A large antelope of the Indian subcontinent that is active by day in grassland and woodland.
The nilgai is Asia's largest antelope. Mature males have a bluish-gray coat.
From 2018 to 2021, researchers examined reproductive tracts and fetuses from females harvested on three ranches. They estimated age from tooth eruption and wear, and cementum annuli. Of 488 females at least one year old, 386 were pregnant; 56% of pregnancies involved twins.
Pregnancy was found in a female as young as one year, while the oldest pregnant female was 12. Mean fetal length increased from 18.04 cm in April to 73.98 cm in September. The authors inferred a mid-September to early-November peak calving period, but variation in fetal length and lactating, nonpregnant females suggested breeding could occur year-round. These harvest-derived observations describe introduced nilgai on three southern Texas ranches, not reproduction across the native range.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
In the introduced population of southern Texas, the authors considered high reproductive potential a possible driver of overpopulation and land impacts. They proposed local harvest management focused particularly on females. This evidence concerns nilgai introduced to the United States; it does not describe conditions in the native range or establish a formal conservation category for the species as a whole.