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The most powerful wild bull 6 letters crossword puzzle. The largest wild bull in the world. Rare wild yaks

As a rule, herbivorous megafauna is presented as a group consisting of elephants, rhinos and giraffes. However, one of the most specific representatives of the megafauna is the Indian bull. Standing under 3 meters (10 feet), the gaur is truly a gigantic animal, and the largest wild cow in the world. This massive creature with truly huge horns can burst through the forests and fields of India, while sometimes destroying gardens.

This species is critically endangered, although it survives most threats and weighs up to 1,600 kg (3,500 lb). Among the megafauna that can cut their way through tropical vegetation, only elephants, rhinos or giraffes can be bigger and taller. The gaur is more docile than the African buffalo, but there are occasional human casualties. There was a case when a tiger attacked a gaura. Gaur literally tore the tiger in half.

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Few wild bulls can compare with the gaur in beauty, strength and size. This is perhaps the largest bull in the world, and therefore the largest representative of the bovid family, both today and in prehistoric times. The 68 cm long gaura skull is larger than any giant bison skull. It is not only the largest and strongest, but also and the most handsome of bulls.

Gaur is sometimes referred to as the Asiatic bison, and indeed, in his build, he is a bit like his American relative. Gaura is distinguished from other bulls by a very powerful physique, relief muscles and an impressive appearance.

If the appearance of an African buffalo can symbolize indomitable power, then the gaur personifies calm confidence and strength. The height at the withers of old males reaches 213 cm, weight -800-1000 kg. Thick and massive horns from the base are bent somewhat down and back, and then up and slightly inward. Their length in males reaches 100-115 spruce, and the distance between the ends is 120 cm. The forehead is wide, flat. Gaura females are much smaller, their horns are shorter and thinner. The hairline is dense, short, adjacent to the body, the color is brilliant black, less often dark brown, on the legs of the animals there are white “stockings”. Although the range of the gaur covers a vast territory, including India, Nepal, Burma, Assam and the peninsulas of Indochina and Malacca, the number of this bull is small. In fact, it is preserved only in national parks and reserves. Not only hunters are to blame for this, but also frequent epizootics of foot-and-mouth disease, plague and other diseases.

True, a strict ban on hunting throughout the territory and energetic quarantine supervision seem to have marked a certain turning point in the position of the gaur, and its numbers have increased somewhat in recent years. Gaur inhabits wooded areas, preferring mountain forests up to 2000 m above sea level. However, he avoids solid forests with dense undergrowth and keeps in lighted areas near glades. However, gaura can also be found in the bamboo jungle, as well as on grassy plains with shrubs. He strongly avoids cultivated lands. The favorite food of the gaur is fresh grass, young bamboo shoots, and shrub shoots. He needs regular watering and bathing, but, unlike buffaloes, he does not take mud baths. Gauras graze early in the morning and before sunset, and sleep at night and at noon. Gauras are kept in small groups, which usually include 1-2 adult bulls, 2-3 young bulls, 5-10 cows with calves and teenagers. Along with this, groups consisting only of young bulls are not uncommon. Adult strong males often leave the herd and lead the life of hermits.

In the herd of gaurs, a certain order is always observed. The calves usually keep together, and the entire "kindergarten" is under the vigilant protection of mothers. The leader of the herd is more often an old cow, which, when the herd runs away, is in the head or, conversely, in the rearguard. Old bulls, as observations have shown, do not participate in the defense and do not even respond to the alarm signal, which sounds like a shrill snort. Hearing such a snort, the rest of the herd members freeze, raising their heads, and if the source of the alarm is established, the nearest animal emits a rumbling moo, according to which the herd assumes battle order. The gaur's method of attack is exceptionally interesting. Unlike other bulls, he attacks not with his forehead, but sideways, and lowers his head low and crouches somewhat on his hind legs, striking with one horn to the side. It is noticed that in old bulls one of the horns is noticeably more worn than the other. Zoologist J. Schaller believes that this style of attack developed from the usual posture of imposing and menacing for gaurs, when the animal demonstrates its huge silhouette in the most impressive foreshortening.

By the way, gaur fights, as a rule, do not go beyond demonstrations. The rutting period of the Gaurs begins in November and ends in March - April. Single males at this time join the herds, and fights are not uncommon between them. The peculiar invocative roar of the gaura during the rut is similar to the roar of stag deer and can be heard in the evening or at night at a distance of more than one and a half kilometers. Pregnancy lasts 270-280 days, calving occurs more often in August - September. At the time of calving, the cow is removed from the herd and in the first days is extremely cautious and aggressive. Usually she brings one calf, rarely twins. The lactation period ends at the ninth month of the calf's life. Gaurs willingly unite in herds with sambars and other ungulates.

They are almost not afraid of tigers, although tigers occasionally attack young animals. The special friendship of gaurs with wild chickens is described by the zoologist Olivier, who in 1955 managed to observe how a young rooster daily cleaned the festering, damaged horns of a female gaur for two weeks for two weeks. Despite the pain of this operation, the cow, at the sight of a rooster, laid her head on the ground and turned the horn towards the "nurse". Gayal is nothing but a domesticated gaur. But as a result of domestication, the gayal has changed a lot: it is much smaller, lighter and weaker than the gaur, its muzzle is shorter, the forehead is wider, the horns are relatively short, very thick, straight, conical. Guyale is more phlegmatic and calmer than gaur. At the same time, gayals are not kept in the same way as domestic cows in Europe.

They always graze in complete freedom, and when you need to catch a gayal, they lure him with a piece of rock salt or tie a cow in the forest. Gayal is used for meat, in some places it is used as a draft force, and among some peoples of South Asia it serves as a kind of money or is used as a sacrificial animal. Gayala cows often mate with wild gaurs.

Bulls are the largest of the bovids. These are powerful and strong animals. Their massive body rests on strong limbs, a heavy, wide, low-set head in both males and females is crowned with horns, thick and short in some species, flattened and long in others. The shape of the horns is also very variable in different representatives: in some cases, the horns resemble a simple crescent, in others they are S-shaped. There are no interhoof glands. The tail is relatively thin, with a brush at the end. The coat is short, close to the body, or thick and shaggy.


Representatives of the subfamily are distributed in Asia, Europe, Africa and North America. The subfamily includes 4 genera with 10 species, of which one in the wild was exterminated by man in historical time, but exists in the form of numerous breeds of domestic cows, which were also brought to South America and Australia.


