Aurochs

\n{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="right"\n|- bgcolor=pink\n!Aurochs
\n|- align="center"\n|\n|- bgcolor=pink\n!\n|-\n|\n{| align="center"\n|-\n|: ||Animalia \n|-\n|: ||Chordata \n|-\n|: ||Mammalia \n|-\n|: ||Artiodactyla \n|-\n|: ||Bovidae \n|-\n|: ||Bovinae \n|-\n|: ||Bos\n|-\n|: ||primigenius\n|}\n|- bgcolor=pink\n!Binomial name\n|- align="center"\n|Bos primigenius\n|} \nThe aurochs, Bos primigenius (plural aurochs or aurochsen, also urus) is an extinct European mammal of the Bovidae family. The scientific name translates the German term Auerochse or Urochs, literally "primeval ox," or "proto-ox". According to the Paleontologisk Museum, Oslo University, aurochs evolved in India some two million years ago, migrated into the Middle East, and reached Europe about 250,000 years ago. Aurochs are considered as a distinct species from modern cattle (Bos taurus), which are regarded as the direct descendants of the aurochs. The South Asian domestic cattle, the zebu, may be descended from a related species, the gaur, although others consider them another descendant species from aurochs. Modern cattle have become much smaller than their wild forebears: the height at the withers of a domesticated cow is about 1.4 meters, whereas an aurochs could reach about 1.75 meters.

The Worship of Aurochs

Aurochs are depicted in many Paleolithic European cave paintings such as those found at Lascaux and Livernon in France. Their life force may have been attributed with magical qualities, for early carvings of the aurochs have also been found. The impressive and dangerous aurochs survived into the Iron Age in Anatolia and the Near East, and was worshiped throughout that area as a sacred animal, the Lunar Bull, associated with the Great Goddess and later with Mithras. A 1999 archaeological dig in Peterborough, England, uncovered the skull of an aurochs. The front part of the skull had been removed but the horns remained attached. The supposition is that the killing of the aurochs in this instance was a sacrificial act. The Aurochs were also the symbol of Moldavia; nowadays they can be found in the coat of arms of both Romania and Moldova.

Domestication and Disappearance

Domestication of the aurochs began in the southern Caucasus and northern Mesopotamia from about the 6th millennium BCE. Domestication caused dramatic changes in the physiology of the creatures to the extent that domestic cattle must be regarded as a separate species (see above). The last recorded live aurochs was reportedly hunted and killed by poachers in 1627 in the Jaktorów Forest, Poland. In the 1920s two German zookeepers, the brothers Heinz and Lutz Heck, attempted to breed the aurochs back into existence from the domestic cattle that were their descendants. Their plan was based on the pre-Darwinian conception of 'atavism', according to which "primitive" traits might reappear as 'throwbacks' to an earlier form. The result is the breed called Heck Cattle, 'Recreated Aurochs', or 'Heck Aurochs', which bears an incomplete resemblance to what is known about the physiology of the wild aurochs.

References

\n*Don E. Wilson and DeeAnn M. Reeder; Mammals of the World; (2nd edition, 1993)

See also

\n* Wisent

External links

• History of aurochs in Poland\n*Aurochs: Bringing Them Back

\nCategory:Prehistoric mammals