Aurochs

Epic card · No. 14087

The aurochs (Bos primigenius; or ; pl.: aurochs or aurochsen; also ure or urus) is an extinct species of bovine, considered to be the wild ancestor of modern domestic cattle (Bos taurus). With a shoulder height of up to 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) in bulls and 1.55 m (5 ft 1 in) in cows, it was one of the largest herbivores in the Holocene; it had massive elongated and broad horns that reached 80 cm (31 in) in length. The aurochs was part of the Pleistocene megafauna and had an expansive range spanning from western Europe and northern Africa to the Indian subcontinent and East Asia. It probably evolved in Asia and migrated west and north during warm interglacial periods. The oldest-known aurochs fossils date to the Middle Pleistocene. Its distribution progressively contracted during the Holocene due to habitat loss and hunting. The last confirmed and widely accepted individual died in Jaktorów forest in Poland in 1627, though some reports suggest it may have survived up to a century later in parts...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Marcus Sümnick from Rostock, Germany, CC BY-SA 2.0