Scientists believe that most of the modern representatives of cattle descended from the animal round, which disappeared from the face of the Earth in the 17th century. Traditional songs about him, epics, riddles and sayings, ritual masks have been preserved in the folklore of the Western and Eastern Slavs - the ethnographic material associated with him is huge. It is captured in the petroglyphs of ancient people, depicted on the coat of arms of modern Moldavia, Kaunas, Turks. There is a monument to the animal in Estonia, and a stone in honor of the last dead auroch was erected in Poland (now the Lviv region). For centuries, people have been hunting these animals for meat and skins, testing their dexterity and prowess. The one who struck the bull could boldly call himself a hero. And although the last herd of 24 individuals was taken under legal protection and was located on the lands of the Polish king, the number was constantly decreasing. After 28 years, in 1627, there were no tours. Scientists believe that one of the reasons for its extinction is a weak genetic inheritance.
Scientists believe that most of the modern representatives of cattle descended from the animal aurochs.
12 thousand years ago, the height of wild males was 2 m, and the weight was 1 ton. Over time, they became smaller. More than 6,000-year-old aurochs were discovered in a cave in Derbshire, after which scientists from 6 institutes and universities in Great Britain and Ireland analyzed the genetic material. As a result, the complete sequence of the animal's methochondrial DNA was obtained for the first time.
Beautiful powerful and majestic wild bulls had strong horns up to 1 m long, curving in the form of a lyre and pointing forward. A ferocious animal could pierce a person through them, knock them down and trample them with their hooves. The females were reddish-brown, and the males were almost black in color with light stripes along the ridge, characteristic of wild animals. The shoulder hump stood out, the front part of the body is more developed than the back. The wild ancestor of the cow had longer legs, a narrow, slightly elongated muzzle with a depressed forehead, the udder of the females was completely covered with wool and less noticeable.
Beautiful powerful and majestic wild bulls had strong horns up to 1 m long, curving in the shape of a lyre and pointing forward
The wild bull tour lived in Europe, the Caucasus, North Africa and Asia Minor for many millennia. Animals lived in herds, in which the female dominated, or alone. They ate, like all herbivores, foliage and grass, extracting shoots from under the snow in winter. Scientists suggest that the southern individuals were smaller and not as obstinate as compared to the northern ones. People began to domesticate them about 9 thousand years ago. The tamed animals survived. At first they were used only for meat and as draft power. They moved around the Earth with people, spreading beyond their natural ranges. As a result of the mutation, the physique became lighter and gradually they began to differ from the wild ancient bull.
In the 1920s and 30s, German scientists tried to recreate the extinct animal by backcrossing cattle. The result was a heka bull. It differs from the tour in size and color. Nowadays, similar experiments are carried out by scientists from Holland and Poland.
Gallery: animal tour and its descendants (25 photos)
All breeds of cows (video)
Descendants of the tour
There are several breeds of domestic bulls that resemble the tour. Closest to him is the gray Ukrainian breed, the weight of bulls which reaches 800-850 kg (maximum -1100 kg), and cows - 450-500 kg. Distributed from the Caspian and the Volga region to Spain and Portugal.
What does a bull of this breed look like? It is distinguished by well-developed muscles and high withers. Color gray or light grey. In bulls, the hair on the chest and legs is dark, the tips of the horns are black. Until now, the color has inherent properties that distinguished the wild ancestors of the cow: the coat changes color depending on the season. 100 years ago they were used as draft power. With good care, a gray Ukrainian cow can produce up to 20 liters of milk per day with a fat content of 5-8%. This breed has good immunity: in the middle of the last century, it was not affected by the plague and tuberculosis epidemics that brought down livestock.
Systematics and phylogenetic relationships
Tur (primitive tour, primitive bull, wild bull) is a typical representative of the genus Bos (actually bulls) and the only representative of the subgenus Bos (real bulls) that has survived to our time and has been exterminated already in historical time.
Currently, there is no consensus regarding the species name of the described animal. It all depends on what time to attribute the origin of this species. Among the Pleistocene representatives of the genus Bos on the territory of the former USSR, some authors identify up to 5-6 species of this genus. Others (for example, V. I. Gromova, 1931) take only two species - the glacial Bos trochoceros and its direct descendant - Bos primigenius. This view should be considered the most reasonable (Geptner, Nasimovich, Bannikov, 1961). All other varieties of the aurochs are more correctly attributed only to the geographical and chronological races of this bull. Some authors accept the species name Bos taurus for the tur, thereby identifying at the species level the wild tur and its domesticated form - European domestic cattle (South Asian cattle probably originated from another group of bulls, the so-called lobed bulls of the subgenus Bibos) and separating it from the Pleistocene tour forms - Bos primigenius. However, this division (Bos trochoceros - Bos primigenius - Bos taurus) seems artificial. The most correct, in my opinion, is the selection of only two types of the evolutionary line of tours - Bos trochoceros and its direct descendant - Bos primigenius, that is, the tour itself. European domestic cattle should be considered only a domesticated form of Bos primigenus and classified as a subspecies - Bos primigenius taurus (some, however, give it a species status - Bos taurus, which is incorrect). Thus, the Holocene tour, exterminated in historical time, was the same species as the Pleistocene tour, or, as it is also called, the primitive bull.
