page_title: Spanish Fighting Bull
section_title: Breed characteristics
hierarchical_section_title: Spanish Fighting Bull / Breed characteristics
caption_attribution_description: English: Spanish Fighting Bull II by Alexander Fiske-Harrison
context_page_description: The Spanish Fighting Bull is an Iberian heterogeneous cattle population. It is exclusively bred free-range on extensive estates in Spain, Portugal, France and Latin American countries where bull fighting is organized. Fighting bulls are selected primarily for a certain combination of aggression, energy, strength, and stamina. During the breeding, in order to preserve their natural characteristics, the bulls rarely encounter human beings, and if ever, never on foot.
context_section_description: The fighting bull is characterized by its aggressive behavior, especially when solitary or unable to flee. Many are colored black or dark brown, but other colorations are normal. They reach maturity slower than meat breeds as they were not selected to be heavy, having instead a well-muscled "athletic" look, with a prominent morrillo, a complex of muscles over the shoulder and neck which gives the bull its distinctive profile and strength with its horns. The horns are longer than in most other breeds and are present in both males and females. Mature bulls weigh from 408.2 to 700 kg (900 to 1,543 lb).
  Among fighting cattle there are several "encastes" or sub types of the breed. Of the so-called "foundational breeds", only the bloodlines of Vistahermosa, Vázquez, Gallardo and Cabrera remain today. In the cases of the latter two only the ranches of Miura and Pablo Romero are deeply influenced by them. The so-called "modern foundational bloodlines" are Saltillo, Murube, Parladé and Santa Coloma, all of which are mainly composed of Vistahermosa blood.
  Cattle have dichromatic vision, rendering them red-green colorblind and falsifying the idea that the color red makes them angry; they just respond to the movements of the muleta. The red coloring is traditional and is believed to both dissimulate blood stains and provide a suitable light-dark contrast against the arena floor.
caption: A Spanish Fighting Bull. Breed: Vegahermosa. Feria de Córdoba 2009
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