European cattle
| Taurine cattle | |
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| A Galician Blond cow in Spain | |
Domesticated
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| Subspecies: | B. t. taurus
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| Trinomial name | |
| Bos taurus taurus | |
Taurine cattle (Bos taurus taurus), also called European cattle, are a subspecies of domesticated cattle originating in the Near East. Both taurine cattle and zebus are descended from the aurochs. Taurine cattle were originally considered a separate species, but are now typically grouped with zebus and aurochs into one species, Bos taurus.[1][2] Most modern breeds of cattle are taurine cattle.
Genetic research suggests the entire modern stock of taurine cattle may have arisen from as few as 80 aurochs tamed in the upper reaches of Mesopotamia about 10,500 years ago near the villages of Çayönü in southeastern Turkey and Dja'de el Mughara in northern Iraq.[3]
References
- ^ Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M., eds. (2005). "Bos taurus". Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
- ^ Managing Global Genetic Resources: Livestock. National Academy Press. 1993. p. 143. ISBN 978-0-309-10378-7.
They were originally named as separate species, Bos taurus and Bos indicus, but they are interfertile and now generally regarded as a single species.
- ^ Bollongino, Ruth, at al. Molecular Biology and Evolution. "Modern Taurine Cattle descended from small number of Near-Eastern founders". 7 March 2012. Accessed 8 May 2015.
External links
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