Cattle
Cattle
A Swiss Braunvieh cow wearing a cowbell
Conservation status
Domesticated
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Mammalia
Order:
Artiodactyla
Family:
Bovidae
Subfamily:
Bovinae
Genus:
Bos
Species:
Bos primigenius
Subspecies: B. p. taurus
Binomial name
Bos primigenius taurus
Linnaeus, 1758
Cattle, colloquially referred to as cows, are
domesticated ungulates, a member of the
subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae.
They are raised as livestock for meat (called
beef and veal), dairy products (milk), leather
and as draft animals (pulling carts, plows and
the like). In some countries, such as India,
they are honored in religious ceremonies and
revered. It is estimated that there are 1.3 bil-
lion cattle in the world today.[1] In 2009 the
cattle became the first livestock animal to
have its genome mapped.[2]
Species of cattle
Cattle were originally identified by Carolus
Linnaeus as three separate species. These
were Bos taurus, the European cattle, includ-
ing similar types from Africa and Asia; Bos in-
dicus, the zebu; and the extinct Bos primi-
genius, the aurochs. The aurochs is ancestral
to both zebu and European cattle. More re-
cently these three have increasingly been
grouped as one species, with Bos primigenius
taurus, Bos primigenius indicus and Bos
primigenius primigenius as the subspecies.[3]
Complicating the matter is the ability of
cattle to interbreed with other closely related
species. Hybrid individuals and even breeds
exist, not only between European cattle and
zebu but also with yaks (called a dzo or
"yattle"[4]),
banteng,
gaur,
and
bison
("cattalo"), a cross-genera hybrid. For ex-
ample, genetic testing of the Dwarf Lulu
breed, the only humpless "Bos taurus-type"
cattle in Nepal, found them to be a mix of
European cattle, zebu and yak.[5] Cattle can-
not successfully be bred with water buffalo or
African buffalo.
The aurochs originally ranged throughout
Europe, North Africa, and much of Asia. In
historical times, their range was restricted to
Europe, and the