ARCH2108: ANIMALS, PLANTS AND PEOPLE

1
ARCH2108ANIMALS, PLANTS AND PEOPLE
Cattle and buffalo
2
The Artiodactyla
3

• ARTIODACTYLA
• Tylopoda camels
• Artiofabula
• Suiformes pigs peccaries
• Cetruminantia
• Whippomorpha hippos whales
• Ruminantia
• Tragulina mouse-deer
• Pecora
• Moschidae musk-deer
• Cervidae deer
• Giraffidae giraffe okapi
• Antilocapridae pronghorn
• Bovidae bovids

4
The ruminant stomach
5
(No Transcript)
6
The Artiodactyl family Bovidae

• Subfamilies
• Bovinae
• Cephalophinae
• Duikers
• Antilopinae
• Gazelles and dwarf antelopes
• Hippotraginae
• Oryx, waterbuck, hartebeest, wildebeest
• Aepycerotinae
• Impala
• Caprinae
• Sheep and goats

7
Tribes of the subfamily Bovinae

• Tragelaphini
• Eland, bongo, kudu, nyala, bushbuck
• Boselaphini
• Nilgai, four-horned antelope
• Bovini
• Cattle, bison, buffalo

Nilgai Boselaphus tragocamelus
8
Genera and species of the tribe Bovini

• Bos
• Bos primigenius Bos taurus Aurochs / Humpless
  cattle
• Bos namadicus Bos indicus Humped cattle
• Bos gaurus Bos frontalis Gaur / Mithan
• Bos javanicus Banteng / Bali cattle
• Bos sauveli Kouprey
• Bos mutus Bos grunniens Yak
• Bos bison American bison
• Bos bonasus European bison
• Bubalus Asian buffalo
• Syncerus African buffalo

9
AurochsBos primigenius
Bulls 180cm high Black with light dorsal stripe
White round muzzle Curly hair between horns
Called Urus by Caesar
10
Aurochs skull from Hungary
11
Cows Body red-brown, head and neck darker White
dorsal stripe
Lascaux
Europe, Middle East, North Africa Last one killed
in Poland in 1627 A.D.
12
When and where were Aurochs domesticated?
Grigson, 1989 early Holocene Middle Eastern sites
13
Sexual dimorphism in aurochs
Grigson took the measurements of a complete
skeleton of an aurochs cow (from Ullerslev,
Denmark) as standard, and plotted elements of
known sex (hatched) and unknown (white) against
it (log10)
14
From earliest Holocene to 7th millenium, cattle
size did not change, i.e. aurochs in 6th
millenium, in west but not in east, there is a
shift downward. Grigson interprets this as the
beginning of domestication.
15
All aurochs samples from Middle East are
pooled. 6th mill. early domestic cattle are
smaller, and cows predominate What were the
cattle of Çatal Hüyük?
16
Domestic cattle spread to the east in 5th
millenium, and continued to decrease in size.
Sexual dimorphism decreased. Proportion of bulls
decreased.
17
Does this mean aurochs were domesticated in the
Levant?

• Claims of dates even earlier, or just as early,
  from northern Greece
• Argissa Magula, 6500 B.C.
• Nea Nikomedeia, 5800-5300 B.C.

18
Turning the clock back reconstitution of the
aurochs?

• In 1930s the Heck brothers, directors of two
  German Zoos (Lutz Heck Berlin Heinz Heck
  Munich) competed to breed back the aurochs
• Starting with different primitive breeds, each
  obtained a fairly plausible aurochs in about 6
  generations

19
Heck cattleYoung bulls
20
Heck cattle on the reclaimed Zuider Zee
21
Breed groups of humpless cattle
22
Longhorn and Shorthorn skulls
Longhorn long skull, flat forehead, short
toothrow
Shorthorn short deep skull, convex forehead,
long toothrow
Shorthorn and polled skulls overlain on outline
of longhorn skull
23
Longhorns
Bulls horns usually shorter, thicker, turn more
forwards
Scottish Highland bull
British Longhorn bull
Cows horns longer, thinner, turn more upwards
Scottish Highland cow
British Longhorn cow calf
24
Shorthorns
Kerry
Dutch Belted (Lakenvelder)
British White (polled)
25
Most longhorn breeds are now very rare
Hungarian Steppe cattle. Known from at least
14th century. In 1880, were 80 of cattle in
Hungary about 700 remain. Hardy fertile
excellent for draught poor for meat and milk
British Park bull. Feral since 14th
century. About 1,000 remain.
26
Earliest evidence for shorthorns
Hypothesis long horns awkward when cattle
enclosed in sheds especially for milking
Sumerian Late 4th millenium B.C.
Ugarit, 1400 B.C.
27
Cattle, like other ruminants -

