Aurochs
From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change
| Aurochs Fossil range: Late Pliocene to Holocene |
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| Bos primigenius |
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Bos primigenius primigenius |
- See Ur (rune) for the rune.
The aurochs or urus (Bos primigenius) was a very large type of cattle, that was once very common in Europe but is extinct now.[1]
The word aurochs (IPA: /ˈaʊrɒks/ or /ˈɔrɒks/) comes to English from German. The use in English of the plural form aurochsen is directly parallel to the German plural and analogous to English ox (sg), oxen (pl). The word urus (/ˈjʊərəs/) comes to English from Latin, but came to Latin from Germanic origins.[2] The words aurochs, urus, and wisent have all been used synonymously in English.[3],[4] But the extinct aurochs/urus is a completely separate species from the wisent (the European bison).
According to the Paleontologisk Museum, University of Oslo, aurochs developed in India some two million years ago, came into the Middle East and further into Asia, and reached Europe about 250,000 years ago.[5] They were once considered a distinct species from modern European cattle (Bos taurus), but today not any more. Modern cattle have become much smaller than their wild forebears: the height of a large domesticated cow is about 1.5 meters (5 feet, 15 hands)[6], whereas aurochs were about 1.75 meters (5.75 feet, 17 hands). Aurochs also had several features rarely seen in modern cattle, such as lyre-shaped horns set at a forward angle, a pale stripe down the spine, and different color according to the sex. Males were black with a pale stripe down the spine, while females and calves were reddish (these colours are still found in a few domesticated cattle breeds, such as Jersey cattle). Aurochs were also known to have very aggressive temperaments and killing one was seen as a great act of courage in ancient cultures.
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[change] Subspecies
At one time there existed three aurochs subspecies, namely Bos primigenius namadicus (Falconer, 1859) that occurred in India, the Bos primigenius mauretanicus (Thomas, 1881) from North Africa and naturally the Bos primigenius primigenius (Bojanus, 1827) from Europe and the Middle East. Only the European subspecies has survived until recent times.
[change] Notes
- ↑ The animal's original scientific name, Bos primigenius, was meant as a Latin translation of the German term Auerochse or Urochs, which was (possibly incorrectly) interpreted as literally meaning "primeval ox" or "proto-ox". This scientific name is now considered invalid by ITIS, who classify aurochs under Bos taurus, the same species as domestic cattle. In 2003, however, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature "conserved the usage of 17 specific names based on wild species, which are pre-dated by or contemporary with those based on domestic forms" (http://www.iczn.org/BZNSep2006general_articles.html) confirming Bos primigenius for the Aurochs. Taxonomists who consider domesticated cattle a subspecies of the wild Aurochs should use B. primigenius taurus; the name B. taurus remains available for domestic cattle where it is considered to be a separate species.
- ↑ AHD4, headword urus.
- ↑ AHD4, headwords aurochs, urus, wisent.
- ↑ MWU, headwords aurochs, urus, wisent.
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ Height of Holstein cows
[change] References
- American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition (AHD4). Houghton Mifflin, 2000. Headwords aurochs, urus, wisent.
- Bunzel-Drüke, M. 2001. Ecological substitutes for Wild Horse (Equus ferus Boddaert, 1785 = E. przewalslii Poljakov, 1881) and Aurochs (Bos primigenius Bojanus, 1827). Natur- und Kulturlandschaft, Höxter/Jena, 4, 10 p. AFKP. Online pdf (298 kB)
- Garfield, Richard van. 1995. Magic the Gathering: Gatherer search: Aurochs. http://gatherer.wizards.com/?first=1&last=100&term=aurochs&Field_Name=on&Field_Rules=on&Field_Type=on&setfilter=Allsets&colorfilter=All
- International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. 2003. Opinion 2027 (Case 3010). Usage of 17 specific names based on wild species which are pre-dated by or contemporary with those based on domestic animals (Lepidoptera, Osteichthyes, Mammalia): conserved. Bull.Zool.Nomencl., 60:81-84.
