There are also within these coverts several varieties of wild animals, such as the tiger, leopard, hyena, wild boar, nilgai and jackal.
The nilgai is held peculiarly sacred by Hindus, from its fancied kinship to the cow, and on this account its destructive inroads upon the crops are tolerated.
Leopards still haunt the cane-brakes and thickets along the banks of the rivers; and nilgai and antelopes abound.
The first group, or Tragelaphinae, is represented by the African elands (Taurotragus), bongo (Boocercus), kudus (Strepsiceros) and bushbucks or harnessed antelopes (Tragelaphus), and the Indian nilgai (Boselaphus).
The nilgai is about the size of a mule (see Antelope).