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The Indian aurochs (''Bos primigenius namadicus'') ( sd, انڊين جهنگلي ڏاند) is an extinct
aurochs The aurochs (''Bos primigenius'') ( or ) is an extinct cattle species, considered to be the wild ancestor of modern domestic cattle. With a shoulder height of up to in bulls and in cows, it was one of the largest herbivores in the Holocene ...
subspecies that is considered the wild ancestor of the domestic zebu cattle, which is mainly found in the
Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographical region in Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geopolitically, it includes the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India ...
and has been introduced in many other parts of the world, like
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
and
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...
. In contrast, the domesticated
taurine cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...
breeds, which are native to
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...
, the Near East, and other parts of the world, are descendants of the Eurasian aurochs (''Bos primigenius primigenius''). According to IUCN, the Indian aurochs disappeared before the 13th century AD, leaving only the ''Bos primigenius primigenius'', whose range was by then restricted to Europe. The wild population of Indian aurochs was likely extinct millennia earlier than that; the most recent skeletal remains, from Uttar Pradesh, date from around 1,800 BC.Chen et al., 2010: "Zebu cattle are an exclusive legacy of the South Asia Neolithic." ''Molecular biology and evolution'', 27(1), 1-6

(in Supplementary Data)


Description

The Indian aurochs is known from fossil and subfossil remains. These show relatively slight differences to the Eurasian aurochs (''B. p. primigenius''). The Indian aurochs was probably smaller than its Eurasian counterpart but had proportionally larger horns.Cis van Vuure: ''Retracing the Aurochs - History, Morphology and Ecology of an extinct wild Ox.'' 2005, . Because the range of the aurochs probably was continuous from Portugal to India, it is uncertain whether there was a clear distinction or a continuum between the Eurasian and Indian subspecies. The Indian aurochs diverged from the Eurasian aurochs (''B. p. primigenius'') about 100,000–200,000 years ago. This has been shown by comparison of DNA from zebus and taurine cattle breeds, the living descendants of these two aurochs forms. The Indian aurochs is sometimes regarded as a distinct species. Zebu cattle are phenotypically distinguished from taurine cattle by the presence of a prominent shoulder hump.


Range

The aurochs originated about 2 million years ago in India and spread westwards. The Indian aurochs roamed in the
Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the '' Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed ...
and
Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togeth ...
epochs throughout the
Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographical region in Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geopolitically, it includes the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India ...
from
Baluchistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...
, the
Indus The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kash ...
valley and the
Ganges The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...
valley to south India. Most remains are from the north of India, on the Kathiawar Peninsula, along the Ganges, and from the area of the Narmada River. However, bone remains of the Indian aurochs are present in the south as well, such as the Deccan area and along the Krishna River. The wild Indian aurochs survived into neolithic times, when it was domesticated around 9,000  YBP, and co-existed with human pastoralism spreading throughout India around 5,500–4,000 YBP. The youngest known remains from southern India, which clearly belong to wild Indian aurochs are from Banahalli in
Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Kar ...
, with an age of about 4200 years old. In northern India, the most recent remains date from 1,800 BC, from Koldihwa/Mahagara,
Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
. Possible predators preying on the wild type of the zebu were big cats such as
lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...
,
leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia ...
s and
tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus '' Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on ...
s, as well as other predatory mammals such as
dhole The dhole (''Cuon alpinus''; ) is a canid native to Central, South, East and Southeast Asia. Other English names for the species include Asian wild dog, Asiatic wild dog, Indian wild dog, whistling dog, red dog, red wolf, and mountain wolf. ...
s and even giant
hyena Hyenas, or hyaenas (from Ancient Greek , ), are feliform carnivoran mammals of the family Hyaenidae . With only four extant species (each in its own genus), it is the fifth-smallest family in the Carnivora and one of the smallest in the clas ...
s and machairodonts such as ''
Homotherium ''Homotherium'', also known as the scimitar-toothed cat or scimitar cat, is an extinct genus of machairodontine saber-toothed predator, often termed scimitar-toothed cats, that inhabited North America, South America, Eurasia, and Africa during ...
'' and ''
Megantereon ''Megantereon'' was a genus of prehistoric machairodontine saber-toothed cat that lived in North America, Eurasia, and Africa. It may have been the ancestor of ''Smilodon''. Taxonomy Fossil fragments have been found in Africa, Eurasia, and ...
'' during prehistoric times.


Domestication

The Indian aurochs was domesticated in northern India, producing zebu or indicine cattle. The primary centre of the Indian aurochs' domestication was most probably the Indus River valley, now the Baluchistan region in Pakistan. The domestication process seems to have been prompted by the arrival of new crop species from the Near East around 9,000 YBP. Human pastoralism, enabled by domestic cattle, spread throughout the subcontinent around 5,500–4,000 YBP. Secondary domestication events - instances of additional genetic diversity acquired from interbreeding domesticated proto-indicine stock with wild aurochs cows - occurred very frequently in the Ganges basin but less so in southern India. It was in the Ganges valley, in Uttar Pradesh, that the most recent evidence of wild aurochs was found. Domestic zebu are recorded from the Indus region since 6000 BC and from south India, the middle Ganges region, and Gujarat since 2000–3500 BC. Domestic cattle seem to have been absent in southern China and
southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
until 2000–1000 BC, when indicine cattle first appeared there.


Feral zebu cattle

A
feral A feral () animal or plant is one that lives in the wild but is descended from domesticated individuals. As with an introduced species, the introduction of feral animals or plants to non-native regions may disrupt ecosystems and has, in some ...
population of zebu cattle is found in the
Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary Kuno National Park is national park and Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh, India. It derives its name from Kuno River. It was established in 1981 as a wildlife sanctuary with an initial area of in the Sheopur and Morena districts. In 2018 ...
in
Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital city, capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar, and Rewa, India, Rewa being the othe ...
.Ganesh Ghosh:
Evaluating prospects of reintroducing Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) in Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary.
''TIGERPAPER'', Vol. 36: No. 2 April–June 2009
The zebu were left there as a potential prey for
Asiatic lions The Asiatic lion is a population of '' Panthera leo leo'' that today survives in the wild only in India. Since the turn of the 20th century, its range has been restricted to Gir National Park and the surrounding areas in the Indian state of Gujar ...
and will thus fill the ecological role of their wild ancestors.A.J.T. Johnsingh (2004
"Is Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary ready to play second home to Asiatic lions?"
, published in the ''Newsletter of Wildlife Institute of India'' (WII). Archived version a
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Asiatic_Lions/conversations/topics/155
Preparations for the reintroduction of Asiatic lion Panthera leo persica into Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary, Madhya Pradesh, India
by A.J.T. Johnsingh, S.P. Goyal, Qamar Qureshi; Cambridge Journals Online; Oryx (2007), 41: 93-96 Cambridge University Press; Copyright 2007 Fauna & Flora International; ; Published online by Cambridge University Press 05Mar2007


Notes


References


External links



in: Raphael Pumpelly: ''Explorations in Turkestan : Expedition of 1904'' : vol.2, p. 361 {{Taxonbar, from=Q8250990 Extinct mammals of Asia Holocene extinctions Prehistoric bovids Extinct animals of India