Indian aurochs

Indian aurochs
Indian aurochs skull
Artist's impression[a]
Extinct
Extinct (no records after 3,800 YBP[1]) (IUCN 3.1)[2]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Placentalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Bovidae
Subfamily: Bovinae
Genus: Bos
Species:
†B. primigenius
Subspecies:
†B. p. namadicus
Trinomial name
†Bos primigenius namadicus
(Falconer, 1859)[2]
Map of the species' distribution
Synonyms

Bos namadicus

The Indian aurochs[b] (Bos primigenius namadicus) is an extinct subspecies of aurochs that inhabited West Asia and the Indian subcontinent from the Late Pleistocene until its eventual extinction during the South Asian Stone Age.[1] With no remains younger than 3,800 YBP ever recovered, the Indian aurochs was the first of the three aurochs subspecies to become extinct; the Eurasian aurochs (B. p. primigenius) and the North African aurochs (B. p. mauritanicus) persevered longer, with the latter being known to the Roman Empire, and the former surviving until the mid-17th century in Central Europe.[1][4][5][2]

The modern zebu breed (B. Indicus) can trace their genetic heritage to the Indian auroch and the modern day sanga breed (B. t. africanus) is partly of Indian auroch origin with additional Taurine cattle genetic influence.[6][7][8][9]

Description

The Indian aurochs is known exclusively from fossil and subfossil records, where it shows only minimal morphologic differences to the Eurasian subspecies (B. p. primigenius).[10] The Indian aurochs was probably smaller than its Eurasian counterpart but had proportionally larger horns.[11] Because the range of the aurochs species was continuous from the Atlantic coasts of North Africa and Europe to Bengal, it is uncertain whether there was a distinction or a continuum between the Eurasian, North African and Indian subspecies.[11]

Rock painting at Bhimbetka dated to 8,000 - 3,000 BCE depicting a humpless bovine.[12][13]

The last common ancestor of Indian aurochs and Eurasian aurochs (B. p. primigenius) is estimated to have lived about 150±50 kya BP, based on genetic analyses of living zebus and taurine cattle, the domesticated but heavily interbred descendants of those two aurochs subspecies.[14][15] Zebu and many Sanga cattle breeds are phenotypically distinguished from taurine cattle by the presence of a prominent shoulder hump.[16]

Range

The author Cis Van Vuure considers the aurochs species to have originated about 2 million years ago in India and spread westwards.[17] Most other authors consider an origin in Africa, where the species' oldest ever remains were found, from ancestors in the Pelorovis genus and a subsequent expansion into Eurasia more likely.[18][19][5][20][4]

A grazing ruminant like all members of its species, the Indian aurochs roamed throughout West and South Asia in the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene ages. Most remains are from the Kathiawar Peninsula, along the Ganges and Narmada rivers in what is today India. Some bone remains classified as Indian aurochs were also found further south, such as on the Deccan Plateau and along the Krishna River.[11]

The most recent remains from presesnt-day southern India, which clearly belong to the Indian aurochs are from Banahalli in Karnataka, with an age of about 4,200 YBP. Further north, the most recent remains date from 3,800 YBP and were found at Mahagara in what is now Uttar Pradesh.[4]

The Indian aurochs survived into the South Asian Stone Age, when its natural habitat steadily diminished by human pastoralism and agriculture spreading throughout the region around 5,500–4,000 YBP.[21]

Possible predators of the Indian aurochs probably included big cats such as Asiatic lions, leopards and tigers, as well as dholes.[22][23] In the Early Pleistocene, Pachycrocuta[24] and the Megantereon coexisted with large bovids in the Indian subcontinent and may have preyed on early populations of aurochs, although direct evidence is lacking.[25]

Domestication

Seal of Indus valley civilization

The Indian aurochs were most likely domesticated in and around ancient Mehrgarh, modern Baluchistan region of Pakistan around 9,000-7000 YBP, with subsequent breeding efforts eventually leading to zebu or indicine cattle.[26] The Neolithic culture is thought to have reached Mehrgarh through demic diffusion from the Near East, as the wheat cultivated there is considered to be of Near Eastern origin.[27] Cattle, by contrast, appear to have been domesticated locally as zebu derive from the wild Indian aurochs and represent an independent domestication event distinct from the Near Eastern domestication of taurine cattle.[27][21] The domestication process seems to have been prompted by the arrival of new crop species from the Near East around 9,000 YBP.[21] Human pastoralism, enabled by domestic cattle, spread throughout the subcontinent around 5,500–4,000 YBP. Secondary domestication events i.e. 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.[21][28]