The most closely related species of the turu in modern fauna is the yak (Bos grunniens (syn. Bos mutus)). Some taxonomists place it together with the aurochs in the subgenus Bos, while others tend to distinguish the yak as a separate subgenus Poephagus within the genus Bos. Be that as it may, the yak, as noted above, is the closest form of turu among modern animals. In the morphology of the yak, typically bullish (genus Bos) features are expressed, although it also combines some structural features of bison (genus Bison), being a kind of “transitional” form between real bulls and bison (Geptner, Nasimvochi, Bannikov, 1961). On this basis, some taxonomists place bison in the genus Bos, distinguishing them only as a subgenus of Bison. On the other hand, Asian bulls of the subgenus Bibos (big-lobed bulls) are quite closely adjacent to the bison. Based on modern taxonomy, according to which bison are placed in a separate genus, and lobed bulls are distinguished only at the subgenus level, it is quite reasonable to consider lobed bulls (subgenus Bibos) more related to the tour (and all other representatives of the subgenus Bos) than bison (genus Bison ). Although the connection between the big-fronted bulls and bison is obvious, they, in turn, are more closely related to bison than real bulls. The great isolation of bison in relation to real bulls is indicated, among other things, by the fact that hybrid males (unlike females) obtained from such crosses are sterile.
So, summing up the phylogenetic relationships of the aurochs, the following should be said: among modern species, the closest relative of the bulls of the subgenus Bos in general and the aurochs in particular is the yak (either allocated or not allocated to a separate subgenus), then the large-lobed bulls of the subgenus Bibos and only then bison. The group of buffaloes (both Asian and African), belonging to different genera, represents a different evolutionary branch of the bovine subfamily (Bovinae) and is further apart from real bulls than the above-mentioned yaks, lobed bulls and bison.
Taxonomy
Squad: Artiodactyla (artiodactyla)
Suborder: Ruminantia (ruminants)
Infrasquad: Pecora (horned)
Family: Bovidae (bovids)
Subfamily: Bovinae (bovine)
Tribe: Bovini (bulls)
Genus: Bos (real bulls)
Subgenus: Bos (real bulls)
View: Bos primigenius (tur, primeval, or wild bull)
Morphology
The tour, or primitive bull, is, or rather was a large, imposing animal with a powerful, but at the same time rather slender physique. The height at the shoulders of males was 170-180 cm, reaching, according to some sources, 2 meters, and body weight - 700-800 kg. Some sources claim that the weight of the animals could be as much as a ton. However, such figures should be treated with caution. Similar sizes are most likely true for Pleistocene and Early Holocene animals. By historical time, the tours were somewhat smaller than their prehistoric relatives. However, it is quite possible that among later animals there were individuals whose weight approached a ton, and a height of two meters, however, such individuals were obviously atypically large accelerators.
In general appearance, the tour was of a lighter stock than the modern bison, or even more so the bison. The spinous processes of the thoracic vertebrae of the aurochs were much shorter than in the named species, therefore its height at the withers was slightly greater than the height at the rump. The head was in proportion to the body, relatively and most often absolutely narrower than that of bison, aurochs, lobated bulls and yaks. The horns were large and sharp. They grew first to the sides, then forward and slightly inward, the ends of the horns were bent upwards. Thus, the horns of the aurochs were a very formidable weapon and were more effective in combat than the horns of modern bulls. Currently, only the yak has horns that are equally effective for stabbing (the horns of these two species are very similar to each other). In general, the appearance of the tour is largely repeated by the Spanish fighting bulls and semi-wild bulls of the Camargue. However, unlike them, the aurochs reached more impressive sizes, their coloration was more uniform (although in the fighting bulls it is nevertheless overwhelmingly black or at least dark, like the aurochs), and along the ridge they had a characteristic light band. These breeds of bulls are also similar to tours in their behavior, differing from other breeds in their ardent disposition, fighting enthusiasm and great mobility. In the 20th century, several attempts were made to restore the appearance of the aurochs by breeding modern breeds of cattle. The greatest results were achieved by the works of the Berlin Zoological Garden (L. Heck). Through careful selection of several primitive breeds of cattle, primarily Spanish fighting bulls, it was possible in a surprisingly short time to produce a breed of bulls that were very similar to their mighty wild ancestor. This breed has not only typical turya horns and a monochromatic black color, but also a characteristic light belt along the back. By and large, morphologically, these bulls are no different from the tour, except perhaps for a slightly heavier warehouse. However, in ethological terms, these are already other animals that differ from the tour no less than a domestic cat from a wild one. But in fairness, it should be noted that the breeders in their desire to recreate the aurochs achieved amazing results: they managed to recreate not only the appearance of the aurochs males, but also the bay coloration of the females and young animals, that is, to obtain the sexual and age dimorphism characteristic of the aurochs, while how similar is not observed among other domestic breeds of bulls, including among those that served as the basis for the creation of the described breed.
