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Nilgai (blue bull)
नीलगाय (nilgai)
Asia's largest antelope, horse-shouldered and heavy; the bull is slate-blue-grey, the cow tawny. It lives on farmland and scrub right up to city edges.
👀 How to recognise it
Look for a very large animal standing in a field at dawn with a sloping back and a white throat patch. Bulls have short straight horns; cows have none.
Where to see it
Delhi
The state animal of Delhi, and the largest wild animal most people in the city will ever see. Its name means «blue cow», and the link with cattle has kept it from being hunted across the Hindi belt.
Aravalli Biodiversity Park (often) · Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary (Neeli Jheel) (often) · Okhla Bird Sanctuary (often)
Agra
The name means «blue cow», and the association with cattle has protected the animal from hunting across the Hindi belt for centuries.
Keoladeo Ghana National Park (Bharatpur) · Sur Sarovar Bird Sanctuary (Keetham Lake) (often) · Taj Nature Walk (in season)
Ajmer
The name means blue cow, and it is the reason the animal survived across the north Indian plains: that half-cow name kept it off the hunting list for centuries.
Maharana Pratap Smarak & Nag Pahar Ridge (often) · Foy Sagar Lake (Varun Sagar)
Jaipur
The Hindi name means blue cow, and that half-cow name has protected it for centuries across the north Indian plains, which is why a wild antelope grazes unbothered on the edge of a state capital.
Jhalana Leopard Reserve · Nahargarh Biological Park · Sambhar Salt Lake (often)
Ujjain
The name means «blue cow», and the association with cattle has protected the animal from hunting across the Hindi belt for centuries.
Undasa Lake (often) · Dewas Tekri (Mata Tekri) (in season)