Mammals · Artiodactyla · Bovidae

Domesticated Cattle

Bos taurus

Not Evaluated

It has not yet been assessed against the IUCN criteria. See full glossary

The cow, in the case of the female, or bull, in the case of the male, is an artiodactyl mammal of the family Bovidae. It was formerly regarded as a subspecies of Bos primigenius, but a recent study treats it as a distinct species. The scientific name is the one assigned to European and North Asian domestic cattle, a group of domestic bovids descended from the Eurasian wild aurochs subspecies known as Bos primigenius primigenius; while Bos primigenius indicus is the name given to zebus and other domestic cattle breeds from the same stock, descended from the South East Asian wild aurochs subspecies known as Bos primigenius namadicus. It is a large, robustly built ruminant mammal, averaging some 1.2-1.5 m in height and 600-800 kg in weight.

Weight

400 kg – 1.1 t

Size

1.8 m – 2.5 m

Lifespan

20 years

Diet

Herbivore

Feeds mainly on plants.

Activity

Diurnal

Active mainly during the day.

Social structure

Herd

Lives in large groups as a strategy against predators.

Sighting difficulty

Unknown

GrasslandHerbivore Diurnal In herds Grassland Mammal

86same family

Fun facts

All cattle descend from the aurochs, an enormous wild bovid whose last known individual died in the forest of Jaktorów, in Poland, in 1627.
Without the microorganisms of its rumen it could not make use of grass: it is not the cow that digests cellulose, but the trillions of microbes it hosts.
It was domesticated in Anatolia between 10,500 and 10,000 years ago from the aurochs, Bos primigenius.
The zebu, Bos indicus, is an independent domestication, from another subspecies of aurochs, the Asian one, some 8,000 years ago.
Its rumen houses a community of bacteria, protozoa and fungi that digest cellulose on its behalf: without those microorganisms it could not make use of grass.
Adult lactose tolerance in European and African human populations evolved after this domestication, and it is one of the best-documented cases of coevolution between a domestic species and ourselves.

Life cycle & biology

Skeleton type: Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (mammal)
Habitat & environment: Pasture, dehesa woodland pasture and livestock holdings worldwide
Sexual maturity: 18 months
Gestation / incubation: 9.1 months
Litter / clutch size: 1
Lifespan in captivity: 25

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bos_taurus