Distribution and habitats
The distribution of the tour was very wide. However, it is rather difficult to restore the true distribution area of this animal due to the fact that the remains of the postglacial tur (Bos primigenus) are often mixed with the remains of its Early and Middle Pleistocene ancestor, Bos trochoceros. Nevertheless, it can be said that initially the range of the tour covered Europe (with the exception of the northern regions), the Southern Urals, the Trans-Urals, Transbaikalia, some areas of Western Siberia, China and Manchuria (from 50 to 40 degrees north latitude to the south and east to the Pacific Ocean), Kazakhstan, the Caucasus, Crimea, Turkmenistan, Asia Minor, Israel, Mesopotamia and some other nearby territories, as well as North Africa - from Egypt to Mauritania. Some of this information probably refers to Bos trochoceros, and some to the Pleistocene range of the aurochs proper. It is very difficult to determine the distribution area of the tour in historical time.
The biotopes of the tour were very diverse. He lived both in forests, sometimes even in very dense ones, including damp and marshy ones, and in sparse forests, forest-steppe, steppe, etc., as well as in the foothills. In some places (Pyrenees, Caucasus), tours lived even in the mountains, up to and including alpine meadows. In Europe, in the last centuries of its existence, aurochs preferred open meadow pastures in the summer, and went to the forests for the winter, feeding there partially on branch forage (Geptner, Nasimovich, Bannikov, 1961).
Lifestyle and behavior
It is rather difficult to judge the behavior of an extinct animal. Nevertheless, thanks to historical data, as well as focusing on modern relatives of the aurochs, one can to some extent judge the lifestyle and behavioral features of this animal. As for the latter, here, in my opinion, it is best to focus not on wild bulls (yaks, gaurs, bantengs, etc.), but on semi-wild or feral representatives of European cattle, as well as on such breeds as Spanish fighting bull.
Ttsry lived in small groups. According to some reports, they united in these groups mainly in winter, and in summer they stayed more alone. But most likely, adult males led a solitary lifestyle, and females from young animals obviously huddled in small herds. It is quite possible that males sometimes formed their own bachelor groups.
The basis of the diet of tours was grass and shoots of trees and shrubs. In autumn, acorns played a very significant role in the nutrition of aurochs. The rut took place in September, the birth of calves in the spring (Geptner, Nasimovich, Bannikov, 1961).
Tours possessed explosive temperaments and great fighting spirit. In Russian folklore, they serve as a symbol of power and courage. Hunting these bulls, with their strength and mobility, has always been very dangerous and was considered a valiant deed. In part, this explains the relatively small number of remains of aurochs compared to the remains of aurochs in the settlements of Paleolithic people.
In prehistoric times, the adult tour had few enemies. Wolves were a danger only to the young. Only lions, primitive people, sometimes, probably, bears, and in some regions also tigers could dare to attack seasoned bulls.
Causes of extinction
Tur belongs to those animals of the Pleistocene megafauna that successfully crossed the border of the Pleistocene and lived safely in the Holocene epoch. So the extinction of this species cannot be attributed to any climatic or any other natural changes. The reason for the extinction of the tour was both direct persecution by humans (hunting) and its displacement from its natural habitat (agriculture, cattle breeding). On the vast range of their habitat, tours became extinct at different times. If we pay attention to the time of the disappearance of the aurochs in certain regions, it becomes clear that the aurochs died out primarily where a person first became civilized and "cultivated". So, in Egypt, the tour died out by the end of the ancient kingdom (before 2400 BC). In Mesopotamia, the aurochs "lasted" longer, where it met during the time of the Babylonian kingdom, but in later times of the Assyrian kingdom it apparently died out (about 600 BC). In Central Europe, tours were conducted much later - in the Middle Ages. In the XII century, aurochs existed in the wild along the Rhine, Dnieper, in particular in the Chernigov lands (Geptner, Nasimvochi, Bannikov, 1961).