Anoa, or pygmy buffalo(Bubalus depressicornis), is the smallest of modern wild bulls: the height at the withers is 60-100 barely, the weight is 150-300 kg. The small head and slender legs make the anoa look somewhat like an antelope. The horns are short (up to 39 cm), almost straight, slightly flattened, bent up and back.



The coloration is dark brown or blackish, with white markings on the muzzle, throat and legs. Calves with thick golden-brown fur. Distributed only on the island of Sulawesi. Many researchers have classified anoa as a separate genus of anoa (Apoa).


Anoa inhabit marshy forests and jungles, where they live alone or in pairs, rarely forming small groups. They feed on herbaceous vegetation, leaves, shoots and fruits that they can pick up on the ground; often eat aquatic plants. Anoa usually graze in the early morning, and spend the hot part of the day near the water, where they willingly take mud baths and swim. They move at a slow pace, but in case of danger they switch to a fast, albeit clumsy, gallop. The breeding season is not associated with a specific season of the year. Pregnancy lasts 275-315 days.


Anoa do not tolerate agricultural landscape transformation well. In addition, they are heavily hunted for their meat and hide, which some local tribes use to make ritual dance attire. Therefore, the number of anoa is catastrophically reduced, and now the species is on the verge of extinction. Fortunately, they breed relatively easily in zoos, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature maintains a stud book of captive animals in order to create at least a minimum reserve fund of animals of this species.


Indian buffalo(Bubalus arpee), on the contrary, is one of the largest bulls: the height at the withers is up to 180 cm, the weight of males is up to 1000 kg. The flattened, backward-turned horns of the Indian buffalo are huge - they reach a length of 194 cm. The body is covered with sparse and coarse blackish-brown hair


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The range of the Indian buffalo has been greatly reduced already in historical time: if relatively recently it covered a vast territory, from North Africa and Mesopotamia to Central China, now it is limited to small areas of Nepal, Assam, Bengal, the central provinces of India, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and south of China. The Indian buffalo has survived in the far north of Ceylon and the northern part of Kalimantan. The number of Indian buffalo, despite conservation measures, continues to decline. Most of the wild buffalo remained in the reserves of India. So, in the wonderful reserve of Kaziranga (Assam) in 1969, there were about 700 animals. The reason for the decline in numbers is not only poaching, although it plays a significant role. The main trouble is that wild buffalo easily interbreed with feral domestic ones and the “pure” species, as such, is lost.


On the island of Mindoro (Philippines) in the special reserve Iglit lives a special, dwarf subspecies, slightly larger than anoa, which has a special name tamarou(B. a. mindorensis). Unfortunately, the tamarou is threatened with complete extinction: by 1969, about 100 heads had survived.


The Indian buffalo inhabits heavily swampy jungles and river valleys overgrown with dense shrubs. It is more closely associated with water than other members of the subfamily, and does not occur outside river systems or swamps. In the diet of the Indian buffalo, aquatic and coastal plants play an even greater role than terrestrial grasses. Buffaloes graze at night and at dawn, and all day, starting from 7-8 o'clock in the morning, they lie, immersed in liquid mud.


Indian buffaloes are usually kept in small herds, which include an old bull, two or three young bulls and several cows with calves. The hierarchy of subordination in the herd, if observed, is not too strict. The old bull often keeps a little aloof from the rest of the animals, but when fleeing from danger, he follows the herd and blows the horns returns the stray cows. When moving, a certain order is observed: old females go in the head, calves in the middle, and the rearguard is made up of young bulls and cows. In case of danger, the herd usually hides in the thickets, describes a semicircle and, stopping, awaits the pursuer on its own tracks.


The Indian buffalo is a serious adversary. Particularly quarrelsome, aggressive and dangerous are old bulls, whom the young ones drive out of the herd, and who are forced to lead the life of hermits. They often lead away herds of domestic buffaloes, and when pursued, they even attack tame elephants. On the contrary, herds of buffalo willingly rest side by side with rhinos. Tigers rarely attack buffaloes, and even then only young ones. In turn, the buffaloes, sensing the trail of the tiger, go berserk and pursue the predator in close formation until they overtake or lose the trail. Cases of death of tigers were noted repeatedly.


Like most inhabitants of the tropical zone, the periods of rutting and calving in Indian buffaloes are not associated with a specific season. Pregnancy lasts 300-340 days, after which the female brings only one calf. A newborn buffalo is dressed in fluffy yellow-brown fur. The period of milk feeding lasts 6-9 months.


Man domesticated the buffalo in ancient times, presumably in the 3rd millennium BC. e. Along with the zebu, the domestic buffalo is one of the most important animals in the tropics. According to the most rough estimate, its livestock in South Asia now reaches 75 million. The domestic buffalo has been introduced to Japan, Hawaii, Central and South America, and Australia. There are a lot of domestic buffaloes in the UAR, Sudan and East African countries, including Zanzibar, and on the islands of Mauritius and Madagascar. Buffalo has been cultivated for a very long time in Southern Europe and here in Transcaucasia. The buffalo is used mainly as a draft force, especially in the cultivation of rice fields. Dairy breeding of buffalo is also promising. In Italy, with stall keeping, the annual milk production per cow is 1970 liters. Buffalo milk contains 8% fat, significantly exceeds cow's milk in protein content. In India, where cows are sacred animals, the buffalo does not fall under this category and constitutes the main source of meat products. The domestic buffalo is extremely unpretentious, resistant to many diseases of cattle, and has a peaceful disposition.


African buffalo(Syncerus caffer) is the most powerful of modern wild bulls. A powerful body, relatively low muscular legs, a blunt, short, low-set head on a strong neck, and small, as if blind eyes, looking suspiciously from under a canopy of horns, give the animal an indestructible and gloomy look. The horns of the African buffalo are brought together by wide bases, forming a continuous armor on the forehead, then they diverge downward - to the sides and, finally, bend upward and slightly inward with sharp smooth ends. The distance between the ends of the horns sometimes exceeds a meter. In size, the African buffalo is somewhat inferior to the Indian one, but due to its denser build it surpasses it in mass: old males reach 1200 kg. The body of the buffalo is covered with sparse coarse hair, which almost does not cover the dark brown or black skin.


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This applies, however, only to animals living in the savannahs of East, Southeast and Southwest Africa. Buffalo, found from Senegal to the middle reaches of the Nile, form another, somewhat smaller and short-horned subspecies.


Finally, the forests of the Congo basin and the coast of the Gulf of Guinea are inhabited by a third subspecies, the so-called red buffalo, which is distinguished by its very small size (height at the withers 100-130 cm), bright red thick hairline and even weaker horns.


