{"id":15059,"date":"2026-08-10T12:07:01","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T06:37:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=15059"},"modified":"2026-08-10T16:30:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T11:00:26","slug":"mithun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/mithun\/","title":{"rendered":"Mithun"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Mithun Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Over 200 mithuns have died in a foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak in Dibang Valley district of Arunachal Pradesh in the last one month.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Mithun<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Mithun, or <\/span><b>gayal, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is a<\/span><b> heavily built, semi-domesticated bovine species.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scientific Name: Bos frontalis<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mithun is believed to have originated more than 8000 years ago and is <\/span><b>considered <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to be a <\/span><b>descendent of wild Indian gaur, or bison.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is also known as the <\/span><b>\u2018cattle of the mountain\u2019.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Mithun <\/b><b>Distribution<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The highest concentration of mithuns in the world is spread over the <\/span><b>North Eastern (NE) region of India,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with <\/span><b>Arunachal Pradesh<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> having the <\/span><b>highest population<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is also found in <\/span><b>China <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and <\/span><b>parts of Southeast Asia,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> viz., Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Bhutan.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The geographic zone is covered with <\/span><b>tropical evergreen rain forests.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is the <\/span><b>state animal <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of <\/span><b>Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>\u2018Soulung\u2019 festival<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is observed annually by the <\/span><b>Adi tribes of Arunachal Pradesh to commemorate the birth and arrival of Mithun<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on this earth.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Mithun <\/b><b>Features<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It appears somewhat <\/span><b>similar to that of Gaur <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">but are distinctly <\/span><b>smaller in size.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The characteristic feature lies in the <\/span><b>head<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which has a<\/span><b> well-developed, broad frontal bone with a flat-shaped face.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From the front view, it<\/span><b> appears like an inverted triangle <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">from where <\/span><b>two horns emerge from the lateral sides.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Horn colour <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">varies from<\/span><b> whitish yellow to salty black i<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">n most animals.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>skin color<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of the head and body is <\/span><b>blackish-brown i<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">n both sexes, and the <\/span><b>forehead <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is <\/span><b>creamy white or yellowish<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in color.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The other distinguishing features are a small and double dewlap and white stockings.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They move in <\/span><b>small groups<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with one or two males and several females and calves.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Mithun <\/b><b>Conservation Status<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is classified as &#8216;<b>Vulnerable <\/b>\u00a0&#8216; under the IUCN Red List.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>What is Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD)?<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a severe, highly <\/span><b>contagious viral disease<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that <\/span><b>affects all cloven-hoofed animals, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">including cattle, sheep, goats, camelids, deer, and pigs.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cloven-hoofed animals are those with divided hooves. It does not affect horses or zebras.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Cause<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: It is caused by an <\/span><b>Aphthovirus <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of the family Picornaviridae.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a <\/span><b>transboundary animal disease (TAD)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that deeply affects the production of livestock and disrupts regional and international trade in animals and animal products.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Intensively reared animals <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">are <\/span><b>more susceptible<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to the disease than traditional breeds.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">FMD is a disease of animals,<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">not humans, and is a <\/span><b>different disease than hand, foot, and mouth disease<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which is <\/span><b>common in young childre<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">n.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">FMD is <\/span><b>not transmitted to humans by eating affected meat.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Transmission:\u00a0<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The virus is transmitted through <\/span><b>direct contact<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> between healthy and infected animals.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Indirect contact with contaminated objects<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (fomites) such as vehicles, clothing, footwear, and bedding can also spread FMDV.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Additionally, <\/span><b>consuming contaminated feed or milk <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">can transmit the virus as well as through <\/span><b>respiratory aerosols.\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Symptoms<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">FMD is characterised by <\/span><b>fever and blister-like sores on the tongue and lips<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, in the mouth, on the teats and between the hooves.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The disease is<\/span><b> rarely fatal in adult animals,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> but there is often <\/span><b>high mortality in young<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> animals due to myocarditis.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Treatment<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: <\/span><b>Vaccination <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is the only effective preventive measure against FMD.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>News: <\/b><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.deccanchronicle.com\/lifestyle\/environment\/over-200-mithuns-die-in-foot-and-mouth-disease-in-arunachal-1977624\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">DC<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Mithun or gayal (Bos frontalis) is a heavily built, semi-domesticated bovine species. Read more about Mithun, Distribution, Features, Conservation Status, Latest News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":57831,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1970,21,22,23],"class_list":["post-15059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","tag-mithun","tag-prelims-pointers","tag-upsc-current-affairs","tag-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15059"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15059\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":118365,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15059\/revisions\/118365"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}