By 1400 aurochs disappeared in Central and Western Europe, but were still found in the Kaliningrad region. The tours have survived the longest in Poland (especially in Mazovia) and partly in Lithuania. For the last centuries and until the date of the death of the last tour (1627), the animals lived here under the protection of special decrees, and then they were kept as park animals in the royal hunting grounds (Geptner, Nasimovich, Bannikov, 1961).
As has been noted more than once above, the tour is the ancestor of European cattle and is genetically very close to it. Cattle (European) essentially belong to the same species as the aurochs, that is, Bos primigenius. In some breeds of domestic bulls, the signs of the tour appear quite clearly. These breeds include Spanish fighting bulls, Scottish and English park cattle, Hungarian steppe cattle, gray Ukrainian cattle and some others.
© Based on the materials of the encyclopedia "Mammals of the Soviet Union", volume one - "Artiodactyls and equids" (V. G. Geptner, A. A. Nasimovich, A. G. Bannikov), 1961.
Animal, large.
Origin of the Primitive Bull
There is a number of evidence from contemporaries about the existence from early historical times to the end of the Middle Ages in Europe, Western and Central Asia of a large wild bull, very similar in general appearance to domestic cattle and known under the names: ur, tour, aerox, rimu or reemu . There are even descriptions and images of this beast.
However, the simultaneous existence in the same territory of another closely related species, the European bison (Bison bonasus L.), and, in particular, the great rarity of the aurochs in the last centuries of its existence caused the ideas and the names of these two species to be confused even by contemporaries. It is no coincidence that S. Herberstein was forced to sign under the image of the tour: “I am ur, in Polish tour, in German aurox, the ignoramuses gave me the name of a bison”.
Later, the same reason served as the basis for a number of researchers, starting with Buffon, to question the existence of a wild bull-tur in the historical era in general. Pallas, for example, believed that the aurochs and the aurochs were two names for the same animal, that Herberstein was simply misled, and that the humpless bull depicted by him was nothing more than a feral buffalo. The same point of view was shared by the Polish paleontologist Push and even Boyanus, who first described the primitive bull as an independent species, allegedly extinct in the prehistoric period.
At present, a sufficient amount of irrefutable evidence has accumulated in favor of the indisputable existence of a wild bull - a tour already in the historical era. From among these proofs, except for the most convincing testimony of S. Herberstein, we will cite only a few. As I. Dolgikh showed, the Old Slavic language distinguished between the names of bison and aurochs. Pliny clearly noted the tur and bison when he wrote: “Scythia is very poor in animals, and there are few of them in Germany, but two types of bulls are remarkable: namely, a bison decorated with a mane and distinguished by strength and speed ur.” The monk Exgarm, who lived at about the same time, lists the food that was eaten in his monastery, and names bison (Wisent) and tur (Ur) separately. On the world map of Ebstorff, published in 1284, among other images of animals characteristic of different localities, both Bonacus (bison) and Urus (tur) are shown.
Lavrenty Surov wrote in 1564: “Those who call Urs (Uros) Bisons (Bisontes) are mistaken, because bison differ from Urs in many ways.” Finally, it should be remembered that until recently (and in some places even now) horns were kept in castles, churches and hotels, either as vessels for wine, or simply as decorations, which, judging by their size, could only belong to a wild bull - tour.
The structure of a primitive bull
It is impossible to give a description of the tur in the same completeness and sequence as for modern animals. In essence, more or less satisfactory and credible information about his appearance is given only by S. Herberstein, who personally saw at least the corpse of the tour, and by a well-known zoologist of the late 16th - early 17th centuries. K. Gesner. Herberstein also gave the first, somewhat satisfactory image of the tour. There are disputes whether Herberstein saw living aurochs and whether the aurochs and bison drawings for his Muscovy were made from life or from stuffed animals that stood in his house in Vienna and subsequently disappeared without a trace. The latter assumption is more likely. It is indisputable, however, that the Polish king Syagismund-August presented Herberstein, who at that time was an ambassador at his court, with a gutted corpse of a tour, covered with skin, except for the forehead, from which it was cut off earlier. The drawings of the aurochs and bison, apparently made from clumsily stuffed effigies, are very imperfect. Animals look awkward and in very forced poses. Probably, some proportions of the physique are distorted. But, firstly, the image of the tour here is much better than on the mentioned map of Ebstorf. Secondly, its value lies in the fact that it was made by order of a person who saw the beast in nature and, therefore, could prevent gross distortions. Already on these imperfect images, the most characteristic distinguishing features of the aurochs and aurochs are conveyed; only the horns of both species are shown the same, and the image of the bison suffers from the truth to a greater extent. Apparently, the best of all known is the so-called "Augsburg" image of the tour, first reproduced by G. Smith. According to this author, it is a copy of a mediocre-quality oil-on-wood painting found by him at a dealer in Augsburg, and judging by the technique of execution, relating to the first quarter of the 16th century, that is, a hundred years before the final extinction of the aurochs. The bull depicted in the picture did not have a dewlap on the neck, but was covered with rather coarse hair, had a large head, a thick neck and a small dewlap. Its coloration is "black as soot", except for a white chin. The horns had a bend characteristic of the Romanian and Podolsk domestic bulls, and a light color, except for the dark tops. In the corner of the picture, the remains of heraldic signs were visible, and, in addition, the almost erased word "tig" written in golden Gothic letters. The further fate of the original is not known - it disappeared without a trace, and the one made from it and published by G. Smith later reproduced the copy many times.
