A white animal appeared in the forested wilderness of New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University — and it stopped researchers cold. The creature was a nilgai, India’s largest antelope. But this one carried no colour. Her coat was entirely white, her exposed skin pink, the product of a genetic condition so rare that scientists estimate it strikes fewer than one in every ten thousand mammal births.
No albino nilgai has ever been recorded in Delhi before. Experts say she may be the only one in the entire National Capital Region.
Dr. Surya Prakash, a JNU zoologist who has studied the campus’s wildlife for nearly four decades, confirmed multiple sightings. The female has been appearing more frequently in recent months, though she remains wary and keeps to the campus’s southern Ridge habitat.
“Sightings of this nilgai are increasingly becoming more common,” Dr. Prakash told Hindustan Times. “While we knew about its presence earlier, she is typically shy in nature and rarely ventures out to explore.”
The threats to her survival are immediate. Campus traffic and packs of stray dogs pose direct dangers. Dr. Prakash said he is working with the JNU Animal Welfare Society to monitor and protect her.
What Is a Nilgai
The nilgai — Boselaphus tragocamelus — is the largest antelope in Asia and the sole member of its genus. Scientists believe the species appeared as long as five million years ago and has changed little since. Its Hindi name translates directly to “blue cow,” a reference to the distinctive blue-grey coat adult males develop with age. Females are typically tawny or orange-brown.
The nilgai has a robust, horse-like build, with long slender legs, a deep chest, and a short neck. Only males develop short, conical horns, typically 15 to 25 centimetres long. The species is diurnal — active at dawn and dusk — and grazes on grasses, herbs, and woody plants across open scrublands and dry forests.
India’s nilgai population was estimated at one million in 2001. The species is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. It thrives across northern and central India, and introduced populations exist in Texas and Mexico. It is protected under Schedule III of India’s Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
How Many Albino Nilgai Exist in the World
Albino nilgai are exceptionally rare, with sightings occurring in less than one in 10,000 births. Similar colour aberrations in nilgai have been documented in Rajasthan and Maharashtra, said Faiyaz Khudsar, scientist-in-charge of the Delhi Development Authority’s biodiversity parks programme. In Rajasthan, colour anomalies were recorded across three wild ungulate species — nilgai, blackbuck, and Indian gazelle — with those individuals observed behaving normally within their herds.
But an albino nilgai in Delhi? Khudsar confirmed it has never been recorded before. “While it is a new record for Delhi, similar observations have previously been reported from the states of Maharashtra and Rajasthan,” he said.
Almost-white, though not fully albino, individuals have been observed in Sariska National Park, while individuals with white patches have been recorded at zoos. True albinos of any large ungulate species, however, remain vanishingly rare in the wild.
The Animal at JNU, What We Know
The female is an adult, four to five years old. She moves within the southern Ridge habitat of JNU’s nearly 1,000-acre campus — one of Delhi’s last intact urban forest corridors along the Aravalli range. She grazes at dawn and dusk, consistent with normal nilgai behaviour, and has been seen increasingly in recent months, though she remains shy.
Dr. Prakash and the JNU Animal Welfare Society are monitoring her actively. The threats are immediate: stray dogs and campus traffic.
Sohail Madan, ecologist at the WildTales Foundation, called her presence a landmark for Delhi wildlife. “This ghostly white individual, with its typical diurnal behaviour of browsing at dawn and dusk, stands out dramatically,” he said. “To the best of my knowledge, an albino nilgai has never been seen in Delhi before.”
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