text: Distribution and habitat The gaur historically occurred throughout mainland South and Southeast Asia, including Nepal, India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and China. Today, its range is seriously fragmented, and it is regionally extinct in Peninsular Malaysia and Sri Lanka.
  It is largely confined to evergreen forests or semi-evergreen and moist deciduous forests, but also inhabits deciduous forest areas at the periphery. Gaur habitat is characterized by large, relatively undisturbed forest tracts, hilly terrain below an elevation of , availability of water, and an abundance of forage in the form of grasses, bamboo, shrubs, and trees. Its apparent preference for hilly terrain may be partly due to the earlier conversion of most of the plains and other low-lying areas to croplands and pastures. It occurs from sea level to an elevation of at least . Low-lying areas seem to comprise optimal habitat.
  In Nepal, the gaur population was estimated to be 250–350 in the mid-1990s, with the majority in Chitwan National Park and the adjacent Parsa National Park. These two parks are connected by a chain of forested hills. Population trends appeared to be relatively stable. The Chitwan population has increased from 188 to 368 animals in the years 1997 to 2016. Census conducted in Parsa National Park confirmed the presence of 112 gaur in the same period.