First Evidence of Allonursing in Gaur (Bos gaurus gaurus): Social Flexibility in a Translocated Population

Allonursing is the nursing of non-filial offspring by lactating females. It is a rare form of alloparental care and remains virtually undocumented in wild bovids. Here, we report the first photographic and video evidence of allonursing in gaur (Bos gaurus gaurus), Asia’s largest extant bovine, from Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh, India. The behaviour was observed during soft release monitoring as part of an ongoing project on population management strategies for gaur through supplementation. A lactating female was observed nursing a non-filial male calf from a different natal herd within the soft release enclosure. This behaviour provides new insights into the social flexibility of gaur and has implications for understanding behavioural flexibility in conservation-driven translocation efforts.