David Welch, age 13, of Willingboro, N.J., for his question:

HOW LARGE IS THE GAUR?

The gaur is the world's largest wild ox. The adult male grows to be six feet high at the shoulder and measures almost 10 feet long from the tip of its tail to the tip of its nose.

A few zoos are lucky enough to have resident gaurs, but most people would have to go to the Malay Peninsula or to the forests of India and Burma to see one. The huge animals have never been successfully domesticated.

The gaur is dark brown to black and its legs above the knees to the hooves are white. It has thick, curved horns that are covered with white hair tipped in black where the horns attach to the forehead.

Gaurs eat grass and the shoots of bamboo.

In the same family is the gayal, a smaller version of the gaur. It is raised in many villages of India for meat and milk. Also, excellent beef cattle have been developed by breeding the gayal bull with English cows.