Manish Pandey
Jul 27, 2017 · 2 min read

The Bisons of Tadoba (Indian Gaur)


The lake side/crocodile point of the Agarzari Buffer Zone in Tadoba Tiger Reserve had just received first few roumd of rains and the entire landscape turned lush green.

Bisons, the wild buffaloes (Gaurs) are voracious grazers and eat the greens almost day. I have always seen Egrets around them, sometimes sitting on the back or heads or near the legs, the question in my mind was, why do they bother the Bisons? When I asked this to Swapnil (the local wildlife tracker & expert) he explained it to me saying, 'Sir, these Egrets and Bisons has symbiotic relation of years, Bisons allow them to be around because

  1. They eat the bugs, mites off there bodies.
  2. After the Bisons have grazed the field, it is easy for the Egrets to pick insects from the soil too
  3. And bison gets a body cleanup

    So interesting !

About Bison: IUNC Red listed since 1968, these are the largest wild cattles, a fully grown bison may weight upto more than 1000 kgs. They are generally in heads and walk upto 5 to 10 kilometers everyday in search of fresh food and water. They feed on leaves, grasses and soft twigs of shurbs.

Tigers are their biggest threats, a tiger if hunts on bison can get a food reserve for couple of days.
Happen to capture this image recently in June 2017 in #tadobaandharitigerreserve

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