The habitats of the African buffalo are diverse: they can be found in all landscapes, from tropical forests to arid scrub savannahs. In the mountains, the African buffalo rises to a height of 3000 m or more above sea level. However, everywhere it is closely connected with water and does not live far from water bodies.


In addition, the buffalo does not get along in the agricultural landscape. Therefore, despite a significant area of ​​​​distribution, the buffalo has survived in large numbers only in a few places, mainly in national parks. Only there he forms herds numbering hundreds of animals. For example, in the Lake Manyara National Park (Tanzania), a herd of 450 heads is constantly kept. Usually there are groups of 20-30 animals that gather in herds only during the dry period. Such groups are different in composition: in some cases, these are cows with calves, in others - only bulls, and finally, in still others - bulls with cows. Old strong bulls are often kept alone or in pairs.


In the way of life of the African buffalo, there are many features that make it related to the Indian. It feeds on grassy vegetation, often eats coastal plants and only occasionally branches and foliage, grazes from evening to dawn, and usually spends the day standing in the shade of a tree or lying in swamp mud or reed beds. Buffaloes are cautious animals. Cows with calves are especially sensitive. A slight noise or an unfamiliar smell is enough to make the whole herd alert and freeze in a defensive position: males in front, females with calves behind. The heads of animals at such a moment are raised, the horns are thrown back; an instant - and the herd unanimously turns to flight. Despite the heavy build, the buffalo is very agile and fast: on the run, it can reach speeds of up to 57 km / h. As studies in the Congo have shown, adult males living alone have an individual area to which they are very attached. They rest daily, graze, make transitions in strictly defined areas of the site and leave it only when they begin to be disturbed or there is a lack of food. If a herd of foreign buffaloes enters the site, the owner does not show aggression, but adjoins it and even plays the role of a leader. However, when the herd leaves, he remains on the site again.


With the beginning of the rut, such loners join the herds of cows. Ritual fights for dominance in the herd then arise between the bulls. The first phase of the battle is intimidation: rivals with their heads held high, snorting and blasting the ground with their hooves, head towards each other and stop a few meters away, threateningly shaking their horns. Then, bowing their heads, the opponents rush forward and collide with massive horn bases with a deafening crack. After several such blows, the defeated one turns and runs away.


Pregnancy lasts 10-11 months; mass calving, when cows retire from the common herd, falls at the end of the dry period and the beginning of the rainy period. The calf suckles its mother for about six months.


Buffaloes have few enemies. Only lions regularly collect tribute from them, attacking cows and young animals in a whole pride. Of the three cases in which we ourselves were lucky enough to see lions for food, in two the victim was a buffalo. At the same time, lions do not dare to attack old bulls, and even more so with small forces. There are many cases when buffaloes, acting as a friendly herd, put lions to flight, seriously injured them or even killed them. A leopard occasionally attacks stray calves.


Buffaloes do not associate with other ungulates. But you can always see Egyptian herons near them, which often sit on the backs of grazing or resting buffaloes. Not uncommon on buffaloes and drags.


Curiously, buffaloes tend to have a sense of mutual assistance. The Belgian zoologist Verheyen observed how two bulls tried to raise their mortally wounded brother to their feet, prompted to do so by his dying moo. When this failed, both swiftly attacked the hunter, who barely managed to escape.

A lot has been written in hunting books about the fact that the buffalo is dangerous to humans and ferocious. Indeed, many people died from the horns and hooves of the buffalo. The wounded buffalo, running away, describes a full circle and hides at its own track. In the thick of thickets, a suddenly attacked person usually does not even have time to shoot. However, such provoked self-defense can hardly be regarded as a special aggressiveness or ferocity.


The man has been chasing the buffalo for a long time. The Maasai, who do not recognize the meat of most wild animals, make an exception for the buffalo, considering it to be a relative of the domestic cow. Of great value to Africans was buffalo skin, from which battle shields were made. Yes, and among European and American hunters-athletes, the head of a buffalo is considered an honorary trophy to this day. However, the epizootics of rinderpest, brought to Africa at the end of the last century with the cattle of white settlers, produced much greater devastation among buffaloes.


Genus of real bulls(Bos) has 4 modern species distributed in Asia.


Gaur(V. gaurus) stands out among the bulls with its special beauty, size and some kind of completeness of addition. If the appearance of an African buffalo can symbolize indomitable power, then the gaur personifies calm confidence and strength. The height at the withers of old males reaches 213 cm, weight -800-1000 kg. Thick and massive horns from the base are bent somewhat down and back, and then up and slightly inward. Their length in males reaches 100-115 cm, and the distance between the ends is 120 cm. The forehead is wide, flat. Gau-ra females are much smaller, their horns are shorter and thinner. The hairline is dense, short, adjacent to the body, the color is brilliant black, less often dark brown, on the legs of animals there are white "stockings"


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Although the range of the gaur covers a vast territory, including India, Nepal, Burma, Assam and the peninsulas of Indochina and Malacca, the number of this bull is small. In fact, it is preserved only in national parks and reserves. Not only hunters are to blame for this, but also frequent epizootics of foot-and-mouth disease, plague and other diseases. True, a strict ban on hunting throughout the territory and energetic quarantine supervision seem to have marked a certain turning point in the position of the gaur, and its numbers have increased somewhat in recent years.


Gaur inhabits wooded areas, preferring mountain forests up to 2000 m above sea level. However, it avoids continuous forests with dense undergrowth and stays in lighted areas near glades. However, gaura can also be found in the bamboo jungle, as well as on grassy plains with shrubs. He strongly avoids cultivated lands. The favorite food of the gaur is fresh grass, young bamboo shoots, and shrub shoots. He needs regular watering and bathing, but, unlike buffaloes, he does not take mud baths. Gauras graze early in the morning and before sunset, and sleep at night and at noon.


Gauras are kept in small groups, which usually include 1-2 adult bulls, 2-3 young bulls, 5-10 cows with calves and teenagers. Along with this, groups consisting only of young bulls are not uncommon. Adult strong males often leave the herd and lead the life of hermits.


In the herd of gaurs, a certain order is always observed. The calves usually keep together, and the entire "kindergarten" is under the vigilant protection of mothers. The leader of the herd is more often an old cow, which, when the herd runs away, is in the head or, conversely, in the rearguard. Old bulls, as observations have shown, do not participate in the defense and do not even respond to the alarm signal, which sounds like a shrill snort. Hearing such a snort, the rest of the herd members freeze, raising their heads, and if the source of the alarm is established, the nearest animal emits a rumbling moo, according to which the herd assumes battle order.