Domestic zebu are recorded from the Indus region since 6,000 BCE and from south India, the middle Ganges region, and present-day Gujarat since 3,500–2,000 BCE. Discounting Gayal and banteng, domestic cattle seem to have been absent in southern China and southeast Asia until 2,000–1,000 BCE, when indicine cattle first appeared there.[4]

Feral zebu rewilding attempts

Feral zebu cattle roaming free at Keoladeo Ghana National Park, India
A Zebu bull in Kuno National Park, India

A feral zebu herd was initiated at Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh.[29] The cattle were set free in the sanctuary to act as an attractant for the critically endangered Asiatic lion (Panthera leo persica). Elsewhere, like in the state of Gujarat, which is one of the last few places on Earth with high density of Asiatic lions, the lions are known to hunt zebu occasionally, notably in and around Gir National Park. Furthermore, the presence of the zebu within Kuno can potentially conserve and improve the entire ecosystem and landscape dramatically, as apex predators are vital to a healthy functioning ecosystem, on all levels. By attracting Asiatic lions and possibly other rare or vulnerable predators (such as Bengal tigers, dholes, Indian wolves, or Indian leopards), the zebu will fill the ecological niche of their prehistoric ancestors.[30][31]

Notes

  1. ↑ aurochs horns and taurine cattle's head edited into this image of a zebu:
  2. ↑ "Aurochs" is both the singular and the plural term used to refer to the animal.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Turvey, Samuel T.; Sathe, Vijay; Crees, Jennifer J.; Jukar, Advait M.; Chakraborty, Prateek; Lister, Adrian M. (January 2021). "Late Quaternary megafaunal extinctions in India: How much do we know?". Quaternary Science Reviews. 252 106740. Bibcode:2021QSRv..25206740T. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106740. ISSN 0277-3791. S2CID 234265221.
  2. 1 2 3 Tikhonov, A. (2008). "Bos primigenius". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2008. IUCN: e.T136721A4332142. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T136721A4332142.en.
  3. ↑ Campbell, Douglas Ian; Whittle, Patrick Michael (2017). "Three Case Studies: Aurochs, Mammoths and Passenger Pigeons". Resurrecting Extinct Species. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 29–48. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-69578-5_2. ISBN 978-3-319-69578-5.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Shanyuan, Chen; Bang-Zhong, Lin; Mumtaz, Baig; Bikash, Mitra; J., Lopes, Ricardo; M., Santos, António; A., Magee, David; Marisa, Azevedo; Pedro, Tarroso; Shinji, Sasazaki; Stephane, Ostrowski; Osman, Mahgoub; K., Chaudhuri, Tapas; Ya-ping, Zhang; Vânia, Costa (2010-01-01). "Zebu Cattle Are an Exclusive Legacy of the South Asia Neolithic". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 27 (1). doi:10.1093/molbev/m (inactive 6 August 2026). ISSN 0737-4038. Archived from the original on 2024-06-19. Retrieved 2019-02-05.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of August 2026 (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. 1 2 Linseele, Veerle (25 October 2004). "Size and Size Change of the African Aurochs During the Pleistocene and Holocene". Journal of African Archaeology. 2 (2): 165–185. doi:10.3213/1612-1651-10026. ISSN 1612-1651.
  6. ↑ Grigson, Caroline (1 December 1991). "An African origin for African cattle? — some archaeological evidence". African Archaeological Review. 9 (1): 119–144. doi:10.1007/BF01117218. ISSN 1572-9842. S2CID 162307756.
  7. ↑ Marshall, Fiona (April 1989). "Rethinking the Role of Bos indicus in Sub-Saharan Africa". Current Anthropology. 30 (2): 235–240. doi:10.1086/203737. ISSN 0011-3204. S2CID 143063029.