All other descriptions and images of the primitive bull are fragmentary, imperfect, and, most importantly, contradictory in many respects.
A critical comparison of the available descriptions of contemporaries and almost complete skeletons found in the ground (the number of the latter is currently more than ten) allows us to conclude that the aurochs was a large bull, significantly exceeding the size of bison and livestock, even large breeds. The height of adult males at the withers was 175-200 cm, and according to some sources even more.
Habitat and distribution of primitive bulls
The most plausible is the assumption of V. I. Gromova that the species of primitive bull occurred as a result of gradual shallowing from the end of the Ice Age of the Pleistocene B. trochoceros Meyer. It is very difficult to draw both a morphological boundary and a boundary in time between these two species. At the same time, the shallowing of the Quaternary Turs occurred independently simultaneously both in Europe and in Asia, where B. namadicus Falc. was a descendant of the Upper Pliocene and Lower Quaternary Turs, the remains of which were found in India along with the tools of Paleolithic man.
It is believed that in Western Europe, in particular in Germany, aurochs appeared only before or at the beginning of the Rissian time, and as a species B. primigenius lived from the last interglacial epoch or even from the bottom of the Holocene.
Undoubtedly, the Paleolithic man encountered the aurochs, hunted him. Rock carvings of bulls of the tour type are found in a number of Upper Paleolithic caves in France, Spain, North Africa, Sicily and some other places. There are known finds in Denmark and England of skulls with flint tips from arrows and spears stuck in the forehead. In England, even a complete skeleton of aurochs with a broken forehead was found, and in Denmark a skeleton with traces of damage to the ribs by a stone tool.
It should be noted that the tour, at least in Europe, apparently never was particularly numerous. This is evidenced not only by the rarity of its finds in the fossil state, but also by the paucity of its cave images in comparison with the bison.
It is believed that the last copy of the aurochs fell in 1627. It should, however, be borne in mind that in some places in zoos and menageries, the aurochs could have survived a little longer. The possibility is not ruled out that longer than in the Yaktorovsky forest, they lived in the menagerie of Zamoysky. There is an indication requiring verification that as early as 1669 aurochs lived in the zoological garden of Koenigsberg (now Kaliningrad), unless the usual confusion of the names of aurochs and bison took place here.
Biology of the primitive bull
Information on the biology of the tour is sparse and fragmentary. In the descriptions of contemporaries, we find them only in Sventsitsky, Mukante, Vigenère and Gesner.
All sources of the period of the last centuries of the existence of the aurochs in Europe agree that it was a typical forest animal and was often even called a forest bull. At one time, he inhabited the vast Hercynian forest, and in the end - the remnant of the latter, the Yaktorovsky forest forest. Yaktorovsky forest, according to Lukashevich, consisted of pine, oak, ash, alder, maple, elm, hornbeam, birch. The surroundings of the forest were marches (swamps). At the same time, according to contemporaries, the aurochs inhabited the most remote parts of this forest.
Reproduction of primitive bulls
Mating at tours took place in September. Between the males at this time there were fierce fights, often ending in the death of both sides.
The calving took place in May. Before calving, the females retired to the very thicket, where they remained with the newborns for about 20 days. After that, they went out to more open places. Mothers carefully protected calves from wolves and humans. Occasionally, cases of late mating and calving (in September) were observed, but, as a rule, calves born in autumn died in winter.
There were repeated cases of mating wild tours with livestock, but the hybrid offspring turned out to be unviable and for some reason died, especially in harsh winters.
Infraclass - placental
Subfamily - bulls
Narodrod - bulls and buffaloes
View - primitive bull or tour
Literature:
1. I.I. Sokolov "Fauna of the USSR, Ungulate animals" Publishing house of the Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 1959.