The gaur's method of attack is exceptionally interesting. Unlike other bulls, he attacks not with his forehead, but sideways, and lowers his head low and crouches somewhat on his hind legs, striking with one horn to the side. It is noticed that in old bulls one of the horns is noticeably more worn than the other. Zoologist J. Schaller believes that this style of attack developed from the usual posture of imposing and menacing for howts, when the animal demonstrates its huge silhouette in the most impressive foreshortening. By the way, gaur fights, as a rule, do not go beyond demonstrations.


The rutting period of the Gaurs begins in November and ends in March - April. Single males at this time join the herds, and fights are not uncommon between them. The peculiar invocative roar of the gaura during the rut is similar to the roar of stag deer and can be heard in the evening or at night at a distance of more than one and a half kilometers. Pregnancy lasts 270-280 days, calving occurs more often in August - September. At the time of calving, the cow is removed from the herd and in the first days is extremely cautious and aggressive. Usually she brings one calf, rarely twins. The lactation period ends at the ninth month of the calf's life.


Gaurs willingly unite in herds with sambars and other ungulates. They are almost not afraid of tigers, although tigers occasionally attack young animals. The special friendship of gaurs with wild chickens is described by the zoologist Olivier, who in 1955 managed to observe how a young rooster daily cleaned the festering, damaged horns of a female gaur for two weeks for two weeks. Despite the pain of this operation, the cow, at the sight of a rooster, laid her head on the ground and turned the horn towards the "nurse".


Guyal is nothing but a domesticated gaur. But as a result of domestication, the gayal has changed a lot: it is much smaller, lighter and weaker than the gaur, its muzzle is shorter, the forehead is wider, the horns are relatively short, very thick, straight, conical. Guyale is more phlegmatic and calmer than gaur. At the same time, gayals are not kept in the same way as domestic cows in Europe. They always graze in complete freedom, and when you need to catch a gayal, they lure him with a piece of rock salt or tie a cow in the forest. Gayal is used for meat, in some places it is used as a draft force, and among some peoples of South Asia it serves as a kind of money or is used as a sacrificial animal. Gayala cows often mate with wild gaurs.


banteng(V. javanicus) - the second wild representative of the bulls themselves, inhabits the islands of Kalimantan, Java and the peninsulas of Indochina and Malacca west to the Brahmaputra. Everywhere, banteng numbers are low and falling. According to the latest information, no more than 400 animals have survived in Java; in some areas of Kalimantan, the banteng has been completely exterminated.


The banteng is noticeably smaller than the gaur: the height at the withers is 130-170 cm, the weight is 500-900 kg. The banteng is leaner, lighter and taller. The dorsal crest characteristic of the gaur is absent in the banteng. The horns are flattened at the base, first diverging to the sides, and then more or less steeply bent upwards. The color of the banteng is variable. Most often, bulls are dark brown or black with white “stockings” and “mirror”, while females are reddish brown.


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The banteng's favorite habitats are swampy forests with well-developed undergrowth, grassy plains with shrubs, bamboo jungles or light mountain forests with clearings. In the mountains, the banteng rises up to 2000 m. Like the gaur, the banteng avoids the cultural landscape and is more and more pushed into the depths of forests and mountains.


Banteng usually live in groups, which include two or three young bulls and up to two dozen cows, calves and growing young. Old strong bulls keep separately and adjoin the herd only during the rut. In terms of lightness and beauty of movements, these bulls are not inferior to many antelopes. Like the gaur, the banteng feeds on fresh grass, young shoots and leaves of shrubs, and bamboo sprouts. Pregnancy lasts 270-280 days, the newborn calf is dressed in yellow-brown fur, it sucks mother's milk until the age of nine months.


In Bali and Java, the banteng has been domesticated for a very long time. By crossing the banteng with the zebu, unpretentious cattle were obtained, which are used on the numerous islands of Indonesia as draft power and as a source of meat and milk.


In the early 1930s, the director of the Paris Zoo, A. Urben, traveled to northern Cambodia. In the house of the veterinarian Savel, he, to his greatest amazement, saw horns that could not belong to any of the known wild bulls. Inquiries did not shed light on this find, and Urbain was forced to leave with nothing. A year later, he received a live calf of this bull from Savel. Based on this specimen, which lived in the zoo until 1940, Urbain described a new species, naming it in Latin in honor of Dr. Savel. This is how I got into science. kouprey(V. sauveli). It was a sensational discovery.


Kouprey smaller than the gaur, but somewhat larger than the banteng: the height of the bulls at the withers is up to 190 cm, and the weight is up to 900 kg. The build is lighter, more graceful than that of the gaura. Kouprey's legs are higher. He has a strongly developed dewlap, a heavy skin fold on the throat, reaching to the chest. The horns of the kouprey are long, rather thin, sharp, similar to the horns of a yak, from the base they go first obliquely to the sides and back, then forward and upward, while the ends are bent inward. The color is dark brown, and the legs, like those of the gaur, are white.


Kouprey horns have a curious feature: in old males, not far from the sharp end of the horn, there is a corolla, consisting of split parts of the horn sheath. It is formed during the growth of the horn, and this phenomenon is known for other bovids. However, for everyone, this corolla is quickly erased, and only in the kouprey it persists throughout life. It is assumed that the complex shape of the horns does not allow the animal to gore, as other bulls do when excited, and that is why the corolla, which is the remains of a “children's” horn, is not erased.


The range of the kouprey is limited to a small area on both sides of the Mekong, administratively included in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.


According to estimates made in 1957, 650-850 animals lived in this area. Surveys conducted by the zoologist P. Pfeffer in 1970 showed that only 30-70 heads remained in Cambodia. Perhaps, in the border regions of Laos and China, in the forests of Sasinpan, several dozen more heads have been preserved. One way or another, Kouprey should be classified among the rarest types of bulls.


Information about the lifestyle of the kouprey is scarce. Like banteng, it inhabits forests with dense undergrowth, park savannas with bushes scattered here and there, and light forests with clearings. On pastures, herds of koupreys often unite with bantengs. However, both species in the united herds do not completely mix, maintaining a certain distance. The herd consists of an old bull and several cows and calves. As a rule, one of the cows leads the herd, and the bull goes in the rear guard. Some adult bulls, like the gaur, live alone. The rut of the koupreys falls in April - May. The calving takes place in December - January. Cows with calves retire from the herd and return after a month or two. As observations have shown, koupreys do not take mud baths. They are very sensitive, cautious, and at the slightest danger they try to leave unnoticed. For the first time in 1969, the zoologist P. Pfeffer managed to photograph the kouprey in nature.


