The aurochs (Bos primigenius) (or urus) is an extinct European mammal of the Bovidae family. The scientific name translates the German term Auerochse or Urochs, literally meaning "primeval ox," or "proto-ox". According to the Paleontologisk Museum, Oslo University, the aurochs evolved in India some two million years ago, migrated into the Middle-East region, and reached Europe about 250,000 years ago.
Oddly, some people regard all modern cattle (Bos taurus) as the direct descendants of the aurochs, even though they are classified as two distinct species, as is pointed out in the article on Heck cattle; the South Asian domestic cattle, the zebu, may be descended from a related species, the gaur. 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.
Aurochs are depicted in many Paleolithic European cave paintings such as those found at Lascaux and Livernon in France, indicating the former range of this formidable beast, whose 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 Mithra. In the area of the southern Caucasus and northern Mesopotamia, domestication of the aurochs was undertaken from about 5000 BCE.
A 1999 archaeological dig in Peterborough, England, uncovered the skull of an aurochs but 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 last recorded live aurochs was reportedly hunted and killed by poachers in 1627 in the Jaktorów Forest, Poland.
In the 1920s two German zookeepers— brothers by the names of 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" in which "primitive" traits might reappear as "throwbacks" to an earlier form. The result is the breed called Heck Cattle, or "Recreated Aurochs" or "Heck Aurochs", which bears an incomplete physical resemblance to what is known about the wild aurochs.
References
- Don E. Wilson and DeeAnn M. Reeder; Mammals of the World; (2nd edition, 1993)