  8. ↑ Pitt, Daniel; Sevane, Natalia; Nicolazzi, Ezequiel L.; MacHugh, David E.; Park, Stephen D. E.; Colli, Licia; Martinez, Rodrigo; Bruford, Michael W.; Orozco-terWengel, Pablo (January 2019). "Domestication of cattle: Two or three events?". Evolutionary Applications. 12 (1): 123–136. Bibcode:2019EvApp..12..123P. doi:10.1111/eva.12674. ISSN 1752-4571. PMC 6304694. PMID 30622640.
  9. ↑ Pérez-Pardal, Lucía; Sánchez-Gracia, Alejandro; Álvarez, Isabel; Traoré, Amadou; Ferraz, J. Bento S.; Fernández, Iván; Costa, Vânia; Chen, Shanyuan; Tapio, Miika; Cantet, Rodolfo J. C.; Patel, Ajita; Meadow, Richard H.; Marshall, Fiona B.; Beja-Pereira, Albano; Goyache, Félix (21 December 2018). "Legacies of domestication, trade and herder mobility shape extant male zebu cattle diversity in South Asia and Africa". Scientific Reports. 8 (1): 18027. Bibcode:2018NatSR...818027P. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-36444-7. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 6303292. PMID 30575786.
  10. ↑ Pumpelly, Raphael. Explorations in Turkestan: Expedition of 1904: vol.2, p. 361.
  11. 1 2 3 Vuure, Cis van, ed. (2005). Retracing the aurochs: history, morphology and ecology of an extinct wild ox. Sofia: Pensoft. ISBN 978-954-642-235-4.
  12. ↑ Mathpal, Yashodhar (1984). Prehistoric Painting Of Bhimbetka. Abhinav Publications. ISBN 978-81-7017-193-5.
  13. ↑ Sen, Sailendra Nath (1999). Ancient Indian History and Civilization. New Age International. ISBN 978-81-224-1198-0.
  14. ↑ Ward, J. A.; McHugo, G. P.; Dover, M. J.; Hall, T. J.; Ng'ang'a, S. I.; Sonstegard, T. S.; Bradley, D. G.; Frantz, L. A. F.; Salter-Townshend, M.; MacHugh, D. E. (2022-06-26). "Genome-wide local ancestry and evidence for mitonuclear coadaptation in African hybrid cattle populations". iScience. 25 (7) 104672. Bibcode:2022iSci...25j4672W. doi:10.1016/j.isci.2022.104672. PMC 9272374. PMID 35832892.
  15. ↑ MacHugh, David E.; Shriver, Mark D.; Loftus, Ronan T.; Cunningham, Patrick; Bradley, Daniel G. (1997-07-01). "Microsatellite DNA Variation and the Evolution, Domestication and Phylogeography of Taurine and Zebu Cattle (Bos taurus and Bos indicus)". Genetics. 146 (3): 1071–1086. doi:10.1093/genetics/146.3.1071. ISSN 0016-6731. PMC 1208036. PMID 9215909. Archived from the original on 2021-02-24. Retrieved 2025-10-19.
  16. ↑ Loftus, R T; MacHugh, D E; Bradley, D G; Sharp, P M; Cunningham, P (1994-03-29). "Evidence for two independent domestications of cattle". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 91 (7): 2757–2761. Bibcode:1994PNAS...91.2757L. doi:10.1073/pnas.91.7.2757. PMC 43449. PMID 8146187.
  17. ↑ Van Vuure, Cis (2005). Retracing the Aurochs: History, Morphology and Ecology of an Extinct Wild Ox. Sofia-Moscow: Pensoft Publishers. p. 36. ISBN 954-642-235-5. Bos acutifrons still lived in India until the middle of the Pleistocene. The aurochs is likely to have developed from this species between 1.5 and 2 million years ago. In the course of the Pleistocene, aurochs spread from India to, for instance, Europe, where they were first identified in the Tiber delta.
  18. ↑ Martínez-Navarro, Bienvenido; Karoui-Yaakoub, Narjess; Oms, Oriol; Amri, Lamjed; López-García, Juan Manuel; Zerai, Kamel; Blain, Hugues-Alexandre; Mtimet, Moncef-Saïd; Espigares, María-Patrocinio; Ben Haj Ali, Nebiha; Ros-Montoya, Sergio; Boughdiri, Mabrouk; Agustí, Jordi; Khayati-Ammar, Hayet; Maalaoui, Kamel; El Khir, Maahmoudi Om; Sala, Robert; Othmani, Abdelhak; Hawas, Ramla; Gómez-Merino, Gala; Solè, Àlex; Carbonell, Eudald; Palmqvist, Paul (15 April 2014). "The early Middle Pleistocene archeopaleontological site of Wadi Sarrat (Tunisia) and the earliest record of Bos primigenius". Quaternary Science Reviews. 90: 37–46. Bibcode:2014QSRv...90...37M. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.02.016. ISSN 0277-3791.