The appearance of the aurochs, completely exterminated and disappeared as a wild animal more than three hundred years ago, and its craniological and skeletal features are well known. There are folklore materials, descriptions of the beast made by travelers, images in old books, in particular, the wonderful so-called "Augsburg image", various historical evidence and numerous images of the tour on utensils and other archaeological objects. The number of remarkable wall paintings of prehistoric man in the caves of Spain and France is very large. The paleontological material is also great.
The bulls were of enormous stature and much larger than modern domestic bulls. Their height at the shoulders was 170-180 cm and weight from 600 to 800 kg. According to some reports, the height at the withers even reached 200 cm. These data refer, however, to an earlier time - in the last centuries of their existence, the tours were smaller, and their height apparently did not exceed 150 cm. Cows were much smaller than bulls . The difference between them, judging by some reports, was greater than that of modern domestic animals.
In general appearance, the tour was an animal of a relatively light warehouse, with a not too massive front part of the body and rather high legs. He was much lighter and leaner than our domestic bulls. His withers were not high, his back was straight, only slightly rising towards the withers, his croup was straight. The head is proportional, set rather high, rather narrow at the forehead, with a straight profile, very similar to the head of livestock. The horns are large, very sharp, light with dark ends. They move away from the skull, first to the sides, then up and forward and slightly inward, the very end is up. When the head was tilted, the horns pointed forward. The ears are small, the end of the muzzle is bare. The neck is massive, with a slight dewlap. The tail is not long, the end of it descended only slightly below the hock. Cows in general appearance, in particular, in the development of horns, did not differ much from bulls, however, they had a lighter build. The front part of the body was less massive and the head was lighter.
The hair in the summer fur was apparently short and close fitting, but somewhat longer than that of livestock. Almost the entire tail is covered with short hair, only at the end of its large brush of elongated hair. On the forehead between the horns, the hair was elongated and curly. Apparently, the hair at the withers was also very slightly elongated. The winter fur was longer and rather shaggy, longer than that of livestock.
There were sharp gender differences in the coloration of the aurochs. The bulls were painted in an even black color or black with a brownish tinge. The end of the muzzle (the chin and hair along the border of the bare part) was somewhat lighter, along the back there was a narrow light (almost white) belt very characteristic of the tour. Apparently, the belly and inner parts of the legs were slightly lighter than the body. The cows were reddish-brown (bay) and, apparently, also had a narrow light dorsal belt. Winter coloration* of cows was darker. The calves in the first outfit had a bright bay color - like cows or brighter.
Turam was characterized by a fairly significant individual variability. Since it can be judged from the drawings of prehistoric man and some paleontological materials, it was expressed in a change in the overall size and in the size and shape of the horns. They seem to have always, at least in bulls, directed their ends forward, but the shape of their bend at the base seems to have changed, and they were not always curved exactly as described above and shown in Fig. figure. Apparently, irregularities in the form of horns occurred more often in cows. The color intensity also changed and sometimes (very rarely) the cows acquired the dark color characteristic of bulls.
It is possible that in the last millennium of the free existence of the aurochs, there could have been cases of crossing it with livestock and, in connection with this, increased variability.
In such a widespread animal (from the peninsula of Scandinavia to North Africa and Mesopotamia), which existed in very different natural conditions, geographical variability must undoubtedly have also manifested itself. However, very little is known about this. Apparently, there were differences in both size and color. So, the tours of North Africa were bright red. In our epics, in which the tour is mentioned quite often, they usually talk about the “bay tour”. It is possible that the tours of the Dnieper region had just such a coloration, but more likely it was the same as described above.
The systematic position and connections of precisely that form that has survived to our era, that is, Bos primigenius proper, and the limits of its existence in the depths of time are not yet completely clear. For the Pleistocene, even part of the boundaries of the Pliocene and even the very top of the Pliocene, many forms are described - species and subspecies of the genus Bos. Some authors accept 5-6 species of this genus for the territory of the USSR. On the other hand, it is more correct to consider that there were only two of them - the glacial Bos trochoceros and the post-glacial modern tour descended from it. Bos primigenius. Everything else is just geographical or chronological races or individual variations. This concept seems to be very convincing.
The distribution of the tour was very wide. Fossil remains and other data (images) about the habitation of the aurochs during the glacial and post-glacial times are known for North Africa from Egypt to Mauritania, almost all of Europe to the north up to 60 °, from the Southern Urals and from the Trans-Urals and south of Western Siberia (from Ishim, Altai, Pre-Altai plains), from near Krasnoyarsk, from Transbaikalia, Manchuria and China from 50 ° to 40 ° N. sh. south and east to the Pacific Ocean, and in addition, from Turkmenistan (Annau near Ashgabat), from the Caucasus, from the Crimea, Asia Minor, Palestine, Mesopotamia and some other adjacent places.
