Where did cows come from?

[Eli]

I was thinking about this the other day. Yeah, I was bored.

But.. where did/do dairy cows(and meat cows for that matter) come from?

I've heard of wild horses. Cats, dogs, etc.

But I've never heard of a wild cow. Is there such a thing?

What's the deal?

 

[Kadarin]

The Baby Jesus created them so that we could all have milk. Duh!

 

[QuitBanningMe]

Yes there are wild cattle (most are gone). The "meat" and "dairy" cows are a result of selective breeding.

 

[oog]

once they were wild. now they're pretty much all domesticated.

 

[walla]

bison/buffalo, gaur, banteng, kouprey and yak are all members of the same genus and considered "wild".

google is a cow expert, btw.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I think all domesticated cows are decendent from some animal in the middle east that is now extinct... man what's the name of it....

EDIT: aurochs! that's it

 

[ThePresence]

I've seen wild cows in Israel. They are real aggressive, so we had to keep our distance, but they do exist.
EDIT: I think they're farm escapees, not original wild animals.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: walla
bison/buffalo, gaur, banteng, kouprey and yak are all members of the same genus and considered "wild".

google is a cow expert, btw.

lol..

Interesting. Yeah, I knew about bison etc.. But still, cows are way different.

So we've basically come up with our own breed of cows through selective breeding?

Where did they originate?

Aurochs came from England it looks like. So our cows are direct descendants of the wild ox?

The Aurochs were the ancestors of cattle. After the ice age they lived in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. They were hunted by man and there numbers declined steadily. In Europe the Aurochs survived longest in Poland and in Lithuania, because of the large undisturbed forests found there.


By the end of the 16th century only a small herd of Aurochs survived near to Warsaw, and in 1627 the last Auroch in Europe died. Although they survived longer in Asia, they became extinct there about a hundred years later.

Interesting stuff.

 

[saltedeggman]

doesn't wild cows = bulls??

 

[neutralizer]

Single celled organisms?

 

[Baked]

When you splice a horse w/ a pig... no wait, that ain't right. nm.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: saltedeggman
doesn't wild cows = bulls??

No, a bull is a male cow.. a heffer is a female cow.

 

[Freejack2]

Cows came from a planet about 2300 light years away. The planet is called Bovinity.
So Moooooo.

 

[Siddhartha]

Originally posted by: Eli
I was thinking about this the other day. Yeah, I was bored.

But.. where did/do dairy cows(and meat cows for that matter) come from?

I've heard of wild horses. Cats, dogs, etc.

But I've never heard of a wild cow. Is there such a thing?

What's the deal?

The cows were developed using the same processe used in developing domestic dogs and cats.

 

[saltedeggman]

Originally posted by: Eli

Originally posted by: saltedeggman
doesn't wild cows = bulls??

No, a bull is a male cow.. a heffer is a female cow.

:thumbsup:

 

[Tylanner]

Madagascar

Then a few snuck onto a spanish merchant ship.

Bingo, we have Wisconsin.

 

[So]

Originally posted by: Siddhartha

Originally posted by: Eli
I was thinking about this the other day. Yeah, I was bored.

But.. where did/do dairy cows(and meat cows for that matter) come from?

I've heard of wild horses. Cats, dogs, etc.

But I've never heard of a wild cow. Is there such a thing?

What's the deal?

The cows were developed using the same processe used in developing domestic dogs and cats.

True, but both of those have close relatives living in the wild today (Dogs--> Wolves and there are small cats too, although the names I can't recall ATM)

 

[ribbon13]

Originally posted by: So

Originally posted by: Siddhartha

Originally posted by: Eli
I was thinking about this the other day. Yeah, I was bored.

But.. where did/do dairy cows(and meat cows for that matter) come from?

I've heard of wild horses. Cats, dogs, etc.

But I've never heard of a wild cow. Is there such a thing?

What's the deal?

The cows were developed using the same processe used in developing domestic dogs and cats.

True, but both of those have close relatives living in the wild today (Dogs--> Wolves and there are small cats too, although the names I can't recall ATM)

Bobcat aka Lynx?

 

[xcript]

They come from Cow Land.

 

[ribbon13]

They came from Gary Larson's ass.

 

[So]

Originally posted by: ribbon13

Originally posted by: So

Originally posted by: Siddhartha

Originally posted by: Eli
I was thinking about this the other day. Yeah, I was bored.

But.. where did/do dairy cows(and meat cows for that matter) come from?

I've heard of wild horses. Cats, dogs, etc.

But I've never heard of a wild cow. Is there such a thing?

What's the deal?

The cows were developed using the same processe used in developing domestic dogs and cats.

True, but both of those have close relatives living in the wild today (Dogs--> Wolves and there are small cats too, although the names I can't recall ATM)

Bobcat aka Lynx?

I thought they had even closer relatives...

 

[So]

hmmm...

http://www.cfhs.ca/Kids/AU2000-2/wild.htm

 

[ribbon13]

My old cat Rascal (R.I.P) was half-bobcat. That's pretty close there. ^^

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felidae

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: So
hmmm...

http://www.cfhs.ca/Kids/AU2000-2/wild.htm

That's totally what I said.

I'm from wisconsin. Listen to me .

 

[Icopoli]

Originally posted by: walla
bison/buffalo, gaur, banteng, kouprey and yak are all members of the same genus and considered "wild".

google is a cow expert, btw.

2 points to anyone that can guess where 3/5 those came from.