Yak(V. mutus) stands apart among the actual bulls, and sometimes experts distinguish it into a special subgenus (Poophagus). This is a very large animal with a long body, relatively short legs and a heavy, low-set head. The height at the withers is up to 2 m, the weight of old bulls is up to 1000 kg. At the withers, the yak has a small hump, which makes the back seem strongly sloping. The horns are long, but not thick, widely spaced, from the base directed to the sides, and then bent forward and upward; their length is up to 95 cm, and the distance between the ends is 90 cm. The most remarkable feature in the structure of the yak is the hairline. If on most of the body the hair is thick and even, then on the legs, sides and belly it is long and shaggy, forming a kind of continuous “skirt”, almost reaching the ground. The tail is also covered with long coarse hair and resembles a horse's.



The range of the yak is limited to Tibet. It is possible that earlier it was more widespread and reached the Sayan and Altai, however, the information on which such assumptions are based may refer to a domestic, secondarily feral yak.


The yak inhabits treeless alpine gravelly semi-deserts intersected by valleys with swamps and lakes. It rises to the mountains up to 5200 m. In August and September, yaks go to the border of eternal snows, and spend the winter in the valleys, being content with the meager grassy vegetation that they can get from under the snow. They need a watering place and only in extreme cases eat snow. Yaks usually graze in the morning and before sunset, and sleep at night, hiding from the wind behind a rock or in a hollow. Thanks to the "skirt" and dense fur, yaks easily endure the harsh climate of the Tibetan highlands. When the animal lies down on the snow, the "skirt", like a mattress, protects it from the cold from below. According to the observations of the zoologist E. Schaefer, who made three expeditions to Tibet, yaks like to swim even in cold weather, and during snowstorms they stand motionless for hours, turning their croup to the wind.


Yaks do not form large herds. Most often they keep in groups of 3-5 animals, and only the young gather in somewhat larger herds. Old bulls lead a solitary lifestyle. However, as the remarkable traveler N. M. Przhevalsky, who first described the wild yak, testifies, a hundred years ago, herds of yak cows with small calves reached several hundred or even thousands of heads.


It should be noted that adult yaks are well armed, very strong and ferocious. Wolves decide to attack them only in exceptional cases in a large pack and in deep snow. In turn, bull yaks, without hesitation, attack the person chasing them, especially if the animal is wounded. The attacking yak holds its head and tail high with a fluttering plume of hair. Of the sense organs, the yak has the best developed sense of smell. Vision and hearing are much weaker.


The rut of yaks is in September - October. At this time, bulls join groups of cows. Violent fights take place between the bulls, completely unlike the ritualized fights of most other bovids. Opponents during the fight try to hit each other with a horn in the side. True, the fatal outcome of these battles is rare, and the case is limited to injuries, sometimes very serious. During the rutting period, the invocative roar of the yak is heard, at other times it is exceptionally silent.


Calving in yaks occurs in June, after a nine-month pregnancy. The calf is not separated from its mother for about a year.


Like most other wild bulls, the yak belongs to the category of animals that are rapidly disappearing from our planet. Perhaps his situation is especially deplorable. The yak cannot stand the places mastered by people. In addition, the yak is an enviable prey for hunters, and direct persecution completes what the pastoralists began, pushing the yaks from their pastures. The yak is included in the Red Book, but the low availability of its habitats makes it almost impossible to control its protection.


Even in antiquity, in the 1st millennium BC. e., as domesticated by man. Domestic yaks are smaller and more phlegmatic than wild ones, hornless individuals are often found among them, color is very variable. Yak is used in Tibet and other parts of Central Asia, Mongolia, Tuva, Altai, Pamir and Tien Shan. The yak is an indispensable beast of burden in the highlands. It gives excellent milk, meat and wool without requiring maintenance. Domestic yak is crossed with cows, and the resulting khainiki very comfortable as draft animals.


Unfortunately, only in the past tense can we talk about byke tour(V. primigenius). The last representative of this species died less than 350 years ago, in 1627. In folklore, in ancient books, in ancient painting and sculpture, the tour, however, has survived to this day, and we can not only clearly imagine its appearance, but also with speak with great confidence about its former distribution and way of life.


The tour was much slimmer and lighter than its relatives, although it almost did not yield to them in size.



Tall-legged, muscular, with a straight back and a high-set head on a powerful neck, with sharp and long light horns, the tour was unusually beautiful. The bulls were dull black with a narrow white "belt" along the back, the cows were bay, reddish-brown.


There was a tour of almost all of Europe, North Africa, Asia Minor and the Caucasus. However, in Africa, it was exterminated as early as 2400 BC. e., in Mesopotamia - by 600 BC. e., in Central and Western Europe - by 1400. The longest tours stayed in Poland and Lithuania, where they have already lived for the last centuries under protection, almost in the position of park animals.


In the last period of its existence in Europe, the tours lived in damp, swampy forests. In all likelihood, attachment to the forests was forced. Even earlier, tours, apparently, inhabited forest-steppes and sparse forests, interspersed with meadows, often even entered real steppes. It is possible that they migrated to the forests only in winter, preferring meadow pastures in summer. They ate grass, shoots and leaves of trees and shrubs, acorns. Rutting at tours took place in September, and calving - in the spring. Tours lived in small groups and alone, for the winter they huddled in larger herds. They had a wild and evil disposition, were not afraid of humans and were very aggressive. They had no enemies: the wolves were powerless against the aurochs. Mobility, lightness and strength made the tour really a very dangerous animal. Prince Vladimir Monomakh, who left behind interesting notes and was an excellent hunter, reports that “there are two tours of me on roses (horns) and with a horse.” The fact that during excavations of Paleolithic and even Neolithic sites almost no bones of aurochs are found, some researchers tend to explain the difficulty and danger of hunting for it.


The tour, so to speak, rendered the man an enormous, invaluable service. It was he who turned out to be the ancestor of all modern breeds of cattle - the main source of meat, milk and skins. The domestication of the aurochs took place at the dawn of modern mankind, apparently sometime between 8000 and 6000 BC. BC e. Some breeds of domestic cows, such as Camargue cattle and Spanish fighting bulls, retain the main features of the wild tour. They are easily traced in other breeds: in English park and Scottish cattle, in Hungarian steppe cows, in gray Ukrainian cattle.


Regarding the place of domestication of the tour, information is contradictory. Apparently, this process proceeded independently and non-simultaneously in different places: in the Mediterranean, Central Europe, and South Asia. In all likelihood, domestic bulls were originally cult animals, and then they began to be used as a draft force. The use of cows for milk came a little later.


