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The genetic legacy of the wild ancestors of modern cattle

Analyses of ancient DNA from aurochs — large, wild cattle that co-existed with humans for millennia — reveals how early humans tamed these beasts and bred them with domesticated cattle for strength and resilience.
  1. Anna Linderholm

    1. Anna Linderholm is in the Centre for Palaeogenetics, Department of Geological Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm 10691, Sweden.

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According to modern legend, cow tipping involves pushing over an unsuspecting, sleeping cow, but you wouldn’t have wanted to try it with an aurochs (Bos primigenius). These large, wild cattle stood between 155 and 180 centimetres tall and could weigh more than 1,000 kilograms. Despite the aurochs’s massive size, humans managed to tame these animals, which are the predecessors of today’s domesticated cattle (Bos taurus). Writing in Nature, Rossi et al.1 report analyses of ancient DNA from the skeletal remains of 38 aurochs from across Eurasia, shedding light on when and how humans domesticated these animals. Although aurochs are now extinct, their descendants, modern domesticated cattle, make up a large part of Earth’s mammalian biomass, and their domestication marks a milestone in human history.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-03395-1

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Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

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