Aurocks - Evolution

Evolution

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 sometimes claimed to be the ancestor of aurochs, but it was a species with very long, outward-facing horns.

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 Javan 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.

Three wild subspecies of aurochs are recognized. Only the Eurasian subspecies survived until recent times.

• The Indian Aurochs (Bos primigenius namadicus) once inhabited India. It was the first subspecies of the aurochs to appear, at 2 million years ago, and from about 9,000 years ago (BP), it was domesticated as the zebu cattle. Fossil remains indicate there were wild Indian aurochs besides domesticated zebu cattle in Gujarat and the Ganges area until about 4,000-5,000 years ago. Remains from wild aurochs, 4,400 years old, are clearly identified from Karnataka in south India.
• The Eurasian Aurochs (Bos primigenius primigenius) once ranged across the steppes and taigas of Europe, Siberia, and Central Asia. It is noted as part of the Pleistocene megafauna, and declined in numbers along with other megafauna species by the end of Pleistocene. The Eurasian aurochs were domesticated into modern taurine cattle breeds around the 6th 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 evolved to be 20% smaller than their mainland relatives.

• The North African Aurochs (Bos primigenius 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 that this taxon may exist only in a biogeographic sense. However there is evidence that it was genetically distinct from the Eurasian subspecies. Depictions indicate that North African aurochs may have had a light saddle marking on its back. This subspecies may have been extinct prior to the Middle Ages.