• - house bacteria in the first stomach (rumen)
  which ferment cellulose and hemicelluloses
• - chew cud (part-fermented boluses regurgitated
  for further comminution)
• - spend 4-9 hours ruminating (chewing cud) per
  day, in 15-20 separate periods
• - digest bacteria as a protein source
• - cannot tolerate too high an amount of protein
  in their without suffering bloat

28
Feeding

• Graze about 8 hours a day
• Density, length of grass limits intake
• Can take in the maximum (65-70 kg) when the grass
  is 10-12 cm high
• but only half when grass reaches 25 cm high
• - because it becomes less dense in upper layers

29
Economic uses of cattle

• Meat
• Milk
• Traction
• Hides
• Occasional riding
• Manure

30
Reproduction

• Oestrus lasts 18 hours (range 6-30)
• Best sign of oestrus is female-female mounting
• A cow whos been mounted by another cow is more
  likely to conceive
• Oestrus every 20 days throughout the year
• but tend to mate in autumn, calve in spring
• If they calve in autumn, may be delayed getting
  pregnant again as winter oestrus periods tend to
  be shorter and may be missed
• Autumn calving often preferred in dairy cows so
  that they will lactate throughout the winter
• Twins very rare (1/80)
• 7/8 twinning dizygotic though foetal circulations
  fuse
• If twins are different-sexed, male hormones get
  into female calf female is a freemartin
  (infertile).

31
- contd.

• Bull fertile at 9 months if well-fed
• Cow about the same, according to breed
• Jersey 8 mo.
• Friesian 11 mo.
• Ayrshire 13 mo.
• Young bulls become sterile if over-used and
  underfed old bulls, if under-used and overfed

32
- contd.

• Tending bonds formed
• Bull follows cow closely
• Very agitated
• Frequently mounts her, or licks and sniffs vulva
  with Flehmen
• Dominant bull may paw and horn the ground,
  throwing dirt over his back, and rubbing his head
  and neck on ground
• Threatens and chases away young bulls and
  non-oestrus cows
• Co-dominant bulls fight vigorously
• Sperm competition AI commonly uses mixture of
  sperm from different bulls, but usually results
  in one bull siring a disproportionate number of
  young

33
Heck bulls fighting
34
Humped cattle (zebus, Brahmans)Bos indicus
High, wobbly hump, part muscle, part fat, centred
over on 1st thoracic vertebra Narrow body, long
legs Loose skin Long prepuce Developed
dewlap Pendulous ears Convex forehead Long narrow
skull Orbits not prominent Horns set behind
face Throughout South and Southeast Asia
35
The hump
Supported by elongated vertebral spines with
bifid tips along which runs a tendon from on of
the enlarged, fatty muscles (M.trapezius)
Th9
36
Compared to European (humpless) cattle, zebus -

• have less digestive capacity
• tolerate heat and dryness better, and sweat more
• In the hot sun, body temperature rises from 38.1
  to 38.5C, while Aberdeen Angus rise from 38.0 to
  39.5
• Respiration rate rises from 20 to 30 per minute,
  compared to A.A. from 28 to 140
• Rest in the sun, A.A. only in shade

37
Humped cattle have same uses as humpless, but -
45/65 breeds primarily for draught 5 mainly
dairy Not usually used for meat in India
Manure is far more important - cowdung fuel is
the main economic justification for the sacred
cows of India
38
The bull is the vehicle of Siva
Sacred cows
39
Other sacred cattle
Apis bulls, Egypt
Minoan bull-dance, Knossos, Crete
40
Portrait of a zebu first appears on a cylinder
seal from Mohenjo-Daro
But so do humpless cattle
41
Do zebus descend from the aurochs?Loftus et al.,
1994

• D-loop of mtDNA compared in 6 European breeds and
  3 Indian (zebu) breeds
• - divergence is 74 that of bison from cattle
• - bison and cattle separated 1 million years ago
  
• so divergence between European and zebu at least
  740,000 years ago
• Caroline Grigson suggests zebu descended from Bos
  namadicus, known from Pleistocene and early
  Holocene fossils in India.

