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Scottish highland cattle

Cattle and aurochs

Cattle as a species include not just the domestic cows with which we are familiar, but the aurochs which are the ancestor to all cattle, domestic and wild. The very last aurochs died in Poland in 1627. However, Chillingham wild cattle give a good idea of how these wild ancestors of our farm animals behaved. These cattle can breed all year round, but most calves are produced in the spring or summer as poorer quality food in late autumn and winter delays the cows coming back into oestrus. The cows leave the herd to give birth, and the calves remain hidden for about a week before their mother introduces them to the herd.

Scientific name: Bos primigenius

Rank: Species

Common names:

  • Cows,
  • Domestic cattle,
  • Wild cattle

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Habitats

The following habitats are found across the Cattle and aurochs distribution range. Find out more about these environments, what it takes to live there and what else inhabits them.

Farmland Farmland
Farmland is essentially a non-natural environment that has been deliberately cleared to make way for agriculture. The resulting patchwork of fields has been managed by tilling and ploughing, grazing, sowing and harvesting since the stone age.

Behaviours

Discover what these behaviours are and how different plants and animals use them.

Additional data source: Animal Diversity Web

About

The aurochs (/ˈɔːrɒks/ or /ˈaʊrɒks/), also urus, ure (Bos primigenius), the ancestor of domestic cattle, is an extinct type of large wild cattle that inhabited Europe, Asia and North Africa; they survived in Europe until the last recorded aurochs, a female, died in the Jaktorów Forest, Poland in 1627.

During the Neolithic Revolution, which occurred during the early Holocene, there were at least two aurochs domestication events: one related to the Indian subspecies, leading to zebu cattle; the other one related to the Eurasian subspecies, leading to taurine cattle. Other species of wild bovines were also domesticated, namely the wild water buffalo, gaur, and banteng. In modern cattle, numerous breeds share characteristics of the aurochs, such as a dark colour in the bulls, with a light eel stripe along the back with the cows being lighter, or a typical aurochs-like horn shape.

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