  19. ↑ Edwards, Ceiridwen J.; Magee, David A.; Park, Stephen D. E.; McGettigan, Paul A.; Lohan, Amanda J.; Murphy, Alison; Finlay, Emma K.; Shapiro, Beth; Chamberlain, Andrew T.; Richards, Martin B.; Bradley, Daniel G.; Loftus, Brendan J.; MacHugh, David E. (17 February 2010). "A Complete Mitochondrial Genome Sequence from a Mesolithic Wild Aurochs (Bos primigenius)". PLOS ONE. 5 (2) e9255. Bibcode:2010PLoSO...5.9255E. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0009255. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 2822870. PMID 20174668.
  20. ↑ Martínez-Navarro, Bienvenido; Antonio Pérez-Claros, Juan; Palombo, Maria Rita; Rook, Lorenzo; Palmqvist, Paul (September 2007). "The Olduvai buffaloPelorovisand the origin ofBos". Quaternary Research. 68 (2): 220–226. Bibcode:2007QuRes..68..220M. doi:10.1016/j.yqres.2007.06.002. ISSN 0033-5894. S2CID 55104027.
  21. 1 2 3 4 Chen S, et al. (January 2010). "Zebu Cattle Are an Exclusive Legacy of the South Asia Neolithic". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 27 (1): 1–6. doi:10.1093/molbev/msp213. PMID 19770222.
  22. ↑ Campbell, Michael O'Neal (2025). "Predators of Cattle in Asia". Cattle, Their Predators and Geomatics Research. Cham: Springer. pp. 191–223. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-97363-5_5. ISBN 978-3-031-97362-8.
  23. ↑ Campbell, Michael O'Neal (2025). "Cattle Ancestry and Ancient Carnivores". Cattle, Their Predators and Geomatics Research. Cham: Springer. pp. 165–188. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-97363-5_4. ISBN 978-3-031-97362-8.
  24. ↑ Patnaik, Rajeev; Nanda, Avinash (2010). "Early Pleistocene Mammalian Faunas of India and Evidence of Connections with Other Parts of the World". In Fleagle, John G.; Shea, John J.; Grine, Frederick E.; Baden, Andrea L.; Leakey, Richard E. (eds.). Out of Africa I. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. Dordrecht: Springer. p. 132. doi:10.1007/978-90-481-9036-2_9. ISBN 978-90-481-9035-5.
  25. ↑ Dennell, Robin; Coard, Ros; Turner, Alan (2008). "Predators and scavengers in Early Pleistocene southern Asia". Quaternary International. 192 (1): 78–88. Bibcode:2008QuInt.192...78D. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2007.06.023.
  26. ↑ Bradley, D G; MacHugh, D E; Cunningham, P; Loftus, R T (14 May 1996). "Mitochondrial diversity and the origins of African and European cattle". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 93 (10): 5131–5135. Bibcode:1996PNAS...93.5131B. doi:10.1073/pnas.93.10.5131. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 39419. PMID 8643540.
  27. 1 2 Gangal, Kavita; Sarson, Graeme R.; Shukurov, Anvar (2014). "The near-eastern roots of the Neolithic in South Asia". PLOS ONE. 9 (5) e95714. Bibcode:2014PLoSO...995714G. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0095714. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 4012948. PMID 24806472.
  28. ↑ Pérez-Pardal, L.; et al. (2018). "Legacies of domestication, trade and herder mobility shape extant male zebu cattle diversity in South Asia and Africa". Scientific Reports. 8 18027. Bibcode:2018NatSR...818027P. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-36444-7. PMID 30575786.
  29. ↑ Ganesh Ghosh: "Evaluating prospects of reintroducing Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) in Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary." TIGERPAPER, Vol. 36: No. 2 April–June 2009
  30. ↑ A.J.T. Johnsingh (2004) "Is Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary ready to play second home to Asiatic lions?" Deprecated link archived 2007-09-27 at archive.today, published in the Newsletter of Wildlife Institute of India (WII). Archived version at [link removed].
  31. ↑ Johnsingh, A.J.T.; Goyal, S.P.; Qureshi, Qamar (January 2007). "Preparations for the reintroduction of Asiatic lion Panthera leo persica into Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary, Madhya Pradesh, India". Oryx. 41 (1): 93–96. doi:10.1017/S0030605307001512. ISSN 0030-6053.
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