Albino gaur
Albino gaur or white bison are a type of gaur, occasionally seen in the Manjampatti Valley, a 110.9 km2 (42.8 sq mi) protected area at the eastern end of Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park in Coimbatore District, Tamil Nadu, South India.
[1] They are occasionally called Manjampatti white bison (Tamil: காட்டேணி kaatteni, or kaattu maadu, meaning "forest cow").
Males have a highly muscular body, with a distinctive dorsal ridge, forming a very powerful appearance.
Only the Manjampatti valley of Udumalpet range is said to harbour white bison, a very rare animal.
[4] Between 1929 and 1937, James L. H. Williams, a British wildlife enthusiast, reported sighting many gaur with light pink or white skin during many trips to Manjampatty Valley.
He reported the white bison had some religious significance to the local Pulayar tribal residents, and they would gently divert outsiders away from any herds with abnormally colored animals.
J. C. Gouldsbury reported that Ranicar presented the mounted specimen of his cow white bison to the High Range Club in Munnar, where it was subsequently displayed.
[7] The 1939 Madras Forest Department – Administration Report mentions "white" bison in the Manjampatti Valley,[8] Before 1970, Mr. M. A. S. M. Muthuswamy walked the Munnar-Udumalpet road (SH 17) frequently.
In 1969, he also saw a fine greenish-grey bull in a herd of normal-colored gaur at Kamanuthu, just off the SH 17 road in the Kombu beat on the Tamil Nadu side of the border.
[9] An ancient Sinhala Kavi verse reads in part: "Having come swiftly, On the day the excellent white gaur was killed, A scoop of blood was given to thee !
..."[10] In 1970, E. R. C. Davidar, a famous wildlife researcher, spent several months on behalf of the Bombay Natural History Society in Chinnar trying to spot and photograph this animal.
His mission, undertaken to provide scientific evidence to the rumours floating in the air for several decades, did not find success.
Earlier that month I had read an article in Hornbill, a Bombay conservation magazine, about the albino bison of Manjamphatti.
[13] On 29 December 2007, C. R. Jayaprakash made a clear photograph of a white gaur resting near Masingudi on the Sigur Plateau.
So for about five full minutes we face off, until white bison decides the water is more important, and finally meanders off.
This was the first record of white bison in the Chinnar Sanctuary, which shares a long common border with the Manjampatti Valley.
[20] In 1997 in Satpura, four totally white gaur were reported – presumably albinos or some genetic sport, which, amid their black companions, appear like ghosts in a forest.