Cattle plays a huge role in the economy of modern mankind and is distributed all over the world. It is not surprising, therefore, that, based on special needs and climatic conditions, a person brought out a very large number of breeds.


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In the Soviet Union, in Western Europe and North America, dairy and combined breeds are cultivated, less often beef. Among the dairy breeds, the Yaroslavl, Kholmogory, Red Danish, Red Steppe, East Frisian, Angelnskaya are especially famous. The annual milk yield of these cows is 3000 - 4000 liters with a fat content of about 4%. Combined breeds are bred even more widely, giving both dairy and meat products. Combined breeds include Kostroma, Simmental, Red Gorbatov, Schwyz, Shorthorn, Red and Pied German. Pure beef cattle breeding in Europe and North America is practiced on a smaller scale. The main meat breeds can be considered the Hereford, Astrakhan, Aberdinos-Angus. Predominantly beef cattle breeding is developed in South America, Argentina and Uruguay, where local, relatively unproductive, but unpretentious breeds are cultivated.


dominated in South and Southeast Asia humpbacked zebu cattle also introduced to Africa and South America. Zebu much less productive than European cows (the annual milk yield from one zebu does not exceed 180 liters), but they are faster on the go, and therefore are often used as draft power and even for riding. In India, zebu cows are sacred animals and should not be killed. This leads to a paradoxical fact: for 500 million people there are about 160 million cows that give no meat and almost no milk.


Highly interesting cattle watussi one of the East African tribes. In bulls and cows of this breed, colossal horns attract attention, the girth of which at the base reaches half a meter. This cattle has a purely cult significance, making up the wealth and glory of the owner. The cattle of the Masai, Samburu, Karamoja and other pastoral tribes are almost equally unproductive. In addition to milk, these tribes also use blood, which they take during their lifetime, having made a puncture in the neck vein with an arrow. This operation is harmless to livestock; from a bull they receive 4-5 liters of blood per month, from a cow - no more than half a liter.


About 40 years ago, two zoologists, the brothers Lutz and Heinz Heck, started the so-called restoration of the wild tour in parallel at the Berlin and Munich zoos. They proceeded from the premise that the genes of the aurochs were scattered among its domestic descendants and for the revival of the aurochs it was only necessary to put them together again. Through painstaking selection work with Camargue cattle, Spanish bulls, English park, Corsican, Hungarian steppe, Scottish cattle and other primitive breeds, they managed to get animals that are outwardly almost indistinguishable from the tour. The bulls have a typical black color, characteristic horns and a light “belt” along back, cows and calves are bay. The fact that the Heck brothers were able to restore even a sharp sexual dimorphism of color, which was not available in any of the original breeds, undoubtedly indicates a deep restructuring of the hereditary code in the resulting animal. But the "restored" tour is only a form of livestock.


To the genus bison(Bison) also includes very large and powerful bulls, which are characterized by short, thick, but sharp horns, high, humpbacked, withers, sloping back, thick mane and beard of long hair


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In physique, a sharp disproportion between a powerful front and a relatively weak croup is striking. The mass of bulls sometimes reaches 850-1000 kg, the height at the withers is up to 2 m. The females are much smaller. The genus includes 2 systematically close and outwardly similar species: European bison(V. bonasus) and american bison(V. bison). Both species literally miraculously did not share the fate of the tour, and although the immediate danger has passed, their future is entirely in the hands of man.


Even in historical times, the bison lived in most of Europe, and in the Caucasus there lived a special subspecies (B. bonasus caucasicus), which was distinguished by a lighter build. The bison inhabited sparse deciduous forests with clearings, forest-steppe and even steppe with floodplain and watershed forests. As more and more space was settled by humans, the bison retreated into the depths of untouched forests. In the steppe zone of Eastern Europe, the bison disappeared in the 16th - 17th centuries, in the forest-steppe - at the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th century. In Western Europe, it was destroyed much earlier, for example, in France - in the 6th century. Driven by human persecution, the bison survived for the longest time in continuous, partly swampy or mountain forests. However, even here he did not find salvation: in 1762 the last bison was killed in the Radnan mountains in Romania, by 1793 he was destroyed in the mountain forests of Saxony. And only in two places - in Belovezhskaya Pushcha and in the Western Caucasus - the bison in its natural state survived until the beginning of the 20th century. The First World War, civil war, intervention and years of devastation had a tragic effect on the remaining population of bison: despite the creation of the Caucasian Reserve, despite the protection in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, the herd of bison quickly thawed. The denouement came soon. “The last free bison of Belovezhskaya Pushcha was killed on February 9, 1921 by the former forest forester Bartolomeus Shpakovich: may his name, like the name of Herostratus, be preserved for centuries!” - wrote Erna Mohr, a prominent German zoologist. The Caucasian bison also survived for a short time: in 1923 (according to other sources - in 1927), the last of them fell victim to poachers in the Tigina tract. Bison as a species in natural conditions has ceased to exist.


Fortunately, a certain number of bison remained in zoos and private estates by this time. In 1923, the International Society for the Preservation of Bison was established. It made an inventory of the remaining bison: there were only 56 of them, of which 27 were males and 29 were females. Painstaking and time-consuming work began to restore the population, first in Belovezhskaya Pushcha in Poland, in zoos in Europe, and later in our country, in the Caucasus and in Askania-Nova. An international stud book was published, each animal was assigned a number. The Second World War interrupted this work, some of the animals died in a catastrophe that hit the world. However, at the end of the war, the struggle to save the bison resumed with renewed vigor. In 1946 bison began to be bred on the territory of Belovezhskaya Pushcha, which belonged to the Soviet Union (by that time, 17 bison remained on Polish territory, which were collected in a special nursery). In 1948, the Central Bison Nursery was organized in the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve, where part of the bison was transferred to semi-free keeping. From here, part of the breeding material was brought to other reserves of the country (Khopersky, Mordovsky, Oksky, etc.). In Belovezhskaya Pushcha and in the Caucasian Reserve, it has become possible to transfer bison to free keeping, and the Caucasian herd now numbers about 700 heads (some of the animals, however, are of hybrid origin). The total number of purebred bison in all reserves and nurseries of the world in 1969 is more than 900 animals. Outside protected areas, however, there are no bison anywhere.


