page_title: Aurochs
section_title: Evolution
hierarchical_section_title: Aurochs / Taxonomy / Evolution
caption_attribution_description: English: Live reconstruction of an Indian aurochs (Bos (primigenius) namadicus). Transformed image based on: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%E0%B4%95%E0%B4%BE%E0%B4%B3.JPG Image of a zebu uploaded by author Krish9 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Taurus_cattle_Lippeaue9.JPG image of a taurus cattle bull uploaded by author DFoidl Horn shape based on: Raphael Pumpelly: Explorations in Turkestan&#160;: Expedition of 1904&#160;: vol.2, p. 361 (online link to Bos namadicus skull)
context_page_description: The aurochs, also known as urus or ure, is an extinct species of large wild cattle that inhabited Asia, Europe, and North Africa. It is the ancestor of domestic cattle. The species survived in Europe until 1627, when the last recorded aurochs died in the Jaktorów Forest, Poland.
  During the Neolithic Revolution, which occurred during the early Holocene, at least two aurochs domestication events occurred: one related to the Indian subspecies, leading to zebu cattle, and the other related to the Eurasian subspecies, leading to taurine cattle. Other species of wild bovines were also domesticated, namely the wild water buffalo, gaur, wild yak and banteng. In modern cattle, many breeds share characteristics of the aurochs, such as a dark colour in the bulls with a light eel stripe along the back, or a typical aurochs-like horn shape.
context_section_description: During the Pliocene, the colder climate caused an extension of open grassland, which led to the evolution of large grazers, such as wild bovines. Bos acutifrons is an extinct species of cattle that has been suggested as an ancestor for the aurochs.
  The oldest aurochs remains have been dated to about 2 million years ago, in India. The Indian subspecies was the first to appear. During the Pleistocene, the species migrated west into the Middle East (western Asia), as well as to the east. They reached Europe about 270,000 years ago. The South Asian domestic cattle, or zebu, descended from Indian aurochs at the edge of the Thar Desert; the zebu is resistant to drought. Domestic yak, gayal, and Bali cattle do not descend from aurochs.
  The first complete mitochondrial genome (16,338 base pairs) DNA sequence analysis of Bos primigenius from an archaeologically verified and exceptionally well preserved aurochs bone sample was published in 2010, followed by the publication in 2015 of the complete genome sequence of Bos primigenius using DNA isolated from a 6,750-year-old British aurochs bone. Further studies using the Bos primigenius whole genome sequence have identified candidate microRNA-regulated domestication genes.
  A DNA study has also suggested that the modern European bison originally developed as a prehistoric cross-breed between the aurochs and the steppe bison.
  Three wild subspecies of aurochs are recognised. Only the Eurasian subspecies survived until recent times.
  The Eurasian aurochs (B. p. primigenius) once ranged across the steppes and taigas of Europe, Siberia and Central Asia, and East Asia. It is noted as part of the Pleistocene megafauna, and declined in numbers along with other megafauna species by the end of the Pleistocene. The Eurasian aurochs were domesticated into modern taurine cattle breeds around the sixth millennium BC in the Middle East, and possibly also at about the same time in the Far East. Aurochs were still widespread in Europe during the time of the Roman Empire, when they were widely popular as a battle beast in Roman arenas. Excessive hunting began and continued until the species was nearly extinct. By the 13th century, aurochs existed only in small numbers in Eastern Europe, and the hunting of aurochs became a privilege of nobles, and later royal households. The aurochs were not saved from extinction, and the last recorded live aurochs, a female, died in 1627 in the Jaktorów Forest, Poland, from natural causes. Aurochs were found to have lived on the island of Sicily, having migrated via a land bridge from Italy. After the disappearance of the land bridge, Sicilian aurochs (B. p. siciliae) evolved to be 20% smaller than their mainland relatives due to insular dwarfism. Fossilized specimens were found in Japan, possibly herded with steppe bison.
  The Indian aurochs (B. p. namadicus) once inhabited India. It was the first subspecies of the aurochs to appear, at 2 million years ago, and from about 9000 years ago, it was domesticated as the zebu. Fossil remains indicate  wild Indian aurochs besides domesticated zebu cattle were in Gujarat and the Ganges area until about 4–5000 years ago. Remains from wild aurochs 4400 years old are clearly identified from Karnataka in South India.
  The North African aurochs (B. p. africanus) once lived in the woodland and shrubland of North Africa. It descended from aurochs populations migrating from the Middle East. The North African aurochs was morphologically very similar to the Eurasian subspecies, so this taxon may exist only in a biogeographic sense. Depictions show that North African aurochs may have had a light saddle marking on its back. This population may have been extinct before the Middle Ages.
caption: Speculative life restoration of the Indian aurochs (B. p. namadicus)
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