Actual cattle

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Actual cattle
Gaur (Bos frontalis)

Gaur ( Bos frontalis )

Systematics
Subordination : Ruminants (ruminantia)
without rank: Forehead weapon bearer (Pecora)
Family : Horned Bearers (Bovidae)
Subfamily : Bovinae
Tribe : Cattle (bovini)
Genre : Actual cattle
Scientific name
Bos
Linnaeus , 1758

The actual cattle ( Bos ) are a kind of cattle from the family of the horned bearers (Bovidae). In addition to the aurochs or its domesticated form, domestic cattle , the genus includes seven other species that live in Asia and North America. These include, above all, the yak , the gaur , the banteng and the probably extinct Kouprey . The American bison and the wisent originally formed the genus bison . However, according to molecular genetic studies based on mitochondrial DNA, it does not represent a natural unit, which is why the two species are often listed within the genus Bos .

features

The actual cattle are large, stocky animals with strong limbs and a long tail. These animals reach head / trunk lengths of 1.80 to 3.2 meters, plus a tail that is 0.6 to over 1 meter long. The shoulder height is 1.2 to 2 meters and the weight 400 to over 1000 kilograms, with the males usually being significantly heavier than the females. Unlike other horned animals, there are no glands under the eye or between the hooves. Both sexes have horns, but those of the males are larger and heavier than those of the females.

Distribution and way of life

The original distribution area of ​​the actual cattle covered large parts of Eurasia and northern Africa . The habitats of these animals are predominantly open forest areas or grasslands, but this is variable depending on the species. While the wild forms in a large part of their range have been extinguished for centuries, the domesticated forms have achieved worldwide distribution in the wake of humans.

Actual cattle live in herds, which are usually composed of a single male, numerous females and their offspring. Other males live solitary or in bachelor groups. These animals are herbivores, like all ruminants they have a multi-chambered stomach for better digestion of the plant food.

Actual cattle and humans

Four of the eight species of real cattle were domesticated, the process began around 8,000 years ago. Today these animals are kept worldwide as draft animals, meat and milk suppliers, among other things. The stocks of wild forms, on the other hand, are increasingly endangered, the wild cattle has become extinct, the Kouprey is probably extinct according to the IUCN , the Banteng as critically endangered and the yak and gaur as endangered.

Real cattle in art and culture

One of the oldest works of art of mankind, cattle from the Vogelherd cave (40,000 years old, Aurignacien), UNESCO World Heritage " Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura ", Museum of the University of Tübingen MUT

In the Upper Paleolithic art, besides mammoths, wild horses and lions, cattle were also represented. In the cave art of western Europe, bison and aurochs dominate, with around a quarter of all the animals shown. Both bison and aurochs can be found in the Chauvet and Cosquer caves , the former dates to the Aurignacien , the latter is a little younger and belongs to the Solutréen . Real cattle are less common in the mobile art of the Upper Paleolithic. One of the oldest sculptures is an incomplete, roughly palm-sized figure from the Vogelherd Cave ( Swabian Alb ). It was discovered in 1931 during archaeological excavations and is assigned to the Aurignacien. A half-sculpture from the Geißenklösterle near Blaubeuren is about the same age .

Domestication

The aurochs only survived in its various forms of domestication ( domestic cattle and zebu ). The yak , the gaur and the banteng were also domesticated (house yak , gayal, balirind). With bison and American bison no successful domestication took place, both species can be crossed with each other without restriction.

Tribal history

The origin of the genus Bos is not clear, it is often associated with the Pliocene forms Leptobos and Pelorovis . Some authors take the view that the bison and wisent-like cattle go back to Leptobos , the other representatives of the real cattle, however, to Pelorovis . The oldest confirmed finds of cattle of the genus Bos are proven to be around 1 million years old from the Old Pleistocene and come from Buia in Eritrea . They are assigned to the species Bos buiaensis , a large, but quite lightly built form with widely spreading horns. Fossil remains from Asbole on the Awash in Ethiopia and from Wadi Sarrat in Tunisia belong to the transition from the Old Pleistocene to the Middle Pleistocene 800,000 to 600,000 years ago . They form the earliest records of the aurochs ( Bos primigenius ).