Modern bison are real forest animals. However, they stick to areas with clearings interspersed with small forests, wooded river valleys with water meadows, and in the mountains they prefer the upper belt of forest on the border with subalpine meadows. Depending on the vegetation vegetation in summer and the state of snow cover in winter, bison make seasonal migrations, but their range is relatively small. They feed on herbaceous and woody-shrub (leaves, shoots, bark) vegetation, and the composition of their food plants is wide (at least 400 species), varies in different habitats and changes seasonally. Almost everywhere in the winter, bison use artificial feeding from hay, regularly go to salt licks. Bison graze in the morning and evening, going out to the meadows, and spend the middle of the day lying in the forest, chewing their gum. In hot weather bison go to water twice a day. They like to ride in dry, loose ground, but they do not take mud baths. Taking food out from under the fine snow, bison make a hole in it with their muzzle; in deep snow, they often first break the snow with a hoof, and then deepen and expand the hole with their muzzle.


Despite the mighty addition, the movements of the bison are light and fast. He gallops very quickly, easily overcomes a fence 2 m high, deftly and fearlessly moves along steep slopes. Of the sense organs, smell and hearing are of primary importance, which are well developed; vision is relatively poor. The voice of the bison is a jerky low grunt, with irritation - rumbling, with fright - snorting. In general, bison are silent.


Like other bulls, bison live in small groups, which include females with calves and young people under the age of 3 years or adult males. Old bulls often lead a solitary lifestyle. In winter, groups gather in larger herds, sometimes up to 30-40 animals, but by spring such herds break up again.


Seeing a person or smelling him, bison usually quickly run away and hide in the thicket of the forest. When the wind blows away from the animals, they cannot smell the person and try to see it. Being short-sighted, like all forest animals, bison line up in one line with curved flanks, peering intently. This is often taken by people as preparation for a full front attack. However, soon the animals turn sharply and disappear into the forest.


The bison rut in the past took place in August - the first half of September, but now, with semi-free keeping and feeding, its clear seasonal confinement has been violated. During the rutting season, adult bulls join the herds of females, driving out adolescents older than two years, and guard the harem, which usually has from 2 to 6 cows. Animals at this time are very excited, often fighting among themselves. Fights between strong bulls are infrequent; issues of dominance in most cases are resolved by demonstrating threatening postures, avoiding a fight, which is very dangerous with the gigantic strength of these animals. However, cases of real battles are known, which end in a serious injury and even death of one of the rivals. During the rut, the bulls almost do not graze and become very thin, they emit a strong smell, reminiscent of musky.


Pregnancy in bison lasts 262-267 days. The cow leaves the herd shortly before calving, but usually not far. A newborn bison weighs 22-23 kg. An hour after the birth, he is already on his feet, and another half an hour later he can follow his mother. A cow with a calf joins the herd in a few days, when the calf finally gets stronger. The bison is constantly on guard with the little one and, seeing a person, arranges a demonstration of the attack. She quickly rushes towards the enemy, but, not reaching a few meters, she stops in her tracks, and, turning sharply, runs back to the calf. She feeds the calf with milk up to 5 months, sometimes up to a year, but he starts eating grass already at the age of 19-22 days.


There are practically no natural enemies in adult bison, although wolves can be a danger to young people. Bison often died from epizootics brought by livestock (foot-and-mouth disease, anthrax), from helminthiases and other diseases. They also endured hard snowy winters, suffering greatly from starvation. The longest life expectancy of bulls, according to observations in nurseries, is 22 years, cows - 27 years.


The bison is a wonderful monument of nature, and its preservation is the duty of mankind, which has brought the bison to the brink of death.


Buffalo(V. bison) - the closest relative of the bison - common in North America. Outwardly, it is very similar to the bison, but more massive because of the even lower set head and especially thick and long hair covering the head, neck, shoulders, hump and partially front legs. The hair reaches a length of 50 cm and forms a continuous tangled mane, almost covering the eyes and hanging from the chin and throat in the form of a shaggy long beard. The bison's horns are short, shaped like bison's horns, but usually blunt. The tail is shorter than that of a bison. The mass of old bulls reaches 1000 kg, the height at the withers is up to 190 cm; cows are much smaller and lighter. Especially large and long-horned are the so-called wood bison living in the north of the range, in the forest zone. They are isolated in subspecies B. b. athabascae.



The extermination of bison had another goal - to doom the Indian tribes to starvation, which put up fierce resistance to the newcomers. The goal has been achieved. The winter of 1886/87 turned out to be fatal for the Indians, it was unheard of hungry and claimed thousands of lives.


By 1889 it was all over. In a vast area where herds of millions grazed, only 835 bison remained, including a herd of 200 animals that escaped in Yellowstone National Park.


And yet it was not too late. In December 1905, the American Bison Society was founded. Literally in the last days, in the last hours of the bison's existence, society managed to turn the wheel of fortune. First in Oklahoma, then in Montana, Nebraska and Dakota, special reserves were established, where bison were safe. By 1910, the number of bison had doubled, and after another 10 years there were about 9,000 of them.


A movement to save the bison was also launched in Canada. In 1907, a herd of 709 heads was bought from private hands and moved to Wayne Wright (Alberta), in 1915, Wood Buffalo National Park was established for the few surviving wood bison, between the Great Slave Lake and Lake Athabasca. Unfortunately, there in 1925-1928. brought more than 6,000 steppe bison, which brought tuberculosis, and most importantly, freely interbreeding with wood bison, threatened to "absorb" it as an independent subspecies. Only in 1957, in a remote and hard-to-reach northwestern section of the park, a herd of purebred wood bison of about 200 head was discovered. In 1963, 18 bison were caught from this herd and transported to a special reserve across the Mackenzie River, not far from Fort Providence, where in 1969 there were about 30 of them. Another 43 wood bison were moved to Elk Island National Park, east of Edmonton.


Now in the national parks and reserves of Canada there are more than 20 thousand bison, of which about 230 are forest; in the USA - more than 10 thousand heads. Thus, the future of this species is almost the only one among bulls! - does not inspire anxiety.


It is difficult to talk about the way of life of bison in the past: it was exterminated before it was studied. It is only known that the bison made regular long-distance migrations, moving south for the winter, and moving north again in the spring. Now bison cannot migrate: their range is limited to national parks, around which are the lands of companies and farmers. Various habitats are suitable for bison: open prairies, both flat and hilly, woodlands, even more or less dense forests. They keep in small herds, bulls and cows separately, and groups of bulls number up to 10-12 heads, and cows with calves gather in groups of 20-30 animals. There are no permanent leaders in the herd, but the old female leads the herd when moving.