42
African cattle
Orma cattle, northeastern Kenya
43
often known as Sanga or Zeboid
Cervico-thoracic-humped hump is in front of
withers (2 vertebrae further forward than true
zebu), usually more pyramidal
Many breeds Often selected for horn size Milked
and eaten, but main use is as a sign of wealth
Lugwaret, Uganda
44
African zeboids bred for horns
MBororo, N.W.Cameroon
Ankole, Uganda
45
A few African humpless breeds- all West African
African shorthorns are more susceptible to
rinderpest than zebu, but resistant to nagana and
lung sickness
NDama, Senegal
African longhorns are poor milkers, but resistant
to trypanosomiasis and tick-borne infections
Kuri, Lake Chad
46
The hybrid origin of African cattle

• Microsatellites, mtDNA
• Y chromosomes
• European Bos taurus
• African Bos taurus
• African Bos indicus
• Indian Bos indicus

47
Milk

• 44 European dairy breeds, 5 zebu
• Per unit feed
• Jersey cow gives 0.34kg milk
• Friesian and Dutch Belted 0.27 and 0.29 kg
• Milk has
• protein conversion of 17 - beef only 7-11
• energy conversion 30, beef only 14-19
• Cows milk contains
• 3.5-4.7 fat, 3.3-3.7 protein
• Cf. human 4.6, 1.2

48
Lactose malabsorption

• Caused by decline of lactase secretion after
  cessation of suckling
• Autosomal recessive with incomplete penetrance
• Causes gas, cramps, diarrhoea, even vomiting
• Frequencies
• .9 in Mongoloid and Australoid peoples
• .8 in Arabs, West Africans, Bantu
• .7 in Cyprus, S.Italy, Jews
• .1 to .15 in N.Europe, N.India, Fulani, Maasai
• The areas of high frequencies are traditional
  non-milking areas

49
Lactose -

• - still present in buttermilk, nonfat milk,
  cream, ice cream, whey cheese
• - levels doubled in evaporated and condensed milk
• - reduced to insignificant levels (lt1) in
  butter, most ripened cheeses, yoghurt, koumiss

50
Early milking

• Potsherds with traces of milk fat from several
  sites in Britain, 6000-1500 B.C.
• Sumerian depictions ca.3000 B.C. and a tablet
  recording dairy herds of King Shulgi
• Saharan rock art, perhaps 2000 B.C.
• Egyptian milking scene 2050 B.C.

51
Early milking
Rock engraving, Fezzan (Sahara)
Temple frieze from Ur, 2900 B.C.
52
Other cattle (1)
Domestic yak Tibetan highlands Bos grunniens
53
Wild yaks (Bos mutus) are very similar, but much
larger, always black
54
Yak

• Dont do well in lowlands
• At high temperatures, respiration goes from 60 to
  125/min.
• Wild yak go to 6,000 m in summer, where
  temperatures down to -40C
• Used mainly as pack animals
• Milk usually fermented, lactose-free
• Yak gives up to 3,000kg milk over 300 days
• 6.5 fat, 5.2 protein well above cow
• At intermediate altitudes, yak-cow hybrids used
• Called dzo or chowrie
• Males are sterile

55
A dzo ploughing(Sichuan)
56
Sherpa yaks at 4,000m (Nepal)
Yak ploughing at 2,000m (Sichuan)
57
Consistency of wild-domestic differences in all
cattle species
Wild yak is much larger than domestic yak, and
horns turn in toward the tips
58
Cranial capacity
Wild circles Domestic - squares
59
Other cattle (2) Mithan Bos frontalis India/Bhut
an/ Burma/ Bangladesh border region
60
Ancestor is the GaurBos gaurusLargest living
bovineBulls up to 2m high, 900 kg
61
Distribution of gaur
- and of Mithan
62
Mithan as a domestic species

• Total number 100-150,000
• Run wild by day
• In S. part of range, come back to village in
  evening for salt
• In N. part, stay in forest for months called in
  with salt to show potential buyers, or to examine
  new calves or for sacrifice
• Cows often mate with gaur bulls
• Nagas tie bells on them
• Only Chin herd and feed them
• Sole value in most areas is ritual sacrifice