Some of this information refers to Bos trochoceros, some, no doubt, to our tour, but to a very distant time. Therefore, it is very difficult to single out in this territory the one on which the aurochs lived precisely in historical time, or at least in the last millennia. Archaeological, folklore and historical materials most likely suggest that in historical times tours were conducted in North Africa (Egypt, North-West Africa, Mauritania) throughout Southern, Central and Western Europe, including England (in Ireland, they apparently , was not), north to southern Sweden, inclusive, in the Balkans, in Asia Minor, in Syria and Mesopotamia and, perhaps, in southern Turkmenistan.
On the territory of the European part of the USSR, tours lived in the Baltic republics, in Lithuania and Belarus, in the Dnieper basin (at least near Chernigov and Kyiv) and, probably, in the Don basin, at least in its upper part. In the north, they met eastward to the region of Novgorod and the southern shore of Lake Ladoga (the northernmost habitat of the species). It is possible that the animals lived or visited in the regions of Ryazan, Tula, Kaluga, Moscow, Smolensk, Kalinin, Yaroslavl and Novgorod1. In the middle of the first millennium BC, the aurochs, apparently, was widespread across the steppes of Ukraine and even Ciscaucasia - excellent images of the animal are known from the Chertomlytsky and Maikop barrows.
Thus, the range of the tur in our country was an irregularly shaped triangle, which had as its base the western border of the state, in the north starting from Lake Ladoga and the Gulf of Finland. The apex of the triangle captured the Don basin and stretched as a cape into Ciscaucasia. The northeastern border probably skirted Moscow from the south. The spread of this animal, which feeds mainly on grass, to the northeast was probably hindered by heavy snowfall and the length of the snowy season. The tour hardly crossed the 50 cm snow depth line.
Apparently, before the historical time, the aurochs lived both in Western Siberia and Kazakhstan, however, the available single indications do not make it possible to get an idea about the range of the animal here and about the connections of these habitats with the European one. Images of a tour dating back several millennia are available in the Minusinsk Basin and, apparently, later, on the rocks of the Chulak Mountains in the middle reaches of the Ili; there is information about the habitation of the tour in the Kamensky district of the Kulunda steppe in the 16th or 17th century and near Kuznetsk in the 18th.
There is very little information about the biology of the tour. In Europe, at least in historical times, he kept to forests, sometimes even continuous, damp and swampy. However, it is undoubted that in some parts of the range and even in most of it, he lived in sparse forests, or where forests alternated with meadows, and in the forest-steppe and even in open steppe spaces with poorly developed forest vegetation (urem forests) or in places maybe even completely without it (Africa). In Europe, in the last centuries of their life, aurochs also preferred open meadow pastures in the summer and went to the forests for the winter, feeding there partially on branch food.
It is highly probable that the continuous forest tracts, in which the last Lithuanian and Polish aurochs really lived, were for them (as well as for the bison) the last refuge, where the animals were pushed back by the persecution of man. In some places (Pyrenees) tours lived in the mountains, up to alpine meadows.
Tours lived in small groups. According to some reports, they joined these herds mainly in winter, and in summer they kept more alone. In nutrition, in addition to grass and shoots of trees and shrubs, acorns also played a certain role in autumn, on which the animals grew very fat. The rut took place in September, the birth of calves in the spring.
Tours had a wild and evil disposition, were not afraid of humans and were very aggressive. In Russian folklore and chronicles, they serve as a symbol of not only power, but also courage (“brave bo be yako and tour”, “buy tur Vsevolodovich”). Hunting them with their strength and mobility (as epics emphasize, they were quite dexterous and could run fast) was very dangerous and was considered a valiant deed. “Two tours me on roses and with a horse,” wrote Vladimir Monomakh, who was a wonderful hunter. The small number of remains of aur in ancient human settlements, with an abundance of remains of aurochs, some researchers explain by the fact that aur was too dangerous an enemy and too difficult prey for Paleolithic and even Neolithic people. Adult bulls often fought among themselves and, apparently, with bison. In fact, they had no enemies among predators - wolves were not dangerous for adult animals and only calves and young ones suffered from them.
On the vast territory described, the aurochs were exterminated, apparently also partly driven out by cattle breeding, at different times, partly a very long time ago. So, in Egypt, the wild tour died by the end of the ancient kingdom (until 2400 BC), in Mesopotamia, it apparently existed longer - it lived during the time of the Babylonian kingdom, but was no longer encountered in the later times of Assyria kingdoms (about 600 BC). In Central Europe, tours lived in the Middle Ages and survived in places, for example, along the Rhine, until the 12th century. In this century (at least at the beginning of it) they existed in the wild along the Dnieper, in particular in the Chernigov lands. Here, Prince Vladimir Vsevolodovich (Monomakh) hunted them during his Chernigov reign.
