and white facial spots. A column of pendant coarse hair hangs from the dewlap ridge below the white patch. Sexual dimorphism is prominent – while females and juveniles are orange to tawny, adult males have a bluish-grey coat. Only males possess horns, 15–24 centimetres (5.9–9.4 in) long.The nilgai is diurnal (active mainly during the day). The animals band together in three distinct kinds of groups: one or two females with young calves, three to six adult and yearling females with calves, and all-male groups with two to 18 members. Typically tame, the nilgai may appear timid and cautious if harassed or alarmed; it flees up to 300 metres (980 ft)-or even 700 metres (2,300 ft), galloping away from the source of danger. Herbivores, nilgai prefer grasses and herbs, though they commonly eat woody plants in the dry tropical forests of India. Females become sexually mature by two years, while males do not become sexually active until four or five years old. The time of the year when mating takes place varies geographically, but a peak breeding season lasting three to four months can be observed at most places. Gestation lasts eight to nine months, following which a single calf (sometimes twins or even triplets) is born. As typical of several bovid species, nilgai calves stay hidden for the first few weeks of their lives. The lifespan of the nilgai is around ten years.Nilgai prefer areas with short bushes and scattered trees in scrub forests and grassy plains. They are common in agricultural lands, but hardly occur in dense forest. Major populations occur in the Terai lowlands in the foothills of the Himalayas (northern India), but the antelope is sparsely found in Nepal and Pakistan. It was first thought to be extinct in Bangladesh but it was found there on 22 January 2019. Nilgai were first introduced to Texas in the 1920s and the 1930s. As of 2008, the feral population in Texas is nearly 37,000. The nilgai is categorised as Least Concern by the IUCN. The nilgai has been associated with Indian culture since the Vedic period (1500–500 BC). Hindus revere the nilgai as sacred and associate it with the cow, the mother animal in Hinduism, through its name and loosely similar physical features. They were hunted in the Mughal era (16th to 19th centuries) and are depicted in numerous miniatures. Nilgai have been considered a pest in several north Indian states, as they ravage crop fields and cause considerable damage. In Bihar, authorities have classified the nilgai as vermin.
Other animals of the family Bovidae
Nilgai is a member of the Bovidae, as are these animals:
- Nilgiri tahr with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Bighorn sheep with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Gayal with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Mountain nyala with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Snow sheep with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Himalayan goral with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Aders’s duiker with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Nyala with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Grey rhebok with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Dama gazelle with 1 babies per pregnancy
Animals that share a litter size with Nilgai
Those animals also give birth to 1 babies at once:
- Sitatunga
- Bighorn sheep
- Black squirrel monkey
- Edwards’s long-tailed giant rat
- Rufous hare-wallaby
- Queen of Sheba’s gazelle
- Spectral tarsier
- Schneider’s leaf-nosed bat
- Dassie rat
- Gray brocket
Animals that get as old as a Nilgai
Other animals that usually reach the age of 21.67 years:
- Alpine ibex with 22.25 years
- Kit fox with 20 years
- Eld’s deer with 19.33 years
- Goeldi’s marmoset with 17.83 years
- Lesser horseshoe bat with 21 years
- Guatemalan black howler with 20 years
- Monk saki with 24.58 years
- Snow leopard with 18 years
- Himalayan goral with 17.58 years
- Mantled guereza with 24.5 years
Animals with the same weight as a Nilgai
What other animals weight around 181.63 kg (400.42 lbs)?
- Lion usually reaching 158.75 kgs (349.98 lbs)
- Thorold’s deer usually reaching 161.68 kgs (356.44 lbs)
- Thorold’s deer usually reaching 161 kgs (354.94 lbs)
- Greater kudu usually reaching 205.53 kgs (453.12 lbs)
- East African oryx usually reaching 200.58 kgs (442.2 lbs)
- Lichtenstein’s hartebeest usually reaching 168 kgs (370.38 lbs)
- Melon-headed whale usually reaching 206 kgs (454.15 lbs)
- Eastern gorilla usually reaching 149.33 kgs (329.22 lbs)
- Lichtenstein’s hartebeest usually reaching 168.7 kgs (371.92 lbs)
- Tiger usually reaching 162.28 kgs (357.77 lbs)
Animals with the same size as a Nilgai
Also reaching around 2 meter (6′ 7″) in size do these animals:
- Scimitar oryx gets as big as 1.91 meter (6′ 4″)
- Lion gets as big as 1.84 meter (6′ 1″)
- Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin gets as big as 2.37 meter (7′ 10″)
- Common tsessebe gets as big as 1.7 meter (5′ 7″)
- Caribbean monk seal gets as big as 2.29 meter (7′ 7″)
- Sambar deer gets as big as 2.04 meter (6′ 9″)
- Pygmy hippopotamus gets as big as 1.6 meter (5′ 3″)
- Atlantic spotted dolphin gets as big as 2.13 meter (7′ 0″)
- Greater kudu gets as big as 2.2 meter (7′ 3″)
- Sambar deer gets as big as 2.04 meter (6′ 9″)