Animal profile

Domestic Cattle

Bos taurus

MammaliaPasture, rangeland and managed feeding systems

Field profile

Taurine cattle are large ruminants descended from the aurochs, a wild bovine that survived in Europe until 1627. They convert cellulose that monogastric animals cannot digest, using a four-chambered stomach and microbial fermentation. Cattle are among the most numerous large mammals on Earth, with a global population above a billion.

Published field notes

2025-09-25

Domestic Cattle

Taurine cattle descend from a very small founding herd

Genetic analysis of ancient and modern cattle points to domestication from a limited number of aurochs females in the Near East around 10,500 years ago. The entire taurine lineage, hundreds of millions of animals, traces to that narrow beginning.

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