Its intelligence, like that of the bovine tribe in general, is of a very low order, a fact which is indicated also by the remarkably small size of its brain.
At all other times, except the rutting season, the old bulls[1] keep single, or in small troops of three or five; younger fully grown males (six to ten years of age) occasionally join their older companions, but are more often found in separate troops of ten or twelve, with one or two old bulls among them. The females, young bulls, and calves assemble in enormous herds of several hundred or a thousand head. In such large numbers they have difficulty in finding sufficient food, but the calves are thus best protected from the attacks of wolves.
While browsing they generally scatter over the pasture, but when reposing lie close together.[2] When in danger they form a phalanx, the calves in the centre, some of the full-grown males advancing to reconnoitre. If the cause of the alarm be apparent, and the hunter continue his approach, or if a shot be fired, the whole herd takes to flight at a trot or gallop, raising a cloud of dust, and the sound of their hoofs is heard a long way off. This furious pace, however, does not last long; after a flight of less than half a mile they slacken speed, and halt in the same order as before, i.e. the young in the centre, and the older males outside. If the hunter again approach, the same tactics are repeated, and once alarmed they will flee a long way.