Systematics

Banteng

The systematics of the actual cattle is controversial, which is partly due to the fact that wild and domestic animals of the same species were often viewed as different species and the individual species can sometimes be crossed with one another. Today eight types are distinguished:

  • The American bison ( Bos bison Linnaeus , 1758; also bison bison ) lives in the grasslands of North America.
  • The bison ( Bos bonasus Linnaeus , 1758; also Bison bonasus ) occurs in the lowlands of Eastern Europe.
  • The extinct mountain wisent ( Bos caucasicus Satunin , 1904; also Bison caucasicus ) was once common in the Caucasus.
  • The Gaur ( Bos gaurus ) is the largest cattle species and lives in South and Southeast Asia. It has been domesticated in the form of the Gayal, but only in a small area of ​​its distribution area, northeast India and neighboring countries. The scientific name of the domesticated forms is sometimes considered to be Bos frontalis .
  • The Banteng ( Bos javanicus ) also comes from Southeast Asia. It was domesticated in the form of the Bali cattle, feral populations of the Bali cattle occur in some Southeast Asian countries and in Australia.
  • The yak ( Bos mutus ) inhabits steppe areas and highlands in North and Central Asia. It has been domesticated in the form of the house yak for at least 2000 years. Bos grunniens is sometimes used as a scientific name for the house yak.
  • The extinct aurochs ( Bos primigenius ) became extinct in the wild, the last survivors were shot in what is now Poland. In the form of domestic cattle ( Bos taurus ), however, the species is widespread worldwide. The South Asian forms known as zebus ( Bos indicus ) apparently come from another subspecies of the aurochs or even another species of wild cattle ( Bos namadicus ) , which is also extinct today .
  • The kouprey ( Bos sauveli ), a species from Southeast Asia, is believed to be extinct.

Sometimes some species are classified in their own subgenus ( Novibos for the Kouprey, Bibos for the Banteng and the Gaur and Poephagus for the Yak). The American bison and the wisent were originally placed in their own genus ( bison ). Molecular genetic studies from 2004 showed that the yak may be more closely related to the American bison, whereas the bison is related to domestic cattle (or aurochs). Accordingly, the genus bison is to be understood as paraphyletic . These studies based on the matrilineal relationships are contrasted with comparable analyzes based on the Y chromosomes, which suggest a closer relationship between bison, American bison and yak. In this case the genus Bos would not be monophyletic, which is why the study suggested relocating the yak to the genus Poephagus while retaining the genus Bison . But this is not generally accepted.

literature

  • Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World . Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1999. ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
  • DE Wilson, DM Reeder: Mammal Species of the World . Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 2005. ISBN 0-8018-8221-4