By 1400, aurochs had disappeared in Central and Western Europe, but were still found in the Kaliningrad region, and after that, and in general, they survived the longest in Poland (especially in Mazovia) and partly in Lithuania. The last centuries and until the date of the death of the last round (1627), the animals lived here under the protection of special decrees, and then they were kept as park animals in the royal hunting grounds. They had guards, they put haystacks for them in the winter, etc. The death of aurochs in Central Europe coincided chronologically and is largely associated with the “epoch of clearings” in the 9th-11th centuries. (in the 11th century they were still common in the royal hunting grounds in the Vosges). Their preservation in Poland and Lithuania, obviously, was due to the presence here of vast forest areas that are difficult to access and sparsely populated by humans.
The tour is the ancestor of European cattle. In some of the most primitive rocks, individual signs of it have been preserved quite clearly. These breeds include Scottish and English park cattle, Hungarian steppe cattle, gray Ukrainian and some others, especially the fighting bulls of Spain and southern France, in particular the semi-wild bulls of the Camargue (the mouth of the Rhone).
The preservation of the most typical turya appearance among the fighting bulls is primarily due to the conscious maintenance of the type of animal that was demanded by the traditions of the arena, coming from very distant times. In particular, this applies to the shape of the horns, as well as to the black color. At the same time, fighting bulls are not entirely of the same type and among them there are separate “lines” associated with individual factories (“ganaderia”), cultivating animals specifically for “corrida” (bullfighting). In some of these lines, the features of the tour are more pronounced than in others.
The domestication of the aurochs took place about 4000 years ago (2000 years before our era) in South-Eastern Europe (in Greece). From here, the home form spread to the west and north-west into the Baltic Sea basin and by our time has reached a great variety.
In the last decade, several attempts have been made to "restore" the tur, that is, to obtain an animal with the appearance of the tur. Particularly noteworthy are those that were made in the Berlin Zoological Garden and in Munich. Through careful selection of material from several primitive domestic races, primarily from Spanish fighting bulls, and careful selection, very interesting results were obtained in a surprisingly short time. The Berlin livestock, where a great similarity with the aurochs had already been achieved, died during the war. In Munich, in the 1950s, animals were obtained that, in essence, are completely similar to the aurochs, only, apparently, somewhat heavy. Bulls have not only a completely typical general black coloration, characteristic horns and some other signs of the tour, but even a light belt on the back. It was possible to restore even the bay coloration of cows and young animals, i.e., to obtain the sexual and age dimorphism characteristic of the aurochs. This is especially remarkable because not only in the experimental animals, but in general in no modern breed of livestock, either one or the other form of dimorphism is present.
The "restored" tur is considered to be a special form of livestock, purely phenotypically copying the tur. The appearance of the age and sexual dimorphism characteristic of the true aurochs, from certain points of view, may, however, allow us to see something more here.
The tour, or primitive wild bull, from Latin Bos primigenius, is an extinct species, the ancestor of a large artiodactyl animal, a strong, beautiful and powerful beast with a muscular body and long beautiful curved horns, the length of which was up to 1.80 cm. The height of an average animal, male, approximately two meters, weight up to 800 kg. The color of an adult male is predominantly black, along the back, along the ridge there was a “belt” of white color, and females and juveniles were brownish-red. They lived both singly and in groups; in winter, animals huddled in large herds. The ancestor of cattle ate mainly grass and young shoots, leaves of trees and shrubs.
Tur is a very strong animal and he had no worthy rivals, he easily coped with any predator. The last round died of illness in 1627 in the forest, in Yaktorovo, where a monument was erected on this occasion. The tour lived in the warm season in open areas, in the steppes, in the cold season it moved to a more protected zone - to the forests. Tur is a very popular animal in Slavic folklore. Many proverbs, sayings, songs and poems have been written about him. In Russian epics, the tour is also mentioned about the heroes. It is depicted on the national emblems of many cities from the post-Soviet countries (for example, Kaunas, Lithuania and Turka, Ukraine).
The pictures show a primitive wild bull - tour:
Photo: watussi is the modern closest relative of the extinct primitive aurochs.
Today in Spain and Latin America (on special farms) fighting bulls are raised to participate in bullfights. Their phenotype in body structure and appearance resembles their wild ancestors, but in weight (about 500 kg) and height (155 cm) they are much smaller than their progenitors.