Steppe bison feed on grass, and forest bison, in addition to grassy vegetation, widely use leaves, shoots and branches of shrubs and trees for food. In winter, the main food is grassy rags, and in the forest - lichens, branches. Bison can feed in snow cover up to 1 m deep: first they scatter snow with their hooves, and then, like bison, dig a hole with rotational movements of the head and muzzle. Once a day, bison visit watering holes, and only in severe frosts, when thick ice completely covers the water, do they eat snow. They usually graze in the morning and evening, but often during the day and also at night.


Of the sense organs, the sense of smell is best developed: bison sense danger at a distance of up to 2 km. They smell water even further, for 7-8 km. Their hearing and vision are somewhat weaker, but they cannot be called bad. Bison are very curious, especially calves: every new or unfamiliar object attracts their attention. A sign of excitement is a vertically raised tail. Bison willingly ride, like bison, in dust and sand. The voice of the bison is often given: when the herd moves, grunting sounds of different tones are constantly heard; bulls during the rut emit a rolling roar, which in calm weather is heard for 5-8 km. Such a roar sounds especially impressive when several bulls participate in the “concert”.


Despite their powerful build, bison are exceptionally fast and agile. At a gallop, they easily reach speeds of up to 50 km / h: not every horse could compete with them in a race. The buffalo is not aggressive, but when cornered or wounded, it easily switches from fleeing to attacking. He has practically no natural enemies among predators, and only calves and very old people become victims of wolves.


The bison rut begins in May and lasts until September. Bulls at this time unite with females in large herds, and a certain dominance hierarchy is observed in them. There are frequent fierce fights between bulls, during which serious injuries and even death are not uncommon. At the end of the rut, the herds again break up into small groups. Pregnancy lasts, like bison, about 9 months. Usually a cow at the onset of childbirth seeks solitude, but sometimes she gives birth to a calf right in the middle of the herd. Then all the tribesmen crowd around the newborn, sniff it and lick it. The calf suckles its mother for about a year.

Wikipedia Wikipedia

- (Bovidae) ** * * The family of bovids, or bovines, is the most extensive and diverse group of artiodactyls, includes 45-50 modern genera and about 130 species. Bovids form a natural, clearly defined group. No matter how ... ... Animal life

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Hearing the phrase wild bull, many people imagine a powerful and beautiful bison, but this name also includes a number of other varieties of these animals that deserve special attention. In fact, on almost all continents there are non-domesticated representatives of the bovid family, which, like their ancient ancestors, inhabit the steppes, forests and desert plains, even despite the spread of domesticated livestock by man and the seizure of more and more territories for its development.

Hearing the phrase wild bull, many people imagine a powerful and beautiful bison

For example, the Bialowieza bull bison and North American bison were on the verge of extinction for a long time, and only the creation of protected areas made it possible to save them from extinction. At the same time, some species of bulls have already completely died out due to the loss of natural habitats. This is an irreparable loss for the world fauna. For example, a wild bull with huge horns, known as the tour, which was distributed throughout Europe and Africa, was quickly forced out of its natural habitat due to the influence of the anthropogenic factor and finally became extinct by 1627. Currently, there are only images and reconstructions of the species of these animals.

The Bialowieza bull bison and North American bison were on the verge of extinction for a long time, and only the creation of protected areas made it possible to save them from extinction.

Rare wild yaks

Some scientists are speculating where and when the first cow was domesticated, but there is still no exact answer to these questions. Some believe that modern breeds used in agriculture are descended from yaks. There is evidence that the first cow was domesticated long before our era, when wild bulls flourished in vast areas of Eurasia and Africa.

Representatives of this species of animals fell into decline as humans spread. They are now extremely little studied, as they live mainly on the high plateaus of Tibet, where the anthropogenic factor is not yet so felt.

Real bulls of this variety, living in the wild, really look like domesticated cows, but they also have differences. They are much larger in size and reach 2 m at the withers and about 4 m in length, have large rounded horns, very thick hair. This subspecies of the wild bull has a bad temper, so these animals pose a serious danger to people. Despite the fact that hunting for these creatures is prohibited, their numbers are gradually declining, since they cannot survive in the territories developed by man.

Gallery: wild bulls (25 photos)












Pilgrimage to Asian bulls (video)

African and Indian wild bulls

Many large representatives of the bovid family that have survived to this day live in dense thickets in open spaces untouched by man. For example, the largest wild bull in India, the gaur, has recently begun to increase its population, which has already reached about 30 thousand individuals, only thanks to the creation of reserves. The weight of the animal reaches about 700-1000 kg. This wild forest bull reaches about 1.7-2.2 m at the withers. Gaur has huge horns reaching 90 cm. They resemble a crescent in shape. This wild forest bull is distinguished by its large size, although in most cases representatives of the bovid family are usually characterized by more than modest sizes.

Representatives of this species are distinguished by a rather meek disposition, therefore they have long been domesticated. Another Indian bull, known as Zebu, is revered by the locals as a sacred animal. Such a cow reaches about 600-800 kg. They have a characteristic chest crease and a hump at the withers. In many regions of India, they are crossed with certain types of livestock to increase productivity and hardiness.

Some real bulls that have survived to this day are more modest in size. This helped them to avoid complete extinction during the development of territories by man. For example, a wild forest bull from India, known as a tamarau, has the following parameters:

  • height at the withers - 106 cm;
  • body length - 220 cm;
  • weight from 180 to 300 kg;
  • black skin color.

They are actively exterminated for the sake of high-quality skins. In captivity, this wild forest bull does not breed, so it is not possible to artificially increase their numbers. Only protective measures and a ban on shooting save this species from complete extinction.

Another pygmy wild forest bull lives exclusively in the dense thickets of the Philippines. They reach only 80 cm at the withers. The body length of such buffaloes is approximately 160 cm. These animals have an elongated muzzle and almost even, retracted horns, so they look like antelopes. A similar body structure is considered an adaptation to living in dense forest thickets. This pygmy forest bull is currently under the threat of extinction due to human development of their natural habitat.

African buffalo deserves special attention. These are real bulls, reaching a weight of about 1200 kg. With a significant body weight, they are compact in size and rarely exceed 1.5-1.6 m. Real bulls of this breed are distinguished by black coat color and large rounded horns. These animals are characterized by poorly developed vision. At the same time, they, like real bulls, have a rather violent temper. They can fight back even large predatory cats that dominate the African savannas. Feeling danger, the animal immediately attacks, using not only its huge horns, but also its hooves. An encounter with an angry African buffalo can end badly for any predator. These buffaloes usually lead a herd life. Only large males can move alone for a long time. Large herds are additional protection.

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