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michel Lorblanchet: Cave painting. A manual. Sigmaringen, 1997, pp. 1–340 (p. 58)
  2. ↑ Jean Marie Chaucet, Eliette Brunel Deschamps and Christian Hillaire: Chauvet cave in Vallon-Pont-d'Arc. Sigmaringen, 1995, pp. 1-110
  3. ^ Jean Clottes and Jean Courtin: Cosquer Cave near Marseille. Sigmaringen S. 1-197
  4. ^ Gehard Bosinski: The Art of the Ice Age in Germany and Switzerland. Catalogs Pre- and Early History Antiquities 20, Bonn, 1982, pp. 1–92 (p. 12)
  5. ^ Hansjürgen Müller-Beck and Gerd Albrecht: The beginnings of art 30,000 years ago. Stuttgart, 1987, pp. 1–123 (p. 34 and plate 9)
  6. ^ Bienvenido Martínez-Navarro, Juan Antonio Pérez-Claros, Maria Rita Palombo, Lorenzo Rook and Paul Palmqvist: The Olduvai buffalo Pelorovis and the origin of Bos. Quaternary Research 68, 2007, pp. 220-226, doi : 10.1016 / j.yqres.2007.06.002 .
  7. ↑ Bienvenido Martínez-Navarro, Lorenzo Rook, Mauro Papini and Yosief Libsekal: A new species of bull from the Early Pleistocene paleoanthropological site of Buia (Eritrea): Parallelism on the dispersal of the genus Bos and the Acheulian culture. Quaternary International 212, 2010, pp. 169-175.
  8. ↑ Bienvenido Martínez-Navarro, Narjess Karoui-Yaakoub, Oriol Oms, Lamjed Amri, Juan Manuel López-García, Kamel Zerai, Hugues-Alexandre Blain, Moncef-Saïd Mtimet, María-Patrocinio Espigares, Nebiha Ben Haj-Montoya, Sergio , Mabrouk Boughdiri, Jordi Agustí, Hayet Khayati-Ammar, Kamel Maalaoui, Maahmoudi Om El Khir, Robert Sala, Abdelhak Othmani, Ramla Hawas, Gala Gómez-Merino, Àlex Solè, Eudald Carbonell and Paul Palmqvist: The early Middle Pleistontological site of archeopale Wadi Sarrat (Tunisia) and the earliest record of Bos primigenius. Quaternary Science Reviews 90, 2014, pp. 37-46.
  9. ^ Alan W. Gentry: Bovidae. In: Lars Werdelin and William J. Sanders (eds.): Cenozoic mammals of Africa. University of California Press, 2010, pp. 741-796.
  10. ↑ Colin Groves and Peter Grubb: Ungulate Taxonomy. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011, pp. 1–317 (SS 110–124)
  11. ↑ Colin P. Groves and David M. Leslie Jr .: Family Bovidae (Hollow-horned Ruminants). In: Don E. Wilson and Russell A. Mittermeier (eds.): Handbook of the Mammals of the World. Volume 2: Hooved Mammals. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2011, ISBN 978-84-96553-77-4 , pp. 572-588
  12. ↑ Alexandre Hassanin and Anne Ropiquet: Molecular phylogeny of the tribe Bovini (Bovidae, Bovinae) and the taxonomic status of the Kouprey, Bos sauveli Urbain 1937. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 33, 2004, pp. 896-907
  13. ↑ Fayasal Bibi, A multi-calibrated mitochondrial phylogeny of extant Bovidae (Artiodactyla, Ruminantia) and the importance of the fossil record to systematics , in: BMC Evolutionary Biology 13, 2013, p. 166
  14. ↑ Alexandre Hassanin, Frédéric Delsuc, Anne Ropiquet, Catrin Hammer, Bettine Jansen van Vuuren, Conrad Matthee, Manuel Ruiz-Garcia, François Catzeflis, Veronika Areskoug, Trung Thanh Nguyen and Arnaud Couloux: Pattern and timing of diversification of Cetartiodactalia, Lauriala (Mammia ), as revealed by a comprehensive analysis of mitochondrial genomes. Comptes Rendus Palevol 335, 2012, pp. 32-50
  15. ↑ Chengzhong Yang, Changkui Xiang, Wenhua Qi, Shan Xia, Feiyun Tu, Xiuyue Zhang, Timothy Moermond and Bisong Yue: Phylogenetic analyzes and improved resolution of the family Bovidae based on complete mitochondrial genomes. Biochemical Systematics and Ecology 48, 2013, pp. 136-143.
  16. ↑ Edward LC Verkaar, Isaac J. Nijman, Maurice Beeke, Eline Hanekamp and John A. Lenstra: Maternal and Paternal lineages in Cross-Breeding Bovine Species. Has wisent a hybrid origin? Molecular Biology and Evolution 21 (7), 2004, pp. 1165-1170
  17. ^ Isaac J. Nijman, Dick CJ van Boxtel, Lisette M. van Cann, Yindee Marnoch, Edwin Cuppen and Johannes A. Lenstra: Phylogeny of Y chromosomes from bovine species. Cladistics 24, 2008, pp. 723-726
  18. ^ Colin Groves: Current taxonomy and diversity of crown ruminants above the species level. Zitteliana B 32, 2014, pp. 5-14

Web links

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