![]() It possibly migrated west into the Middle East during the Pleistocene. Fossils of the Indian aurochs were excavated in alluvial deposits in South India dating to the Middle Pleistocene. Bos acutifrons is a possible ancestor of the aurochs, of which a fossil skull was excavated in the Sivalik Hills in India that dates to the Early Pleistocene about 2 million years ago. The cold Pliocene climate caused an extension of open grassland, which supported the evolution of large grazers. ^ survived only in captivity from 1921 to 1951.The following cladogram shows the phylogenetic relationships of the aurochs based on analysis of nuclear and mitochondrial genomes in the Bovini tribe: Bovini The Bos and Bison genetic lineages are estimated to have genetically diverged from the Bovini about 2.5 to 1.65 million years ago. Ĭalibrations using fossils of 16 Bovidae species indicate that the Bovini tribe evolved about 11.7 million years ago. namadicus) lived on the Indian subcontinent. primigenius) was part of the Pleistocene megafauna in Eurasia. In 2003, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature placed Bos primigenius on the Official List of Specific Names in Zoology and thereby recognized the validity of this name for a wild species. Bos primigenius mauritanicus was coined by Philippe Thomas in 1881 who described fossils found in deposits near Oued Seguen west of Constantine, Algeria. The name Bos namadicus was used by Hugh Falconer in 1859 for cattle fossils found in Nerbudda deposits. The scientific name Bos primigenius was proposed for the aurochs by Ludwig Heinrich Bojanus in 1827 who described the skeletal differences between the aurochs and domestic cattle. The scientific name Bos taurus was introduced by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 for feral cattle in Poland. "Aurochs" is both the singular and the plural term used to refer to the animal. The use of the plural form aurochsen in English is a direct parallel of the German plural Ochsen and recreates the same distinction by analogy as English singular ox and plural oxen. The Latin word "urus" was used for wild ox since the Gallic Wars. The Old High German words ūr meaning "primordial" and ohso for "ox" were compounded to ūrohso, which became the early modern Aurochs. Some modern cattle breeds exhibit features reminiscent of the aurochs, such as the dark colour and light eel stripe along the back of bulls, the lighter colour of cows, or an aurochs-like horn shape.īoth "aur" and "ur" are Germanic or Celtic words meaning wild ox. Domestication of the Indian aurochs led to the zebu cattle ( Bos indicus) that hybridised with early taurine cattle in the Near East about 4,000 years ago. Hybridisation between aurochs and early domestic cattle occurred during the early Holocene. One gave rise to the domestic cattle ( Bos taurus) in the Fertile Crescent in the Near East that was introduced to Europe via the Balkans and the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Two aurochs domestication events occurred during the Neolithic Revolution. Its horns were used in votive offerings, as trophies and drinking horns. It symbolised power, sexual potency and prowess in religions of the ancient Near East. The aurochs is depicted in Paleolithic cave paintings, Neolithic petroglyphs, Ancient Egyptian reliefs and Bronze Age figurines. The aurochs declined during the late Holocene due to habitat loss and hunting, and became extinct when the last individual died in 1627 in Jaktorów forest in Poland. As indicated by fossil remains in Northern Europe, it reached Denmark and southern Sweden during the Holocene. The oldest known aurochs fossils found in India and North Africa date to the Middle Pleistocene and in Europe to the Holstein interglacial. It probably evolved in Asia and migrated west and north during warm interglacial periods. The aurochs was part of the Pleistocene megafauna. With a shoulder height of up to 180 cm (71 in) in bulls and 155 cm (61 in) in cows, it was one of the largest herbivores in the Holocene it had massive elongated and broad horns that reached 80 cm (31 in) in length. The aurochs ( Bos primigenius) ( / ˈ ɔː r ɒ k s/ or / ˈ aʊ r ɒ k s/) is an extinct cattle species, considered to be the wild ancestor of modern domestic cattle. † Bos primigenius mauritanicus Thomas, 1881.† Bos primigenius namadicus Falconer, 1859.† Bos primigenius primigenius Bojanus, 1827.
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