63
Other cattle (3)BantengBos javanicus
Southeast Asia
Domestic form (Bali cattle) barely differs from
wild banteng
64
Distribution of banteng -
Bull banteng turn black only in Java
-and Bali cattle
65
- Feral Bali cattle (Banteng) in Cobourg
Peninsula, N.T., Australia
Introduced in 1830s as a domestic animal for the
short-lived Port Essington settlement. Ran wild
when the settlement was abandoned
66
Bali cattle are beef and traction cattle not
milked
Ploughing with Bali cattle (Malang, E.Java)
67
Bali cattle

• Small size
• Bulls 135cm (banteng 170), cows 120cm
• Very fertile
• Oestrus lasts 5 days
• High calving rate
• Resistant to tick-borne diseases
• First recorded in Javanese epic poem,
  Nagarakrtagama (1365)
• - but on Borobudur, ploughing with humped cattle
  is depicted
• Crossed with humped cattle to produce Madura breed

68
Bull-racing on Madura
69
Other cattle (4)KoupreyBos sauveli
Scientifically described 1937. Dry forests of
Cambodia, and borderlands of Thailand, Laos and
Vietnam. Probably now extinct because
this kept happening to it.
70
Was the kouprey domesticated?Skull of a kouprey
that lived in the Paris Menagerie in the mid-19th
century (!), labelled Boeuf des Stiengs.The
Stieng are a Vietnamese hill-tribe.Do they
possess domesticated kouprey?
71
Wild cattle live in light forest and graze in
clearings
They would have been attracted to abandoned
cultivated fields and burned areas, bringing them
into contact with human populations
Gaur, India
Banteng, Cambodia
Kouprey, Cambodia
72
Other cattle (5)Two species of bison
European bison or Wisent Bos bonasus
American bison Bos bison
73
European bison
Never domesticated, but evidently played a role
in Sumerian cosmology. The closest bison to
Sumeria were probably those of the Caucasus
The last Caucasian bison died in a zoo in 1927.
They survive only in Bialowiecza Forest, on the
Poland-Belarus border
74
Plains Indians uses for the American bison
(buffalo)
75
Watercolour of a bison hunt by George Catlin,
1846-1848
76

• Real buffalo
• African buffalo
• (genus Syncerus)
• never
• domesticated

Cape buffalo Syncerus caffer
Forest buffalo Syncerus nanus
77
Real buffalo Asian buffalo (genus Bubalus)
Wild Asian buffalo Bubalus arnee
Mountain Anoa Bubalus quarlesi
Tamaraw Bubalus mindorensis
Lowland Anoa Bubalus depressicornis
78
Domestic buffalo (Water-buffalo)Bubalus bubalis
are descended from Wild Asian buffalo
Distribution of wild Asian buffalo
Wild Asian buffalo, Assam
79
How buffalo differ from cattle

• Larger
• Head carried horizontally
• Horns triangular in cross-section, not oval
• Enormous hoofs
• Very silent just grunt quietly
• Body temperature lower, 38C (cattle 38.2-38.6)
• Resting pulse and respiration rate lower
• Skin thicker, becomes hairless with age
• Many fewer sweat glands

80
contd.

• Buffalo need to wallow or bathe
• Temperature lowered by 2-2½C by wallowing, or
  being hosed down, for just a few minutes
• Pulse rate shoots up in the sun
• Mate by harem, not by tending bonds
• Mate at end of rainy season
• Sexes live separately in dry season

81
contd.

• Draught capacity comparable to or greater than
  bullock or horse, but goes more slowly
• A team of two can haul a wheeled load of 2 tonnes
  for 30 km/day
• Can haul carts or ploughs on softer ground than
  cattle, but cant work so long in the sun
• Big hooves churn and break heavy soil, puddle it
  to suitable consistency for planting
• In Thailand, a buffalo works about 5 hrs/day,
  ploughs 960m2

82
Two breed-groups of water-buffalo
83
contd.
84
Swamp buffalo
River buffalo
85
Buffalo horns and designs are high-status symbols
on Toraja houses
Distinctive regional variant of swamp buffalo
Tana Toraja, Central Sulawesi
86
River buffaloes
Kolhapur
Chennai (Madras)
87
Best milking buffalo - Murrah
88
Buffaloes depicted in Akkadian art (Mesopotamia,
2100-2400 B.C.)imported or indigenous?
89
Authentic Mozzarella cheese is from buffalo milk
Domestic (River) buffaloes first recorded in
Italy in 7th century A.D. In Bulgaria, Romania,
Greece and Tunisia since mediaeval times. In
modern times, imported to Egypt, Thailand,
Philippines and Brazil.
Italian buffalo