Cattle
Cattle (Bos taurus) were domesticated from the extinct wild aurochs in the Near East about 10,500 years ago. Today more than a billion cattle provide meat, milk, leather and labor, and they are a notable source of methane.
Cattle (Bos taurus) were domesticated from the extinct wild aurochs in the Near East about 10,500 years ago. Today more than a billion cattle provide meat, milk, leather and labor, and they are a notable source of methane.
🧬 Field Guide Specimen: Open Cattle in the CRV Science Field Guide to log the specimen, see its place among the Mammals lineages in the Cladogram Explorer, and test your recall in the Red List conservation game.
Ruminants: How Does a Cow Digest Grass?
Cattle have a stomach with four chambers. In the rumen, billions of microbes ferment cellulose into fatty acids, which the animal absorbs. The cow regurgitates and chews its cud again to break down fibers further. Methane, a by-product of the microbes, is belched out. See Climate change.
Cattle and Human Evolution
The spread of dairy farming favored mutations in people that keep the lactase gene active into adulthood, so that adults can digest milk sugar. Lactase persistence is a textbook example of gene-culture coevolution.
Two Domestications
Taurine cattle come from the Near East, while humped zebu cattle (Bos indicus) were domesticated separately in South Asia. The last wild aurochs died in Poland in 1627.
Cattle at a Glance
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Scientific name | Bos taurus |
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Chordata |
| Class | Mammalia |
| Order | Cetartiodactyla |
| Family | Bovidae |
| Field Guide group | Mammals: Eutheria (Placentals) |
| Diagnostic feature (Field Guide) | The classic textbook model for a ruminant multi-chambered stomach, cloven hooves, and paraxonic foot structure. |
| Wild ancestor | Aurochs (extinct 1627) |
| Stomach | Four chambers |
See Also
- Climate change — methane from livestock
- Evolution — gene-culture coevolution